It’s less than a year until the major UN climate change meeting in Copenhagen – where the nations of the world are meant to settle on an agreement that will take us the next step on from the Kyoto Protocol. In the lead-up to Copenhagen, nations have been meeting at Poznan in Poland to prepare the ground.

One of the many issues in the climate debate has been how to halt rampant deforestation in developing countries. Destruction of forests is a significant contributor to global warming. It’s thought to be up to 20% of the problem.

But how do we get poor countries to stop chopping down their trees when they need money for the basics we take for granted – like food and education? And as some in the developing world would argue, why should they stop when the West has already done the deed on its own forests.

On the sidelines of Poznan green groups are pitching their own solutions. In the following interview, we examine an interesting proposal from Greenpeace on deforestation. It proposes that the money generated from auctioning pollution permits in Developed countries be used to encourage Developing countries to keep their trees.

Audio: Paul Winn is Greenpeace’s ‘Forests for Climate’ campaigner. He’s speaking with Carolin Wenzel about Greenpeace’s deforestation proposal . Paul is on the ground in Poznan Poland.

Useful links:
Official 2009 Copenhagen Meeting website
Background on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
Greenpeace’s Forests for Climate Report “Preserving Paradise”
Greenpeace Poznan blog
Oxfam’s Climate Change Campaign

Video:
UNFCCC Exec Sec Yvo de Boer explains what the conference is meant to achieve. And MIA President Elect Obama gives us his thoughts on climate change.

Articles:
The spin sounds good in theory, but as we’re hearing from Poznan, the reality of these climate talks is somewhat different. Check out this recent article from The Age – ‘Hot air but little else at global climate talks’. No surprise really when you get that many bureaucrats and politicians in one place.

See also this BBC article ‘Peru says it can reach zero deforestation in 10 years with funds from the West’.

Photo:
Let the hot air begin. The UN Climate Change Conference opening. Shot by Piotr Fajfer from Oxfam International. And you can see the reality of third wild forest logging at Phil’s photo favourites.

So what will be the fate of the Greenpeace proposal? Maybe it will plant the seed.

Fresh from its gig in Paris, the Bicycle Film Festival is about to start the Australian leg of its world tour. First stop Sydney this Friday and Saturday night, 14 and 15 November. Then onto Melbourne from 21 to 23 November.

Video: Have a sneak peek at ‘Perfect Circle’ – featuring Matthew Modine. (Many of the films in the festival are shorts.)

Audio: Listen to a clip from the Bicycle Film Festival movie – Perfect Circle.

The humble bicycle is an amazing thing. It can get you from A to B, doesn’t use oil, doesn’t generate pollution, costs almost nothing to run, keeps you fit and makes you feel great. It also takes cars off the road and makes cities more human.

A growing number of people are buying and riding bikes. And with it there’s a growing number of hard-core proponents. A few them are even making movies about their big bike love.

Useful links: Bicycle Film Festival Sydney program, Bicycle Film Festival Melbourne program, BFF Sydney blog.

More videos: at the Bicycle Film Festival international website.

You may know Adam Spencer as a presenter of ABC Radio in Sydney and from ABC TV. But did you know he cycles everywhere and hardly ever drives?

In the lead up to ‘Ride to Work Day’, Adam goes into bat for the bike. In fact, in this interview he says what he really thinks of the constant hoo-haa about building more roads and tunnels in our cities. And doing the traffic report when you don’t drive a car.

Audio: Listen to our interview with Adam Spencer on why the bike is better.

Video: Adam Spencer also has a gentle word about the price of petrol.

Adam initially started cycling to loose weight. (Do you remember the pudgey comedian of the nineties?) But once he started, he got hooked. Now he uses his bike as his vehicle of choice.

This coming Wednesday is National Ride to Work Day. The aim of the day is to raise the profile of the humble bicycle as a way of commuting and encourage newcomers to try it out.

On the eve of the day we thought we’d let Adam put the case.

Not convinced of the advantages? How about a free breakfast to encourage you to give it a go? There are free breakfasts all over the country for people who take part in Ride to Work Day. One of the Sydney ones is at Hyde Park South.

Useful links: The Ride to Work Day website has more information about the day. (They’re keen for people to register so they can keep track of the numbers.)

Photo: Adam Spencer, cycling advocate and sometime ABC presenter, at Live Earth. Shot by James Kirsop.

At the recent Sydney Film Festival I saw a great new documentary called ‘The Cars That Ate China’. In this podcast the director Stefan Moore discusses the background to the film and we hear a clip with Joe White, China correspondent for the Wall Street Journal.

Joe takes us to the Beijing car show and explains how foreign car makers are piling into China to make a killing in the last big score in car manufacturing.

Audio: Listen to The Cars That Ate China interview and movie podcast – part 1, Joe White and the Beijing Car Show.

Link: More about the film on the makers’ website Jumping Dog Productions.

Photo: Commutr, Creative Commons, Flickr

Western marketing has moved into China in a big way. In this podcast we hear a clip from the film ‘The Cars That Ate China’ with Tom Doctoroff from J Walter Thompson Advertising. He explains how marketers have tapped into Chinese thinking. And specifically why the Chinese have gone so nuts about getting a car.

Audio: Listen to The Cars that Ate China movie podcast – part 2, Tom Doctoroff on Chinese consumer behaviour.

Photo: decade_null, Creative Commons, Flickr.

Audio: Listen to The Cars That Ate China movie podcast – part 3, James Kyng on the implications for the world’s environment.

Audio: Listen to the final bit of the interview with Stefan Moore, director of the film The Cars That Ate China.

Watch the FuelWatch commercial.

Bruce says governments should be informing people and preparing our economies now for peak oil, the inevitable declining rate of oil production.
Listen to the podcast interview with Bruce Robinson (from the Association for the Study of Peak Oil.)

So what is happening with oil?

There’s no doubt the world’s demand for oil is increasing in a big way. What is in contention is the world’s supply.

A growing number of experts are saying we won’t be able to keep up with the world’s insatiable demand. And in fact, we’ve reached a tipping point. The term they’re using is ‘peak oil’.

In this interview, Michael Lardelli from the University of Adelaide sounds the alarm bells. Listen to the interview with Michael Lardelli on peak oil.

So is biofuel an important solution to our transport energy needs. Or is it creating problems the world doesn’t need?

To find out more about biofuels and the situation for biofuels in Australia, I spoke with the CSIRO’s biofuels expert Deborah O’Connell. I started by asking where biofuels come from.  Listen to the biofuels interview.

He also tells us about the transformation of the Melbourne CBD (thanks to his plans.)

More common sense and dry Scandinavian humour from the urban planning rock star.