Agnieszka Tomaszewska

Solidarity means responsibility for other people

Recent weeks have abounded with events related to counteracting climate change in which we have had our share. Because of all the preparations, I have not been able to write about them earlier, which I hope, you will forgive me. Here are some of the events.

On 5 November, at the Embassy conference centre, about 80 people gathered to find out more about a publication of the Foundation for the Development of Polish Agriculture (FDPA) “Renewable energy sources and measures for adapting to climate change in agriculture and in rural areas – examples of EU experience”. Apart from the speeches of the Ambassador and the President of the Foundation, we had an opportunity to listen to a discussion of ten experts – the authors of the publication. The discussion was facilitated by the Editor-in-Chief of the „Czysta Energia” [Clean Energy] monthly. The experts agreed that climate change was taking place. They also gave some specific examples of changes in nature which were a consequence of climate change. An amusing but at the same time a bitter example was given by Anna Grzybek, PhD, the book’s scientific editor. She talked about the extinction of male aphids. I suppose that a lot of us immediately thought about a very popular Polish comedy film, “Sex Mission”, presenting a world without men. 

One of the chapters of the FDPA publication has been devoted to renewable energy in the United Kingdom. I would like to use this opportunity and thank our colleagues from DECC and FCO for their assistance in collecting the materials. Those who are interested in the contents of the publication should check the following link.

On Monday, 9 November, together with my colleague from the Press & Communications section we accompanied the Ambassador to the Palace of Science and Culture in Warsaw to participate in the final stage of another, spring-summer edition of the social campaign run by the Centre for Citizenship Education (CEO) “Active by nature. Climate change – be a solution” . On this occasion, teams representing twenty schools from all over the country came to Warsaw. For the event, young people had prepared special stands presenting the projects implemented in their area, took part in workshops given by experts and had an opportunity to meet their peers from other regions. It was a  truly unusual event and very spectacular too, with prospects for developing to a larger scale in future. In his address, Mr. Krzysztof Stanowski, Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Science and Higher Education highlighted the importance of projects promoting protection of climate  implemented by young people. He said something that particularly appealed to me: “Solidarity means responsibility for other people”.

On the occasion of the CEO event, the Ambassador has been interviewed by Polish Radio. In the interview he has talked about the work of our Climate and Energy Unit, and cooperation with Polish government and organisations involved in projects promoting low carbon economy. The Ambassador has also mentioned the example of a British campaign “Act on CO2”, which, similarly to the CEO project, is addressed to the public, including young people of school age. 

Thanks to the Press & Communications section of the Embassy, a short video of the event in the Palace of Science and Culture will soon be ready. We will place it on our website, which I strongly encourage you to visit regularly.

Posted at 14:35 19 November 2009 by Agnieszka Tomaszewska  |  Comments[0]

Ed Miliband in Poland

On 7 October I had a chance to meet Ed Miliband (on the photograph). The UK Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change came to Poland to hold meetings with representatives of the Polish government before the COP15 climate negotiations in Copenhagen. He talked to the Minister of Finance, Mr. Jacek Rostowski and to senior officials of the Office of the Committee for European Integration, Ministry of Economy and other departments. He also gave an interview to the Rzeczpospolita daily.

In the afternoon, we arrived at the Warsaw School of Economics, where Ed Miliband gave a speech on why it is necessary to sign an ambitious global agreement to address climate change. In the Minister’s opinion, both moral arguments and responsibility for the planet we are going to leave to future generations as well as economic reasons call for such a solution. The cost of tackling climate change  is currently estimated at the level of 1% GDP, but if we decide to act only in ten or twenty years, the cost will be much higher. Ed Miliband also said that in order to reduce the costs of CO2 emissions, China, India and other big economies of the world should actively join the fight against climate change. The Minister indicated, however, that according to the UK, rich countries should support developing countries financially and help fund the projects leading to carbon reduction, as it would be impossible for those countries to finance such expensive projects on their own. At the end of his speech, Mr. Milliband quoted Jacek Kuroń, who said “Who if not you?”, the question that reminds us all that we are the ones who are responsible for what is happening around us and for the legacy we are going to leave to future generations. I think that these words could be a good motto for the Copenhagen summit.

I must say that I really enjoyed the question-and-answer part of the lecture, with questions asked by the audience: students, non-governmental organisations and representatives of business. While answering those questions, Ed Miliband had to talk about things as diverse as the role of business in fighting climate change and support that could be given by individual governments, through nuclear energy, to Al Gore’s documentary, to what UK would perceive as a success of the Copenhagen Summit, with only 60 days to the conference date.

Posted at 14:49 12 October 2009 by Agnieszka Tomaszewska  |  Comments[1]

Polish energy experts on a study visit to the UK

I am just browsing through photographs from a study visit to the UK of Ms. Ewa Kałuzińska and Mr. Bronisław Nowak, local government experts from Lubin and Cieszyn. The visit was a special prize funded by the British Embassy in the Most Energy Efficient Community in Poland competition, organised by the Polish National Energy Conservation Agency.
The visit in Woking , Leicester   and Southampton  took place in mid September and was one of our very special projects. Polish experts had an opportunity to see some practical aspects of fighting climate change and to visit the projects recently completed in those cities. The sites included railway stations, sports centres with roofs covered with solar panels and photovoltaic cells as well as small CHP units generating heat and electricity for the local area. The participants also visited cultural centres and houses of highest energy efficiency standards.
I know that it has been a very good study visit so I would like to thank all our partners involved in organising it. The photos I’ve received will be used to illustrate the interview that I’m going to carry out with the participants. We will publish the interview on our Embassy website and will make it available to all organisations interested in the UK experience with tackling climate change.

Posted at 14:14 09 October 2009 by Agnieszka Tomaszewska  |  Comments[0]