A selection of news stories

I've been away for a couple of weeks, during which there have been some interesting stories in the news. So, in no particular order...

Six Greenpeace activists who caused £30,000 of damage to the coal-fired power station at Kingsnorth were found not guilty by a jury after expert evidence was presented that they were acting to present much greater damage from climate change. Twelve ordinary members of the public found the evidence convincing and brought in a historic 'not guilty' verdict. This is the first case where preventing property damage from climate change has been used as part of a 'lawful excuse' defence in Crown Court.

Some research reported in the Guardian found that those people who were most aware of climate change were actually doing the most damage to the planet by flying further and more often. There is clearly a massive gap in understanding here, since so many people think that recycling is a sufficient 'green' compensation for taking long-haul flights.

Mark Lynas, a respected environmentalist, has just come out in favour of nuclear power as part of the solution to climate change. The heated discussion on his blog centres around two issues, it seems. Firstly, how great a practical contribution nuclear power can make to cutting carbon emissions, and secondly, the true size of the risks that nuclear power presents. The second is a much more difficult question to resolve, since there are two elements to risk: how likely something is, and how bad the impact would be if it did happen. While I'm not in a position to draw authoritative conclusions on either of these questions (at least not without a lot more reading!) I strongly agree with Mark Lynas that the evidence should be examined afresh. When faced with the massive threat of climate change, the risk from nuclear power may turn out to be worth taking. On the other hand, nuclear power may prove to be an expensive distraction from renewables.

Finally scientists have reported methane being released from frozen seabeds in Siberia. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, and it has long been feared that if it is released as the permafrost warms up, this could cause runaway global warming. No one knows yet exactly what the new evidence means, but it is at the least a timely reminder of urgency.