Climate change is one of the most dramatic problems of our time. The world must reduce greenhouse gasses or face irreversible effects of global warming. The cost of doing nothing will be far higher than effective action now. But the actions Europe can take to combat climate change will have other benefits: renewable energy and energy efficiency will create jobs and offer new economic opportunities. A comprehensive response is required: in all policies from energy and transport to foreign and security policy; at national and European levels as well as local; by Governments, business and consumers. The PES has "A new EU energy strategy" but we need to go beyond that, and we need to agree on some top priorities for European action. We need Europe to take a global lead as well as putting its own house in order.
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Published Wednesday, June 11, 2008 at 09:36
by
Editor
(851 views and 0 comments)
Last months, participants agreed on the need for a radical shift both on the production and the consumption side. The whole exploitation and processing of resources must be rethought.
Setting standards for measuring the risk of a pollutant manufacturing process or use of a product was proposed by several manifesto supporters. Another alternative is the use of a 'climate label’ for products which are, for example, produced in climate... » read more ...
Tags: activists, barometer, energy, environment, transport
Published Tuesday, June 10, 2008 at 14:40
by
Editor
(691 views and 2 comments)
MEP Linda McAvan presents EU initiatives to tackle Climate Change and put forward the priorities for the manifesto2009.
Do you agree with Linda when she says this can be a unique opportunity to reach a new international agreement on climate change? Leave us your comments!
Tags: climate change, environment
Published Monday, June 9, 2008 at 16:50
by
SARNOUX 
(440 views and 0 comments)
Notre avenir, notre unité, notre marché commun sont en danger du fait de la crise énergétique qui, si nous ne faisons rien, si nous ne proposons rien, détruira notre espace commun social et humaniste. Tout ce qui a été crée ou pensé volera en éclat et nous irons vers la guerre de l'énergie, la guerre de la faim et la guerre de civilisation par l'émergence des nationalismes renforcés.
Notre devoir est de proposer une Politique Energétique Commune pour donner, de nouveau, un visage, une âme et une vision pragmatique de l'Europe à nos concitoyens. L'Europe du concret et de la preuve doit être notre credo !
C’est pourquoi je propose de créer une Politique Energétique Commune afin de créer des solidarités solides et concrètes pour limiter l'impact du prix de l'énergie sur nos coûts de production ou d'exploitation afin de proposer des bases saines de concurrence avec des règles précises.
» read more ...
Tags: biofuels, energy, environment, renewable energy, sustainable energy
Published Friday, May 30, 2008 at 16:09
by
Editor
(905 views and 1 comments)
Claudio Martini,
member of the PES Group in the CoR (Committee of the Regions) and
President of the Tuscany Region in Italy, put forward his
priorities for the PES manifesto! For him climate change is the
most challenging topic to be addressed.
Which of the sessions of the PES Group meeting are you looking most forward to?
Claudio Martini (CM): In my opinion climate change is the biggest challenge for government right now and that’s why I am particularly interested in the debate on Save our planet. There is no doubt that we will face very serious problems in the future. I think it is highly important that we not only focus on the environmental problems caused by climate change, but also on the social, economic and geopolitical issues which will follow. Often environmental questions are seen as separate from other political areas, when they are really not. For every policy we need an environmental dimension.
What is the most important thing local government can do to improve the environment?
CM: Local and regional governments play an important role when it comes to solving... » read more ...
Tags: climate change, environment
Published Friday, May 30, 2008 at 12:20
by
jose reis santos
(648 views and 0 comments)
The consultation process is close to an end and PES Portuguese activists will hold two meetings on the “Save our Planet” and “Democracy and Diversity” themes this weekend!
Paulo Pisco (PS International department) presented some of his ideas on climate change in Sofia, Bulgaria. Check them here!
Published Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 15:40
by
Editor
(679 views and 0 comments)
As we mentioned in one of our last posts, the theme “Save our Planet” of the PES manifesto was discussed in Stockholm, Sweden, with an extremely positive outcome! The purpose, obviously, was to add input to the manifesto2009 for the European Elections of June next year
Fighting climate change with the right
attitude
The seminar on “Leading the fight against climate change: a new
European green growth agenda” was held on the 23 May at the
headquarters of the SAP, the Swedish social-democratic party.
Mona Sahlin, SAP party leader and PES manifesto theme leader on “Save Our Planet”, opened the seminar by saying that “problems in our society don’t disappear only wanting to, but taking... » read more ...
Tags: climate change, transport
Published Monday, May 26, 2008 at 15:11
by
Duncan Anderson
(525 views and 0 comments)
Okay, so maybe
Buzz Lighyear didn't say that, but he might have if he had to
write a political manifesto.
When I helped write the local government manifesto for North Lincolnshire Labour Party I was emphatic about putting in something for the future, in fact many things for the future. This included policies that wouldn't come to fruition until the term after the one we were campaigning to win and consultations that we could turn into policies in the following term.
Hopefully this gives the electorate a belief in a brighter future with which they have some ownership - and I do believe that we should be looking at the Swedish Socialist principle of helping the electorate of Europe have ownership of policies.
Most of these longer term items/policies are big issues or because they are big issues it will take longer for them to be resolved. But if we - European Socialists - don't make a start &/or an attempt then how can we - as a political party - claim to be leaders within... » read more ...
Tags: agriculture, fisheries
Published Friday, May 23, 2008 at 11:23
by
Zita_Gurmai
(606 views and 0 comments)
I represent the
Hungarian Socialist
Party (MSZP) in the European Parliament. MSZP took the PES
manifesto consultation very seriously. We have had a series of
debates in the country-side of Hungary and invited our activists
for an online consultation in their own language, thanks to
Edit Herczog, a colleague of mine in the European Parliament who
took the leading in the MSZP presidium. I think the Internet is a
very important means for reaching our grassroots. MSZP has also
sent representatives to Brussels to meet and discuss with PES
President Poul Nyrup Rasmussen.
