Can people power beat climate change … Or will our greed overcome us?
Who cut down the last tree in Easter Island? Who will take the last cheap flight to Fun Valley?
The first few years of this government saw definite progress in reducing carbon emissions. There was a new political and scientific consensus that climate change was a major yet avoidable threat. However the last two years have seen a faltering in good practice and carbon emissions have been on the rise again.
Yesterday the government announced a review of progress on climate change. This drew a range of comments reported by the BBC.
“The review does not offer an effective solution for controlling total UK emissions. The government needs to address this now by setting a Carbon Budget, a comprehensive framework covering emissions across the whole economy.” Ashok Sinha, Stop Climate Chaos Coalition.
Most notably the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, said the public had a moral responsibility to change lifestyles. The consequences if they did not, the Archbishop warned, would be the deaths of billions of people worldwide from the effects of extreme climate change, suggesting that simple things like enforcing to the 70mph speed limit on motorways radically reduces the release of carbon dioxide.
Chelsea Tractors and cheap flights are some of the villains, but all of us want more travel, more goods from distant parts, cheaper clothes, cheaper holidays. These all have a carbon cost and are damaging the climate. Are we prepared to give some of this up?
In his visit to Australia and New Zealand Tony Blair has been sitting on a fence, speaking out for nations to take responsibility for their actions but not criticising those who fail to sign international agreement. His Australian counterpart John Howard, non signer of the Kyoto agreement, has the same view as the US administration, that whilst China and India are forging ahead it is not in their interests to curb their own carbon emissions.
As one US official put it, “We’re not going to close down our factories just so the Chinese can open one to produce the same amount of carbon”… This is plainly the road to disaster … A race to the end …
“Who cut down the last tree on Easter Island?” This question is posed by Jared Diamond in his book “Collapse” which looks at why societies have failed to manage environmental change. On Easter Island the whole population died because it was unable to stop its pattern of consumption. He traces the collapse and final struggles of many social groups that continued to consume and pollute long after it had become common knowledge that to do so meant the end.
He concludes that enlightened strong government or collective consensual government are best to manage environmental crisis. The worst is bickering power groups bent on self interest. Remind you of anything?
Who took the last cheap flight to Fun Valley? Will that be our epitaph? Or will we start telling our politicians it really is time to think of tomorrow.
For useful climate info see: Stop Climate Chaos
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