March, 2010 | The Environmental Safety Group

CoptoCap

In a few weeks time the ESG will be welcoming a special visitor to Gibraltar, along with his green vehicle and environmental exhibition. Xavier van der Stappen, and his cameraman, will be travelling 12,000kms from Copenhagen, all the way south to Cape Town, stopping at 25 countries along the way, including Gibraltar.

The aim of the trip is to promote renewable energy choices using the car as a prime example of how this can work. Xavier will bring along a 20 panel exhibition on issues like housing, mobility, energy and climate change. He will be visiting many Universities and Cultural centres on his way to South Africa where he expects to arrive amidst the expected media circus covering the opening of FIFA World Cup 2010.

On April 7th Xavier will be exhibiting his car and panels in Casemates between 11.00am to 4pm. The event will be attended by Minister for the Environment, Ernest Britto. A 60 minute feature film on a previous trip also promoting green energy will be broadcast on a loop at the Nature Shop, Casemates. Entry to film will be free although donations will be appreciated.

The ESG are pleased to be part of this exciting project and would like to encourage everyone in Gibraltar to take the time to visit this one off- one day exhibition and film and meet Xavier. His visit is during the Easter holidays so we would love to see parents and young people stopping by at some point during the day. Please look up www.coptocap.org for more information.

Background on vehicle and project profile

Xavier’s 2 seater, three wheeled vehicle is powered by various means; lithium polymer batteries, solar panel, dynamos and wind turbine and reaches 90km per hour with a 400km distance capacity. He will be travelling with his camera man and will be capturing his journey and the countries he visits for a future documentary.

This is not the first such trip Xavier has attempted. In 2009, he successfully piloted another prototype vehicle from Paris to Dakar (see www.parisdakaroil.org) covering 6000km, again promoting awareness of alternative technologies and the ‘think globally, act locally’ message.

Xavier van der Stappen is from Belgium and is a freelance reporter and film maker and headed the audio visual department of Medicin Sans Frontieres. Xavier is also an anthropologist and has written 15 books so far. He speciality is the relationship between man and nature in Africa and has exhibited jointly with various African Educational Ministries promoting the use of new technologies.

Files :

Cop to Cap Poster.pdf

Cop to Cap Leaflet.pdf

Switch Off Saturdat 8.30 – 09.30

The ESG wishes to remind everyone that this coming Saturday 27th March is Earth Hour 2010, a global campaign supported by 121 countries and many many thousands of cities this year. Basically everyone is urged to support this global act of consciousness by switching off your lights between 8.30 to 9.30pm.

Over 1/2 million individuals and organisations are already registered on the dedicated website: just Google Earth Hour 2010. The ESG has already signed up to this and our local Scouting organisation is once again promoting this campaign among its members.

Each year the switch off campaign serves as a strong reminder of our personal role in what are after all huge environmental issues linked to climate change. By many of us taking a small step together it can help create bigger waves and impacts and the ESG urges all those who are able to, to switch off this Saturday!!

ESG AGM ROUNDUP

The Environmental Safety Group is pleased to report on a favourable AGM it held yesterday in the John Mackintosh Hall. A decent number of members attended to give the meeting the necessary mandate to approve various proposals tabled by the Executive Committee. Among these were:

->Approval of new Constitution for ESG

->Re-Election of Committee

->Accounts

->Funding Plans

->New central office

->Proposed framework to encourage/facilitate direct participation by membership

->Details of new ESG website to be running by end of March

->Copies of ESG’s “Annual News Review Publication” available for members with updates on all campaigns

2010 is already proving to be a very exciting time for the ESG who is optimistic about achieving further progress in its campaigns.

Earth Hour

In Gibraltar the Earth Hour event is organised by the 1st/4th (MMHO) Gibraltar Scout Group. Earth Hour 2010 takes place on Saturday 27 March at 8.30pm (local time) and is a global call to action to every individual, every business and every community throughout the world. It is a call to stand up, to take responsibility, to get involved and lead the way towards a sustainable future. Iconic buildings and landmarks from Europe to Asia to the Americas will stand in darkness. People across the world from all walks of life will turn off their lights and join together in celebration and contemplation of the one thing we all have in common – our planet. So sign up now and let’s make 2010 the biggest Earth Hour yet!. Join us on the day.

Read how it all Started

Earth Hour started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia when 2.2 million homes and businesses turned their lights off for one hour to make their stand against climate change. Only a year later and Earth Hour had become a global sustainability movement with more than 50 million people across 35 countries participating. Global landmarks such as the, Sydney Harbour Bridge, The CN Tower in Toronto, The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, and Rome’s Colosseum, all stood in darkness, as symbols of hope for a cause that grows more urgent by the hour.

In March 2009, hundreds of millions of people took part in the third Earth Hour. Over 4000 cities in 88 countries officially switched off to pledge their support for the planet, making Earth Hour 2009 the world’s largest global climate change initiative.

Earth Hour 2010 takes place on Saturday 27 March at 8.30pm (local time) and is a global call to action to every individual, every business and every community throughout the world. It is a call to stand up, to take responsibility, to get involved and lead the way towards a sustainable future. Iconic buildings and landmarks from Europe to Asia to the Americas will stand in darkness. People across the world from all walks of life will turn off their lights and join together in celebration and contemplation of the one thing we all have in common – our planet. So sign up now and let’s make 2010 the biggest Earth Hour yet!.