Convergence on Zero

A great team of people in Wales are working to develop the final elements of the content of the Convergence on Zero lectures - see information below - and we'd appreciate it if you'd promote the information far and wide to your US contacts to create the strongest possible alchemy.

The Convergence event in Washington is part of Wales' 'Stepping Stones to Copenhagen' that start with our own Hay on Earth event in May, at which we plan to launch A Million Minds and Streets Ahead as projects to enable rapid, realistic change.

Carbon, Climate and Energy conference

For two days in June, a dynamic team of scientists, researchers, engineers, architects, community champions and business innovators will converge on the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, Washington DC, to present how the nation of Wales is taking the challenge of Climate Change seriously.

Presentations from some of Wales’ leading environmentalists will be interspersed with lively debate, collaborative problem solving and the premieres of two new documentary films: The Energy Story of Wales and Weather Detectives. The Convergence will bring many minds together to discuss how to make the transition to sustainability across all sectors of society and reduce our carbon emissions to zero.

The Programme:

The challenge of Climate Change demands vast systemic changes throughout human society. These adaptive measures need to be made soon and they need to be made well, in order that our emissions may peak and reduce allowing us to pull back from the brink of runaway climate change and establish clean powered, resource conscious, inclusive communities.

Climate Change demands a whole systems approach to design and governance. We cannot compartmentalize our response to such a global problem. Changing weather patterns and events will affect our water supplies, food supplies, energy needs and transport possibilities. We need to put systems in place now that give us resilience to changes in the future – the design and use of such systems involves everyone.

For this reason, the Convergence on Zero brings together a whole range of thinkers and doers from a wide range of backgrounds and sectors in Wales. Our speakers are united by their efforts to study, communicate and plan for climate change – they are experts in their field but they need a crowd of willing participants to work with to create practical, sustainable solutions that can be communicated and implemented far and wide.

Moai in the City

A few months back, this magnificent replica Moai was made for the set of the wonderful Age of Stupid climate change film. After filming, the Moai had no home so we offered a garden to stay in in St Davids. The Moai had a day out in Cardiff recently for the premiere of Age of Stupid at Chapter Arts, and here you can see it on a suburban stroll. The 'Not Stupid' campaign has been launched with a goal of getting 250m people on board with action. The Age of Do starts now.

Merchant Banking 101

Funny how things go around so quickly. The very very very very rish merchant banker in this video is the now septugenarian John Cleese. Plus ca change, or time for change? I'm backing the latter.

Thinking it through

Fools rush in... it's interesting to see how governments across the world forget the principle of look before you leap' when it comes to making interventions to solve financial or economic problems, or both. The UK government's 2.5% VAT cut cost the country £12bn in revenue, yet made little if any difference to spending; if they'd thought about it more and spent the money on boosting renewables spend, it might.

There's a biological design principle that is "be mean on materials, and rich on design" that would benefit many of applied more. This piece from ABC News in Australia shows another example of a good idea (probably) badly delivered:

Bligh accused of killing solar power industry

By News Online's Nic MacBean

The Queensland Labor Party has been accused of destroying the local solar power industry with its pledge to bulk buy 200,000 solar hot water systems and sell them at a discount.

Premier Anna Bligh announced the initiative - which she says will create 500 jobs - at the ALP's campaign launch on Saturday.

Queensland solar energy operators have reacted angrily to the announcement, saying it is cynical vote-buying and continues a trend by the Government of undermining the local industry.

"Are we trying to create a solar industry or are we just trying to get cheap solar panels on roofs?" said Klaus Coia, chair of the Solar Energy Installers Association.

Look before you leap. Next time.

42% by 2020

The Tyndall Centre for Climate Change have been calling for steep CO2 reduction targets for many years, with a combination of scientific analysis and pragmatism. In today's Guardian, they stripped the data bare, and laid out the need to achieve a 42% in CO2 emissions in the UK by 2020. That's just over 2600 'work days' away from here. The majority of civil servants haven't had the experience or training to help them work out the scale of change that's needed, which means that they're going to need help from anyone who has.

Statements from the TYndall Centre such as "official advice used to set the budget is "naïvely optimistic" and will not stop dangerous climate change" and "The government should aim to cut emissions 42% by 2020" need to be acted on, by us, now.

As a start point, we need to build outline plans to give a rough indication of what's needed by when to achieve the scale of change needed, and then work out the detail. The key action is to get started - Hay on Earth is coming not a moment too soon; our biggest challenge is to ensure that the plans and action that develop over those four days are broadcast far and wide.