The Big Ask Climate Debate comments_2528 April 2008
As co-ordinator of my local Friends of the Earth group and a transport planner working to integrate land use and transport planning I would like to ask the Prime Minister why we still do not have joined up government?
Why is the promotion of sustainable development now a key aim of land use planning policy but not of transport policy? Where is the reference to sustainable development and reducing carbon emissions in the guidance on Local Transport Plans and the Transport Shared Priorities which shape them, their assessment by the DfT and the funding allocated to local authorities for transport? Where is the same reference in the Transport Innovation Fund proposals? Where is the same reference in the Government's continued policies on airport expansion and road building?Why is the planning system supposed to be reducing the need to travel and promoting sustainable lifestyles when state policies on education and health are increasing centralisation of services? By offering more choice on where people go for such services are they not merely increasing travel distances, thereby carbon emissions, as well as adding to the social exclusion of the most disadvantaged who do not have the information or means to travel (usually by car)? Why can we not develop reliable, integrated public transport with proper interchange and through ticketing of the type which is standard elsewhere in Europe? How can we seriously expect to promote urban bus use in preference to the car when I cannot buy an advanced ticket for my local bus service within walking distance of my house and single fares (for which I need the exact change) have gone up by over 20% whilst service frequency has declined in 3 the last years ?
I would like to believe that the Prime Minister understands the nature of the solution and not just the problem but the actions of his Government do not suggest that he does. Special pleading from different sectors such as the air industry is not acceptable, all must play a role in reducing carbon emissions. There is not magic solution, only a holistic approach and range of solutions to tackle the issue.
Ric Bravery
Climate Change is a global problem. Unless theres a rapid revolution in the manner in which development takes place, climate is going to become mighty inhospitable to the continued existence of humanity on this planet. I think the PM recognises this.
The developed countries like ours have created the problem by addiction to cheap carbon based energy - an unsustainable addiction that is rapidly spreading. Its vital we get our house in order to show that sustainable development is the only viable way.
Maybe the biggest difficulty is getting the ideas & plans put into practice - but its amazing what can be achieved once everybody is pulling in the same direction!
Clive Brown
I just wish that when politicians say something that they would actually follow through with some meaningful action. By not having this bill accountable to ensure that action is actually taken, it'll probably mean that this issue can, and will, just be fudged again. I just find it abhorrant that now Trident is currently being debated and seriously considered by the Government. Yet the issues of Global Warming do not seem to be taken seriously by our Government with the same level of importance or urgency.
Unless everyone on this planet takes action, (not just talk or spin),to try to reduce emissions of greenhouse gasses and seriously consider the implications of the problems the human race and everything on this planet is facing, (in a relatively short space of time), then all of this talk is irrelevant.
I will only have faith in Tony Blair and his Government if they followed through the talk with action. They are happy to speak on television or in radio interviews as to how serious this issue is, but then for example, they sanction yet more airport expansion, or the increased budget for expansion on roads. Why is it that legislation seems to favour business over the population? Why are there no tax penalties for those who pollute the most? It is the only way to make business or people change their ways, hit them in the pocket! If the Government is really concerned surely they would address these issues first and foremost, and legislate for the common good of the people it is supposed to represent.
Andrea Parratt
The executive summary of the Stern Review (page 21) calls for 'educating those currently at school about climate change'.
The IET sponsored, 2006 Faraday Lecture,'Emission Impossible - Can Technology Save the Planet' is an excellent tool for this and the Government should provide the DVD to all secondary schools to stimulate debate.The Rotary Club of Wigan is working with local schools to achieve this and the response has been very good. Schools seem very keen to get involved.
Terry Hogan
Here's an off-the-wall idea but sometimes they grow into mainstream ideas.
I notice the Houses of Parliament are bathed in floodlights at night. I imagine there are security and tourism implications but imagine what a message it would send to the public and the world at large if those lights were switched off.Apart from the obvious savings in energy and money, it would highlight the seriousness of climate change, the need for action and show that the government intends leading the way by setting its own house in order.
To fully address climate change we need the same modification in public attitudes that saw fur-wearing and smoking in public become unacceptable. Such a high-profile gesture would surely help that transformation along its way.
Trevor Humphreys
Two points about economics. First no-one (not even Tony J) seems to have noticed that the aim of saving the planet and the livlihoods of future generations is flatly contradicted by the 'free market' mantra of 'Growth, growth and more growth' endlessly repeated by most governments in the world and nearly all political parties in this country. Until we change the basis of the world economy we will not acieve our environmental aims.
