Will.i.am arrives by helicopter for flying visit to climate debate | Environment | guardian.co.uk

The musician's optimism is infectious, but can we make progress if green stars travel in vehicles that get one mile to the gallon?

..."When I was 15 or 16, I wanted a car, but kids today they want phones and computers. They want to be connected. Laptops, tablets, phones, iPads ... sharing their experiences on Facebook." And that presents an opportunity, according to Will.i.am, if people with access to those networks can find ways to make the global warming message "digestible, tangible and easy for people to understand".

That's something he's been trying to do for some time. Back in 2007, he released a song called SOS with a lyric reminiscent of Sir David King's famous comment: "We got a new terror threat, it's called the weather. More deadlier than chemical and nuclear together". What's striking listening to the track is how rare it is to hear a mainstream artist engaging directly with this topic in their music. Indeed, the rest of the climate rap oeuvre consists largely of spoofs.

Scare stories of sea rises and greenhouse gas will not reignite the climate change debate - Politics - Renewable energy news - Recharge - wind, solar, biomass, wave/tidal/hydro and geothermal

the animals brought to life warnings voiced earlier in the day about the number of species, as well as humans, under threat from global warming.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change chairman Rajendra Pachauri delivered these warnings to a special symposium on climate change and new technology
at this base just 1,231km from the North Pole.

“Between 20% and 30% of species are at risk of extinction if temperatures rise by between 1.5°C and 2.5°C. And yet we seem to be heading for an increase by
the end of the century of 4.5°C,” he said.

Pachauri, speaking from India by video link, warned that while the world should be working on mitigation as well as avoidance, going only for “some
adaptation will be useless”.

The mood inside the research station’s gym — turned into a conference hall for this annual event — was good-natured...

There was no surprise when German engineering group Siemens, one of the key promoters of the Desertec solar initiative in North Africa, admitted that
the plan is “not yet competitive”. Pressed to say when this ambitious scheme might see the light of day, Berndt Utz, the project’s head, could only
promise “certainly by the end of the century”.