Full Coverage: Northern Europe

31.01.2007 There will be one certainty after the Racial and Religious Hatred Act comes into law next month: the first case to test the new law will be brought by one religious group against the other, says Padraig Reidy.

31.01.2007 As New York came under attack on September 11 2001, janitor William Rodriguez bravely remained in the North Tower to help save lives. In February he is touring the UK to talk about his experiences and on why the families of victims and survivors are unhappy about the way 9/11 is being used to justify the "war on terror".

30.01.2007 from It's the Planet, Stupid! blog:
The climate 'pigs' really are flying. The deniers haven't gone away but they're becoming marginalised. It looks like the year things are going to really start to happen.

30.01.2007 On 26 February Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Miller will introduce the second reading of the Public Demonstrations Repeal Bill, an attempt to claw back some of the rights to protest lost after the enactment of the Serious Organised Crime and Policing Act in 2005. She talks to Padraig Reidy.

30.01.2007 The British MP who founded the All Party Parliamentary Climate Change Group announced today that he will not seek re-election, in order to concentrate on campaigning for a new international agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol on global warming.
+ Challen's website

29.01.2007 In September 2006, the forest industry giant UPM, based in Finland, announced its plan to get rid of its remaining 300 forestry workers. They and their union, the Wood and Allied Workers' Union, rejected the plan arguing that it is bad for both the company and its forests, let alone the workers themselves.

29.01.2007 from Mur Crusto eco-farm blog :
Construction begins for passive solar conservatory farmhouse heating system.

29.01.2007 Actors for Refugees, a network of professional performers dedicated to drawing public attention to the harsh realities faced by individuals who come to the UK to seek refuge, are currently touring their new production, Asylum Monologues, around the UK, and will be performing at the School of Oriental and African Studies on February 6.

29.01.2007 Get ready for Fairtrade Fortnight, 26 February–11 March, which will try to exceed last year's score of more than 10,000 events, from fashion shows and football matches, to concerts and exhibitions, with tastings of Fairtrade products in churches, mosques, synagogues, schools, universities, supermarkets and workplaces.
+ 50 Reasons To Buy Fair Trade

29.01.2007 from Christian Aid:
Christian Aid is looking for volunteers to join the longest ever protest march in UK history.

28.01.2007 from ecostreet blog:
The BBC's Climate Change experiment has been successful and the results have been revealed in a television programme and on their website. You can check out the results for yourself.

27.01.2007 from Monbiot.com:
The superstores are suddenly competing to be green. Can we trust them? asks George Monbiot.

26.01.2007 Once viewed as an expensive idea hatched by nutty environmentalists, recycling is now mainstream economic activity. But despite extensive recycling schemes, the average Finn produces about 500 kilos of waste every year and the planet still seems to be going down the tubes. So is the current emphasis on household recycling a case of too little, too late?

26.01.2007 from LogicalScience blog:
This turbine is claimed to be very quiet, usable around buildings, easily integrated into towers and the general urban environment.

26.01.2007 Freedom of expression groups have condemned a bid to exempt Parliament and its members’ correspondence from the Freedom of Information Act, dubbing it a “serious attack on the public’s right to know”.

25.01.2007 A BBC film to be broadcast on 1 February documents an expedition to make first contact with an isolated tribe in West Papua - and asks whether such people really exist. Survival estimates that approximately 107 uncontacted tribes exist worldwide - and all are threatened with extinction.

25.01.2007 from The Scotsman:
The world's largest community wind farm is to be built on Shetland, capable of generating enough power to supply a quarter of Scotland's homes.

24.01.2007 "Massive environmental damage" and "serious human rights abuses" by the mining industry in The Philippines are condemned today in a new report that warns expansion plans are set to make the problems worse.

24.01.2007 Prime Minister Tony Blair announced Monday that his country would sign a key European treaty against human trafficking, which will "bring the guarantee of help and protection for all trafficked people in the UK a step closer," according to Anti-Slavery International.

23.01.2007 from WorldChanging:
A recently completed project in Cornwall shows a way forward that is transferable and of a scale that makes sense.