Shale gas firm Cuadrilla Resources received a boost in its plan to start fracking in north west England on Monday when local government recommended that its application to drill up to four exploration wells should be granted. The company’s project at Preston New Road near Blackpool could become Britain’s first shale gas production wells, and could lead a drive to develop the unconventional resource as Britain’s North Sea gas and oil production declines. --
Reuters, 15 June 2015
Where have all our woods gone? Up in smoke – as the new trendy ‘green’ wood-burning stoves and boilers (funded by tax millions) are being fuelled by birches and oaks… leaving swathes of Britain barren. --David Rose,
Mail on Sunday, 14 June 2015
Pope Francis said Thursday he is convinced that global warming is "mostly" man-made and that he hopes his upcoming encyclical on the environment will encourage negotiators at a climate change meeting in Paris to make "courageous" decisions to protect God's creation. While in the Philippines, Francis will meet with survivors of the 2013 Typhoon Haiyan, which the government has said was an example of the extreme weather conditions that global warming has wrought. --Nicol Winfielde,
Associated Press, 15 June 2015
The Pope will take on global warming sceptics this week by blaming climate change and extreme weather on man. He will release an encyclical, or official guide, which says that humanity is “slapping nature in the face”. He hopes that the paper will sway a UN conference in Paris in December that could commit nations to cut emissions. The Pope has already described pollution as a sin and although Vatican officials have insisted that he is not wading into politics, the encyclical is already under attack from critics, some of whom will question his science. --Tom Kington,
The Times, 15 June 2015
It took 350 years and John Paul II to close the ‘Galileo case’, clarifying that the Bible should not be interpreted as if it were a scientific manual. And here we are putting the doctrine of Creation and climate policies back together, as if one descended from the other. In short, the real change of climate that we should worry about is the one in the Church. --Riccardo Cascioli,
Global Warming Policy Forum, 27 May 2015
The foreign policy adviser to Poland's president-elect has signalled a more assertive approach to Germany, saying Berlin must end its opposition to NATO military bases on Polish soil and also accept Warsaw's wish to protect its coal industry. Szczerski made clear Duda would challenge Germany on European Union energy policy too, where Berlin is a major advocate of renewable forms of energy and of cutting the bloc's reliance on carbon-emitting fuels such as coal. "Berlin must agree to such adjustments of EU's climate and energy policy that will allow the continued mining of Polish coal," he said. --
Reuters, 14 June 2015
