Tag Archives: the co-operative

Shock and Ore – Tarnished Earth Street Gallery in Birmingham

Tarnished Earth, a dramatic street gallery of photographs telling the story of one of the world’s biggest ecological disasters, is set to remain in Centenary Way, Birmingham, until 13 February before continuing on its tour of the UK.

The free outdoor exhibition by Jiri Rezac is being staged by The Co-operative in conjunction with WWF-UK and Greenpeace to show how Canada’s magnificent Boreal Forest is being destroyed and polluted by the rush to extract oil from the tar sands just below the surface to supply the oil market.

More than one million people are estimated to have seen the striking images – which contrast the destruction caused by oil extraction with the area’s pristine wilderness and the traditional way of life of the indigenous First Nation Cree – since its unveiling in London’s Southbank in September.

Paul Monaghan, Head of Social Goals and Sustainability at The Co-operative, said:“It is really important that people see for themselves the scale of the environmental destruction which is being done in order to extract oil from tar sands.

“The greenhouse gas emissions from tar sands oil are far greater than those of conventional oil, and its exploitation alone would be sufficient to take the world to the brink of runaway climate change.

“Tarnished Earth vividly portrays the impact tar sands operations are having on this beautiful area of boreal forest which has been home to wildlife and the indigenous Cree nations for thousands of years.”

Via EPR Network
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The Co-operative Calls For Moratorium On Shale Gas Extraction In The UK

The Government should impose an immediate moratorium on the extraction of natural gas from the UK’s shale formations until all the ecological implications are fully understood.

That is the conclusion of a carefully considered report commissioned by The Co-operative to coincide with the UK premiere of the award winning film, Gasland, which shows the astonishing implications of shale gas extraction in the United States.

The report, written by the internationally respected Tyndall Centre, part of The University of Manchester, highlights evidence from the US, where some residents of Pennsylvania can now set fire to their drinking water, which suggests shale gas extraction brings a significant risk of groundwater contamination.

Moreover, the exploitation of gas shales is bringing new greenhouse gas sources into play and even a mid-range extraction scenario could see carbon dioxide levels rise globally by some 5 parts per million by 2050. This will further reduce any slim possibility of maintaining global temperature changes at or below 2˚C and thereby increase the risk of entering a period of ‘dangerous climate change’.

The report concludes that until a sufficient evidence base is developed, a precautionary approach to development in the UK is the only responsible action to take to minimise the potential impact on global climate change.

With conventional natural gas reserves declining globally, shale gas has emerged as a potentially significant new source of “unconventional gas”. In the United States, production of shale gas expanded fivefold between 1990 and 2008 and it is predicted that production will expand further to meet a significant proportion of US gas demand in the next 20 years.

The rapid growth of shale gas production in the US has raised interest in the UK, with a number of businesses beginning activities, particularly on the Fylde coast of North West England.

Via EPR Network
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