Blair must walk the talk on climate change
World-renowned scientist and President of the Royal Society, Lord May, has said that Tony Blair will not be able to continue claiming to be a world-leader on climate change because the UK has lost control of its own greenhouse gas emissions.
Lord May also explained to his peers that "research earlier this month suggests that a drop in rainfall in Ethiopia and surrounding countries in the past few years, where six to 10 million people are already facing serious food shortages, is also caused by a rise in sea surface temperatures, this time in the southern Indian Ocean. In the developing world climate change is about life and death - not just about domestic economics."
He continued by saying, "It is very difficult to criticise other countries, such as the United States, who will not meet their targets if we are unable to meet ours."
Tony Blair could start walking the talk by support a couple of backbencher bills that are being read for the second time in parliament today. The Management of Energy in Buildings Bill, promoted by Alan Whitehead, sounds like a great plan. It would require all new homes to have energy generation capacity such as solar panels or heat and power boilers. These would generate electricity that could be sold back to the electricity grid, thus reducing demand for dirty generation from coal and oil-fired power stations.
The Independent also ran a story on the effect of climate change on the British marine environment. The Environment Agency now says that climate change is the single biggest threat to British coasts, outweighing both pollution and overfishing! According to the Agency report erosion damage caused by global warming already represents an estimated cost of £100M/year to the UK economy and that cost is expected to grow over time.
Lord May also explained to his peers that "research earlier this month suggests that a drop in rainfall in Ethiopia and surrounding countries in the past few years, where six to 10 million people are already facing serious food shortages, is also caused by a rise in sea surface temperatures, this time in the southern Indian Ocean. In the developing world climate change is about life and death - not just about domestic economics."
He continued by saying, "It is very difficult to criticise other countries, such as the United States, who will not meet their targets if we are unable to meet ours."
Tony Blair could start walking the talk by support a couple of backbencher bills that are being read for the second time in parliament today. The Management of Energy in Buildings Bill, promoted by Alan Whitehead, sounds like a great plan. It would require all new homes to have energy generation capacity such as solar panels or heat and power boilers. These would generate electricity that could be sold back to the electricity grid, thus reducing demand for dirty generation from coal and oil-fired power stations.
The Independent also ran a story on the effect of climate change on the British marine environment. The Environment Agency now says that climate change is the single biggest threat to British coasts, outweighing both pollution and overfishing! According to the Agency report erosion damage caused by global warming already represents an estimated cost of £100M/year to the UK economy and that cost is expected to grow over time.
posted by Alexei @ 7:59 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home