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UK Public ‘still sceptical on climate change’
Press Association, Guardian
The UK public remains sceptical about how much impact climate change will have on the country and believes the problem is being overstated by politicians and scientists, according to a poll out today.
Research by Ipsos Mori shows that while most Britons recognise the problem of climate change and that humans have played a role in causing it, many are not convinced that the issue is as bad as the scientists and politicians claim.
There is also scepticism about “greenspin” and a feeling that the situation is being overstated in order to raise revenue rather than save the planet.
Despite efforts by the government to encourage people to take action to make their own lives greener, the researchers found many were ignoring the messages, and listed other issues as of greater immediate concern.
Although 45% of those questioned said climate change was the greatest threat to mankind, terrorism, crime, graffiti and even dog mess were all higher on the list of local concerns.
(3 July 2007)
Why hot air could be big business
Neasa MacErlean, The Observer
Joggers may think running is healthy but it has deadly side effects. The problem lies in the shoes: they contain a man-made chemical that eventually turns into a greenhouse gas 23,900 times more dangerous, in climate-change terms, than carbon dioxide. ..
Just as the new technology of carbon capture and storage is being developed to reduce CO2 emissions, so we need to develop ways to reduce our release of other, even more potent, gases such as methane, nitrous oxide and SF6. Carbon capture and storage could be worth £4bn a year in the UK, according to Edinburgh University, and the value of businesses associated with these other gases could also run into billions.
The International Energy Association calculates that greenhouse gases other than CO2 account for 20 per cent of emissions. The Netherlands has progressive policies for reducing these other gases: overall, Dutch greenhouse gas emissions (including CO2) increased 2 per cent from 1990 to 2004, but non-CO2 emissions fell 31 per cent. ..
(1 Jul 2007)
HSBC and The Independent
HSBC & The Independent
Providing the biggest polluters cooperate, a new global agreement on much deeper cuts is not just possible but likely. Time, however, is desperately short. The best evidence suggests that, if dangerous climate change is to be avoided, worldwide emissions must start to fall within a decade, which would involve making a deal in the next year or two. Over the longer term, the best and fairest solution dubbed ” contraction and convergence” would entitle everyone on the planet to the same share of a safe level of emissions and would apportion them to each country appropriately.
But wouldn’t such cuts bankrupt the world economy?
Not really. Any cost of taking action will be far outweighed by that of failing to tackle climate change. A landmark report for the British Government by Sir Nicholas Stern last year calculated that 1 per cent of GDP needs to be invested each year to address climate change and that failing to spend this could lead to a fall in GDP of 20 per cent and another Great Depression. The good news is that the countries and businesses that act first are likely to prosper by developing technologies that others will then want to buy. ..
(27 Jun 2007)
Contributor Lewis Cleverdon of the Global Commons Institute writes:
If the above has official Chinese approval, then the whole negotiation over resolving GW has just made a major step forward. Sadly Al Gore seems blithely unaware of the growing global demand for the C&C framework for a treaty.
Co-editor LJ:
It’s a public relations coup for HSBC to ‘partner’ a reputable newspaper in its coverage. Only time will tell whats window dressing and whats real.
EU Warns Citizens: Adapt to Climate Change Now
Jeff Mason, Reuters
European Union nations must adapt to climate change by using water more efficiently, adjusting crops and farming methods, and caring for elderly people vulnerable to heat, the EU executive said on Friday.
In addition to cutting greenhouse gas emissions to halt global warming, Europeans should change the way they live and work to mitigate the effects of rising temperatures, the European Commission said in a document.
The paper raised the possibility that entire cities may eventually have to be moved.
(2 July 2007)
Monbiot: IPCC too opimistic on climate, UK response stymied by business interests
George Monbiot, Guardian
Reading a scientific paper on the train this weekend, I found, to my amazement, that my hands were shaking. This has never happened to me before, but nor have I ever read anything like it. Published by a team led by James Hansen at Nasa, it suggests that the grim reports issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change could be absurdly optimistic.
The IPCC predicts that sea levels could rise by as much as 59cm this century. Hansen’s paper argues that the slow melting of ice sheets the panel expects doesn’t fit the data. The geological record suggests that ice at the poles does not melt in a gradual and linear fashion, but flips suddenly from one state to another. When temperatures increased to between two and three degrees above today’s level 3.5 million years ago, sea levels rose not by 59cm but by 25 metres. The ice responded immediately to changes in temperature.
…I looked up from the paper, almost expecting to see crowds stampeding through the streets. I saw people chatting outside a riverside pub. The other passengers on the train snoozed over their newspapers or played on their mobile phones. Unaware of the causes of our good fortune, blissfully detached from their likely termination, we drift into catastrophe.
Or we are led there. A good source tells me that the British government is well aware that its target for cutting carbon emissions – 60% by 2050 – is too little too late, but that it will go no further for one reason: it fears losing the support of the Confederation of British Industry. Why this body is allowed to keep holding a gun to our heads has never been explained, but Gordon Brown has just appointed Digby Jones, its former director-general, as a minister in the department responsible for energy policy. I don’t remember voting for him. There could be no clearer signal that the public interest is being drowned by corporate power.
The government’s energy programme, partly as a result, is characterised by a complete absence of vision. You can see this most clearly when you examine its plans for renewables.
(3 July 2007)
Also at Common Dreams.
Monbiot’s sense of catastrophe does not seem to be reflected in the Guardian’s headline for the story:
Stop doing the CBI’s bidding, and we could be fossil fuel free in 20 years
Prospects for renewable power are promising. But it means nothing if the public interest is drowned by corporate power
Brit’s Eye View: New prime minister steps up to the plate
Peter Madden, Gristmill
Britain has a new prime minister. After leading the country for 10 years, Tony Blair has stepped down. Gordon Brown, Blair’s number two for the past decade, takes up the reins.
Brown is viewed as solid and dependable, if a little dour. He is slightly to the left of Blair on most issues, though he has also pushed through a lot of business-friendly policies.
Gordon Brown is notoriously difficult to read; he gives very little of himself away. So what can we expect on the environment from a Brown premiership?
I, along with some other environmentalists, spent an afternoon with the prime-minister-in-waiting last week examining what he should do on climate change. From this and discussions with his advisers, I am beginning to get a sense of where he will put his energy.
Like Blair, Brown will spend a lot of time on international climate change diplomacy. He knows that this is a global problem needing a widely supported international framework. He realizes that the prospect of a much more engaged and positive approach in the U.S. could help to deliver a much more ambitious and meaningful global deal. And he believes that the U.K. is well placed to be a bridge between Europe and the U.S. By putting David Miliband, the youthful former environment minister, in charge of foreign affairs, he will have a knowledgeable and energetic negotiator on climate change at his side.
Peter Madden, chief executive of Forum for the Future, writes a monthly column for Gristmill on sustainability in the U.K. and Europe.
(3 July 2007)
