The tactics of the European plastics lobby

According to German top blog Basic Thinking, the European plastics lobby has captured a domain name related to an upcoming documentary called Plastic Planet.



The official German website of the film now is http://www.plastic-planet.de, but the European plastics lobby "PlasticsEurope" had already captured http://www.plasticplanet.de on which it presents "a balanced discussion" about plastics in direct reaction to the film.

Isn't it funny to get a balanced discussion from a biased organisation?

This is a perfect example on how European level lobby organisations are not only active in the Brussels bubble trying to influence the minds and draft decisions of parliamentarians and officials, but also on the national level using their power to get into the brains of all of us.

One more reason to watch the film!

How eco-friendly is "Think About It 2: Climate Change"?

Think about it! has gone into a second round, this time covering climate change ahead of the Copenhagen Climate Summit at the end of the year.

But is #think2 really eco-friendly, eco-helpful, eco-sensible, eco-effective etc.?

If "some 90 bloggers from 43 countries" travelled to Copenhagen for the launch event last week - the majority by plane, I suppose - how much energy has been spent to make this happen? And won't this happen a second time with a possible closing event?

Using hotel rooms filled with electrical devices like huge televisions (I suppose they were there), running a conference venue with microphones and video projectors, including tasty buffets and joint trips, doesn't this all cost a hell lot of additional energy?

Giving new HD cameras to the participants, doesn't it mean a lot of energy has been invested to produce these devices, and will the bloggers not have to recharge these cameras after each 2-4 hours of filming?

And doesn't running a server for 90 blogs that will include a lot of video material over two months cost quite some energy too, not to talk about the computer time used to write the blog posts, edit the videos, run telephone conferences for podcasts?

In the end, won't even more people spend time in front of their monitors and mobile devices reading, watching, and commenting on what is posted on Think2 - without changing their lifestyle or without any decision-maker having the time to go through the content to find some new inspiration for a diplomatic process that doesn't follow the rules of the net?

Wouldn't the most eco-friendly solution be that they all stay at home, riding a bike from and to work and using as few energy as possible instead of spending time and electricity on blogging activities?

So isn't all this climate change conference hype part of the problem, and not part of the solution - which would be to radically change our lifestyle in favour of less energy consuming activities and behaviours?

Environmental Council discusses CAP health check [supplemented]

On today's and tomorrow's agenda of the EU Council of Environmental questions, there is one issue concerning the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Union.

Under the title "CAP Health Check" - an initiative launched by the Commission in late 2007 (and which seems to have been discussed by many, including Martin at the EESC as well as a broader coalition outside the institutions) - the French EU Council Presidency has issued a document in which it describes further steps to be taken to reform the CAP. Under the initative, several new regulations will be developed, inter alia paving

"the way for increased consideration of environmental aspects in the CAP, in particular with respect to two points:

– the increase in the financial resources of the rural development policy to provide a better
response to the "new challenges" identified by the Commission;
– the inclusion of water management in the cross-compliance criteria for support under the first pillar."

The initiative includes also changes in payment schemes, favouring regional development, but since I am not an expert in CAP policies, I excuse for not trying to explain any details.

It seems as if some of the issues of the CAP reform have already advanced considerably, because in the Presidency document it is laid down that the next Agriculture and Fisheries Council (17-19 November 2008) is expected to bring an agreement between the member states on these issues.

The European Parliament is also expected to vote on the CAP health check on 19 November, the last day of the EU Council meeting. Some media report that the initial proposal by the Commission has been considerably watered down by the EP's agricultural committee.

However, when you read the document, it does not look like a full and comprehensive CAP reform that would be needed in order to change the course of the European Union considerably is on its way.

Everything laid out in the document rather look like adjustments, some technical and some political, but without much vision.