United Kingdom
-
![]()
![]()
Can voluntary action fix Britain’s shoddy housing stock?
Britain’s housing stock: charming but leakyPhoto courtesy UGArdener via FlickrPrime Minister David Cameron’s call for Brits to take up the challenge of government by joining what he calls the “Big Society” exists so far largely in the realm of rhetorical flourishes. The political appeal is obvious: Maybe we can get communities to do stuff — […]
-
![]()
![]()
Brits mad, and worried, about BP bashing
The cover of Great Britain’s Daily Express — “His rants against BP are a disgrace.”Photo courtesy of the Daily Express While it’s definitely not a diplomatic incident, and of course Americans don’t just think of BP as a British company, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has the British media transfixed. The Daily […]
-
![]()
![]()
Population increases may thwart U.K. sustainability plans
Just the usual crowd on a usual day in London…Photo courtesy of Odolphie via flickr Environmentalists in Britain and elsewhere have sometimes been reluctant to talk about population in recent years. But with the U.K. Office of National Statistics projecting a 9 million rise in the country’s population to 70 million by 2030, it’s increasingly […]
-
New Conservative British government agrees on more feed-in tariffs
Cross-posted from Wind-Works. Less than two months after Britain’s Labor Party launched its highly regarded feed-in tariff program, the newly elected Conservative government has announced the program will be expanded. The announcement is included in the coalition government’s agreement published as the new government took office. Britain’s new government is a coalition of the Conservative […]
-
![]()
![]()
What to expect from Britain’s new coalition government
Prime Minister David Cameron and Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne heading out to announce that the government will cut its greenhouse-gas emissions by 10 percent over the next 12 months.Photo: Prime Minister’s OfficeEnvironment policy didn’t break the surface during the U.K. election campaign. How will it fare in a coalition of parties at […]
-
![]()
![]()
Brits are aghast at us Yankee “greens”
U.K. farm owner, “eco-dwelling” builder, and Grist reader JRWoodman offers some perspective on the apparently greenish platform of the new Conservative-LibDem coalition government: The UK’s Conservative party springs out of the old families that lived in stately homes in the countryside and enjoyed country pursuits. To this day if you look at an electoral map […]
-
![]()
![]()
How green is the U.K.’s new government?
Prime Minister David Cameron (right) and deputy Nick Clegg, BFFsPrime Minister’s OfficeBritain’s got a new prime minister, Conservative David Cameron; a new deputy prime minister, Liberal Democrat Nick Clegg; and an odd new governing coalition kludged together with both of their parties. The new government has released its platform, saying “The parties agree to implement […]
-
![]()
![]()
More lessons from Wales for moving beyond coal
Guardian columnist George Monbiot reported recently on the unlikely groundswell of environmental progress in Wales, the Appalachia of the U.K. Its national Plaid Cymru party is more progressive and more ambitious than Britain’s three leading parties when it comes to building a low-carbon economy. Monbiot argues that it’s the unusually flexible and open political climate […]
-
![]()
![]()
Each party has a clean-energy plan in U.K. election
Conservative Party’s “Vote blue, go green” logo.The United Kingdom holds its general election in two weeks, and Jeremy Lovell of Climatewire runs down the plans of the three largest parties for tackling climate change and switching to a low-carbon economy. The plans are all imperfect, but they all exist. The U.K. Conservatives don’t deny climate […]
