Listen to us... please....somebody

Poor old Friends of the Earth, this time last year they were oh so important. On the agenda of every EU Council meeting Climate Change stood like a collosos. Copenhagen was a bright hope and the political elite hammered down their doors just to be seen clutching a frond of Friends of the Earthery.

So it is with some sadness I report Friends of the Earth's press release today, desperately trying to get some purchase whilst the big boys discuss important stuff like budgets and the financial disaster.

"The EU has a crucial opportunity to kick-start the UN climate talks in Cancun when they open next month.

"It is vital that the EU reiterates its unconditional support for strong legally- binding emissions cuts under a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol - anything less will leave the world in grave danger of catastrophic climate change and put the lives of billions of the world's poorest people in jeopardy.

"The EU must end its support for expanding carbon markets, which could create a global speculative bubble in carbon trading - a double whammy of financial and environmental disaster.

"The EU must put new money on the table to enable developing countries to cope with the impacts of climate change and grown cleanly, and commit to cutting its emissions by at least 40 per cent by 2020 without offsetting.

"The EU was a world leader in tackling climate change and must find the political will to become one again - even if that means leaving the US outside of any subsequent climate agreement."

Yopu can hear the pain in spokesperson Asad Rehman as he uses that past tense. "The EU was a world leader..." Get over it Asad, they don't care, never did, they only pretended to because they thougfht it could get them votes.

You and your creed has been rumbled.