In the Hungarian debate one very important topic turned out to
the environment: how can we ensure more commitment in Europe to
make sure that our grandchildren will grow up in a clean and
healthy environment? My colleague in the European Parliament,
Gyula Hegyi, successfully took the lead on the debate on ‘Save
our planet’.
The MSZP also have a number of other recommendations for the PES
manifesto:
Tags: activists, environment, political parties, women
Published Friday, May 23, 2008 at 08:05
by
Editor
(813 views and 0 comments)
Today from 9:30 you
are invited when politicians, experts and PES activists will
meet in
Stockholm to debate the Save our
planet theme of the PES manifesto consultation! If you're
living outside Sweden you can follow the debate via web streaming
from the website of the Swedish Social Democratic
Party. A completely free and eco-friendly way to participate
in the PES manifesto consultation!
Among the speakers are:
Tags: activists, climate change, environment, political parties
Published Wednesday, May 21, 2008 at 10:35
by
Editor
(627 views and 0 comments)
After having held a
conference on New Social Europe on April 8, the
PES Group in the Committee of the Regions met up again
to discuss the three remaining topics of the PES manifesto
consultation: Save our planet, European democracy and diversity and EU in the world.
The extraordinary meeting was held on 15-16 May in Turin,
Italy, at the invitation of Mercedes Bresso, President of the
Piedmont Region and President of the PES Group in the Committee of
the Regions.Tags: biofuels, climate change, CO2, consumer, environment, green cities
Published Monday, May 19, 2008 at 10:00
by
corinnebord
(550 views and 0 comments)
Scandale avec cette dernière campagne de la Deutch Bank. Vous ne rêvez pas, il s'agit bien de proposer de s'enrichir sur l'augmentation des prix des céréales. La formule est claire, faisons de l'argent sur les plus vulnérables, ceux qui n'ont déjà plus les moyens de se nourrir.
Le paroxysme du libéralisme est atteint ! Produire de l'argent à
tout prix.
Urgent,
Il est urgent sur le PSE condamne ce type de pratique et agisse au Parlement en ce sens !
Je rejoins en ce sens les campagnes de moratoire menées par Jean Ziegler, conseiller spécial à L'ONU... » read more ...
Tags: biofuels, blogger of the week
Published Wednesday, May 14, 2008 at 17:59
by
Editor
(669 views and 1 comments)
At the end of the day
eco-friendliness is all about improving our living conditions.
According to Michael Cohen, Mayor of Kalkara, Malta, this is easily
forgotten in everyday talk about bans and restrictions which will
help us save our planet – but at the same time force us to
fundamentally change our way of living.Tags: environment, green cities
Published Tuesday, May 13, 2008 at 14:35
by
corinnebord
(847 views and 3 comments)
Every five seconds,
a child under 10 years old dies of hunger or of its consequences.
Who would have thought we were to undergo such an acute food
crisis? The increase in prices is worrying but the decrease of
the world's food stocks is all too often ignored. The stocks of
basic foodstuffs (like wheat, corn or rice) have never been so
low for the last 20 years. In 2007, food production decreased in
real terms while consumption increased by and large, among others
because of a higher industrial demand. At the heart of the debate
is the ever increasing use of cereals for biofuel production.
This means in practice that farmlands are increasingly used
not for food-producing crops but for the much more profitable
production of biofuels.
Rather than questioning our patterns of oil dependency and overconsumption, the Western World has thrown itself into exploiting technological progress without much caring for its human consequences. The bet was clearly profitable but what is the human and environmental price of such a policy? Within a year, the price of wheat has gone up by 130%, rice by 74%, soy beans by 87%, and corn by 53%. It is therefore necessary and urgent to recall that the eradication of hunger is the first of the Millenium Development Goals. Only... » read more ...
Tags: biofuels, blogger of the week, food crisis
Published Thursday, May 8, 2008 at 12:07
by
asa.westlund
(766 views and 3 comments)
Almost
daily we hear alarming news about one of the biggest challenges
of our time – the one about the global warming. As citizens and
consumers we have a responsibility to act. A responsibility not
always easy to handle. Scientific reports from governments,
companies and others are sometimes contradictory, and it’s easy
to lose hope and feel powerless. This is where the EU, as a big
actor on the world wide market has an important role to play. It
is here we see the necessity of political action rather than just
letting the free market decide.
But it is not enough- It must also be easier for all European
citizens to make environment friendly decisions and thereby
taking their own responsibility! The environmental crisis is to
enormous and complex to be solved on just one political level.
Its first when we act both individually, locally, in larger
regions and globally that we can make a change. It does not mean
that we can wait for someone else to take responsibility, rather
that we all must take action now. We have to act as a united
front. Many citizens are trying to take action. With everyday
actions, like leaving the car at home and travel by bus, or
buying locally produced and bio grown products, everyone can make
a difference. » read more
...
Tags: blogger of the week, climate change, consumer, environment
Published Wednesday, May 7, 2008 at 11:23
by
Editor
(655 views and 0 comments)
Socialists are pushing for
more action on climate change, since it is necessary to act now,
leaving aside the disastrous “business as usual approach”.
Socialist MEP Linda McAvan (Labour UK) hosted the WWF debate “EU
Climate action : Do 30% NOW!” on 6 May 2008. Here are a few
conclusions from the meeting:Tags: climate change, CO2, development, environment
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