Turning attention to the environment
Green Week in Europe shines a spotlight on environmental issues.
BRUSSELS — “Our business model is to try and change the world,” Mike Lamond says confidently of green.tv. The company aims to get free environmental programming in front of “as many people’s eyeballs as possible," hopefully spurring "positive action."
Green.tv’s parent company, Large Blue, launched the online channel a few years ago, with partners including the World Wildlife Federation and the United Nations, and sponsors such as Kyocera. Programming resembles hip, dynamic MTV productions — except it's focused on natural resources and how to preserve them.
Lamond says perhaps the venture will someday make a profit. It’s a cynical but realistic view, he noted, that the catastrophic state of the environment means there will be plenty of work in this sphere for decades to come.
Lamond was showcasing green.tv at Europe’s annual “Green Week,” devoted this year to the theme “act and adapt.” Hundreds of exhibitors and extraordinary speakers made this a very impressive event, but the real question is not whether the EU can pull off Green Week, but whether it can secure a green future.
EU Commissioner for the Environment Stavros Dimas says it must — and now. “This is without question the most important year we have faced in the war against climate change,” he said at the opening session of the four-day Green Week event in Brussels. “It is the future of our planet that is at stake and time is running out.”
But some EU governments say that in these tough economic times, money is also running out, making them reluctant to take actions that could be pricey for governments and uncomfortable for business. Swedish Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren, whose country takes over the EU’s rotating presidency on July 1, wrote in a recent op-ed that the “financial crisis has sent shockwaves around the world and it will largely set the political context in which the EU's environmental policy will evolve over the next few years.”
United Nations experts say industrialized countries need to cut their emissions by 25 to 40 percent to avert the worst effects of global warming. The EU has already agreed to cut its combined output of greenhouse gases by 20 percent of 1990 levels by the year 2020. The other parts of the “20/20/20” plan include getting 20 percent of fuel from renewable sources and a 20 percent improvement in energy efficiency.
Recent on European Union:
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The European Parliament's new powers allow it to block agreements like SWIFT.
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Donald Tusk says he wants to remain prime minister in order to pass needed reforms.
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Turkish city that has hosted Greek, Byzantine and Ottoman empires now a European capital.
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Long known for its coal mines and steel mills, Essen and the Ruhr have transformed themselves.
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Europeans still give Obama the thumbs up
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Balkans: Some gain right to visa-free EU travel
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But the lifting of restrictions on Serbians, Macedonians and Montenegrins leaves Bosnia and Kosovo behind.
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German government pushes electric cars
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Experts worry that Greek unrest will spread
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Some see Greece as “soft underbelly of Europe” and an entry point to the rest of the continent for weapons and radicals.
Germany and France remain non-commital on Afghanistan
Teri Schultz - European Union - December 2, 2009 22:24 ET
Many, but not all, European allies rally behind Obama after his speech.
Video: The Birds — Rome's Hitchcock-ian problem
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As Rome shoos away starlings, scientists study the mathematical precision of their flight.
Turkmenistan: The new Great Game
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Europe, Russia and China battle for access to Turkmenistan's energy resources.
Poland is in an energy bind
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Heavily reliant on coal, Poland is facing pressure to switch to renewables while its facilities already need an upgrade.
Opinion: China has a President Hu, now Europe chooses President Who?
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The process of elimination that led to Van Rompuy's appointment represents all that is institutionally wrong with the European Union.
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