Photo credit: rockcohen

Green political parties from across Europe made a successful European parliament election this past week. The European Greens gained 11 new seats in the parliament and will now have a total of 46 Green MEPs, an increase with 31%. The Greens/EFA Group is now likely to have 53 MEPS (46 Greens and 7 EFA MEPs).

“To have increased the number of Green MEPs from 35 to 46 is a great success. Our showing is even more remarkable when you consider that we have 11 more seats than before in a parliament with 49 fewer MEPS and that all other groups have shrunk”, said EGP Co-Spokesperson Philippe Lamberts, who has been elected a MEP for the Belgian French-speaking Green Party Ecolo.

In France the green political party Europe-Ecologie gained 16% of the votes and will thus send 13 green MEPs to the European parliament. Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Denmark and Finland are other countries where the greens will receive more MEPs than from the last EU election. In Greece 3.48% of the people voted for Ecologoi-Prasinoi and as a result Greece will be able to send their first green MEP to the European Parliament.

“The Greek Greens’ campaign demonstrated European solidarity as an Austrian-Greek Green stood as a candidate to support the Greek party”.

“What our 31% increase in seats proves beyond any shadow of a doubt is that the Greens are a major political force to be reckoned with and that we are gaining the trust of more and more voters, not only in our traditional areas like the environment and climate policy and human rights, but also economics and social policy“, Lamberts said.

The greens across Europe will together and stronger than ever work hard to gain support in the parliament for their €500 billion new Green Deal which will help solve the economic crisis and save our climate.

EGP Co-Spokesperson Ulrike Lunacek, who was also elected a MEP for the Austrian Greens and managed to maintain their 2 seats despite heavy waves of rightwing populism, thanked all the people who dared to “Think Big, Vote Green”.

“We will fight hard on their behalf for a Green New Deal for Europe, which was at the heart of our common election campaign and obviously appealed to many voters, including many who had never voted Green before,” she said. “The Green New Deal would not only create 5 million new Green-Collar jobs in 5 years but would also help fight climate change as 500 billion Euros of public and private funds would be invested in renewables, energy efficiency and other future-oriented technologies”.

I am happy to see that the Greens has a growing support among the voters across Europe, and that they will with the support of the voters get at least 10 more seats in the EU parliament. And I am happy to see that Sweden (for now) isn’t taking part in the Europe-wide trend of sending far-right extremist, racists and anti-democratic political parties to the European Parliament.

Election Results

The Green election results can be found below:

Watch:

via Vote or Die 2009

The upcoming European Elections are just a few days away. And when it comes to saving the climate this EU election is one of the more important ones. And I believe it’s definitely something you must take part in if you care the slightest about the climate, your children and their future, the environment or just the well state of your country.

But how, when and on who should you vote for? Don’t worry! Green Blog got you covered. You can find out when the deadline for voting is in your country by using this map here. And here you will find a complete list of green political parties that you can vote for around Europe.

Find your country’s green party and vote for it in the upcoming EU election. It really isn’t harder than that! This is our chance to vote for change. Don’t waste it.

Photo credit: rockcohen

The upcoming European Elections are just a few weeks away. And when it comes to saving the climate this EU election is one of the more important ones. And I believe it’s definitely something you must take part in if you care the slightest about the climate, your children and their future, the environment or just the well state of your country.

As you probably already know by now time is no longer on our side when it comes to fighting man-made climate change. We need radical actions now if we are to have the slightest chance to stop the worst doomsday scenarios. That is why this election is so important. Because whatever you like it or not the decisions which are being made in the European Parliament affects all member states. So this is our chance to vote for meaningful actions against climate change that will affect politics and regulations both in Europe and around the world. Don’t wait until the next European Parliament elections in 2014, because then it will be too late.

How to vote?

If you live in one of the 27 member states of the European Union, and are eligible to vote, you can take part in the election and help save out climate by voting for a green political party. Yes, you read right. I am asking you to vote for a political party that might not be the right party for you personally in terms of your political views or ideology. But this is such an important, almost a once in a lifetime, election for the climate and the future of our civilization which require us to vote for political parties that actually stands for real actions against climate change.

When to vote?

The elections will take place in early June and all member states votes on different dates. For example the UK voting will be on the 4th and in Sweden the voting is not until the 7th. You can find out when the deadline for voting is in your country by using this map here.

Who should you vote for?