Second those who moan about taxes forget that the majority of the tax 'take' goes on things like the Iraq war and the manic idea of an 'independent nuclear deterent' Even if all the recommendations that people like Friends of the Earth are making the cost, even in monetary terms. would be far less than is presently spent on these things - which produce nothing but fear, death and disaster. But as George Monbiot correctly points you CAN'T cost these things in money. How much is our children's whole future worth in sterling or dollars or yuan?
Doug Holly
Global warming is a global problem and Kyoto is a farce unless the industrialising nations of China & India are included. I have witnessed first hand industry in China and its an environmental nightmare. Our taxes discriminate against efficient UK manufacturers so that we are forced to source goods from less efficient subsidised companies in China.Then we have the environmental costs of shipping the goods 6,000 miles. Reducing CO2 emissions here by trebling them in China is what our politicians want, why? I have no idea
Alan McGee
Dear Prime Minister
Please declare a global state of emergency and create a new, solutions-oriented, multi-disciplinary, publicly funded, independent body. The Stern Report has led the way.
You and your government have undoubtedly done more than most in dealing with the single greatest threat our species has faced in historical times. It is however far from enough and far from what the situation really calls for.
Perhaps it would help develop this missing sense of universal urgency demanded by the situation we face if we discarded the erroneous slogan "save the planet" and replaced it with the factually far more correct "save humanity" or the lengthier and more justified "save life on planet earth".
Britain needs to offer more than simply decreasing its already tiny 2% contribution to global carbon emissions : much of what has shaped modern society (Industrial Revolution, economic theory, cheap air travel, privatisation of public services, etc.) originated here. We have time and again shown that when we have drawn together in the face of a recognised and common enemy we can draw on an extraordinary pool of creative, solution-finding talent.
Pleas help tell the potentially worst truth (and do not worry about the potential panic this may in the short-term create) so that we can liberate the best in our national character towards speedily mounting war against our old ways of treating our tiny planetary home. Yes, we need to go on making our 2% of global CO2 production shrink, so that we can demonstrate the seriousness of our intent; but no, we cannot rest there and expect the world to follow. There are far too many short-sighted interests who still claim that we are not threatened to the extent most science and the evidence suggests, or who believe that solutions can be cobbled together when the problems manifest. We need a strong, respected national government to come out with an emergency declaration and matching action. The Indian Ocean Tsunami and New Orleans are two small pointers towards what awaits us (and reminders that current approaches cannot readily cope with disasters of such scale).
Please make this global declaration in strong and unequivocal terms and simultaneously announce the creation of a multi-disciplinary new organisation, charged and funded to attract the best in ideas and solutions from all over the world. Let this body bring together scientists and military men and give them the task to define practical solutions and to draw up major rapid-response disaster emergency plans. Shield them from those short-sighted interest groups who want matters to proceed as normal. Ask them actively to look at initiatives like the potential solar energy farms suggested by a German government study (summarised in this Monday's Guardian), which can be implemented now and within a number of years supply the world's energy from desert sunlight. Scrap nuclear plans, if for no other reason than the simple fact that we do not have the time to build the proposed power-stations, and, in any event, these again rely on finite resources, while solar-energy solutions certainly do not. Only last week I sat with an Algerian Government Minister who expressed a desire for collaboration with Britain in developing solar power and post-oil technologies. The world has in times of dire need looked to Britain for enlightened leadership; this one incident suggests that this is again the case.
Let this newly created independent organisation, shielded from external pressure and funded by the public purse, come up with viable solutions as if we were planning a military campaign. Only business and the military are able to react quickly in emergency situations such as the one(s) we are facing; business is still too divided to have seen the true nature of the threat, so let men with military training and proven abilities to mount campaigns, with science at their side, tackle the task by way of recommending strategies and tactics that this great nation can then both offer to the world and lead the way in implementing. The City of London will happily fund solutions that demonstrably will maintain life, which equates to markets!
At 64, with successful careers in the military, industry, banking and business behind me, and a life-long interest in environmental and global warming issues, I have little doubt that we can still come up with solutions, but know with absolute certainty that they will require a sense of urgency and scale that cannot be achieved conventionally, but only robust, truly extraordinary leadership will effect. At this stage in your career, where accident or destiny has placed you, you, Mr Blair, have a chance to do something for which you will be remembered for as long as history will be written and related. Mr Blair, please throw caution to the wind and provide this extraordinary leadership.
You too will have to answer the question of future generations and what did you do when you found out. Unless we each did something extraordinary, any other answer will sound hollow and flat (always assuming there is still somebody around to hear it)!
Peter Rae
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