Because Europe has so many different political parties it’s hard to tell exactly which party should get your vote. That is why I think the easiest way to decide is to choose a political party that is a member of the European Greens (They have even set up a website to promote their candidates and their new green deal for Europe which will help solve the economic crisis and save our climate).

The following parties listed below are members of the European Greens:

• Albania: Partia e Gjelber
• Austria: Die Grünen
• Belgium: Ecolo OR Groen!
• Bulgaria: Bulgarian Green Party/Bulgarian Greens
• Cyprus: Cyprus Green Party
• Czech Republic: Strana Zelenych
• Estonia: Eestimaa Rohelised
• Finland: Vihreät De Gröna
• France: Les Verts
• Germany: Bündnis90/Die Grünen
• Greece: Ecologoi-Prasinoi
• Hungary: Zöld Demokraták Szövetsége
• Ireland: Comhaontas Glas
• Italy: Federazione dei Verdi
• Latvia: Latvijas Zala Partija
• Luxembourg: déi gréng
• Malta: Alternattiva Demokratika
• Moldova: Partidul Ecologist din Moldova “Aliante Verde” (PEM AVE)
• Netherlands: De Groenen OR GroenLinks
• Poland: Zieloni 2004
• Portugal: Partido Ecologista “Os Verdes”
• Romania: The Green Party
• Slovakia: Strana Zelenych (SZ)
• Slovenia: Stranka mladih Slovenije (SMS)
• Spain: Los Verdes OR Iniciativa per Catalunya Verds (ICV)
• Sweden: Miljöpartiet de Gröna
• United Kingdom: The Green Party of England & Wales OR Scottish Green Party

Find your country’s green party and vote for it in the upcoming EU election. It really isn’t harder than that!

This is our chance to vote for change. Don’t waste it.

“Quietly in public, loudly in private, climate scientists everywhere are saying the same thing: it’s over. The years in which more than 2C of global warming could have been prevented have passed, the opportunities squandered by denial and delay. On current trajectories we’ll be lucky to get away with 4C. Mitigation (limiting greenhouse gas pollution) has failed; now we must adapt to what nature sends our way. If we can.”

Read this important piece on the Guardian!

Action on the Maasvlakte: activists plant 18 flags, one for each nationality at the camp

As part of their global Quit Coal Campaign, Greenpeace activists from 18 different countries have today occupied the construction site of a new E.ON coal fired power plant on the Maasvlakte in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The construction of the plant has halted and the activists say they will stay until the coal plant is cancelled.

“E.ON is ignoring all science around climate change by insisting on plans to construct eight new European coal fired power plants. The plant in Rotterdam is intended to be the first, even though it has not yet been granted the necessary permits. The previous evening the activists put up tents, next to the building site, to bear witness to the unfolding climate disaster. Then at first light they moved onto the site, paralysing the construction of the plant.”

The activists have locked themselves onto strategic points at the construction site and occupied the building cranes.

“Civil disobedience, like occupying a building site, is completely justified when compared to the impact on the climate of a new coal plant. The consequences for the climate from this coal plant would be so dramatic, that urgent action is needed now,” said Meike Baretta, Head of Climate and Energy campaign Greenpeace Netherlands.

Greenpeace and other climate and anti-coal organisations have been strengthen by the British “landmark global warming trial” in September which acquitted six activists who tried to shut down the Kingsnorth coal plant in the UK. The jury “found their actions justified when considering the damage to property caused around the world by CO2 emissions from the plant”.

Greenpeace is currently trying to put pressure on E.ON to commit to reducing its CO2 emissions. And today’s occupation is just one of several recent actions by Greenpeace targeted E.ON coal operations in Europe. Greenpeace recently led a flotilla against Kingsnorth, occupied the site of a proposed coal fired plant in Antwerp and halted the loading of an E.ON owned coal plant in Sardinia.

Greenpeace warns that coal-fired power stations will undermine European targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2020. EON has so far remained silent and continued its climate wrecking operations.

Update: The Greenpeace activists managed to halt the construction of the new E.ON coal plant for 10 hours before they were all arrested by police. Special police cut their chains and neck locks and removed everyone from the site by the end of the day.

Here is a clever ad on a bridge in Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands, one of the countries in Europe that will face the worst consequences of global warming.

The advert says: “If the water reached this level we would not need the bridge. Drive on, maybe we will achieve this!”

Via Woostercollective.com