Gary's views

Gary's weekly views

Each week an article by Gary has appeared in the Plympton Plymstock and Ivybridge News in South West Devon. The articles are published here

CLIMATE CHANGE
In a month or two, once we have stopped examining the Lisbon Treaty bill in minute detail, the Commons will be debating the Climate Change bill. I hope to play a full part in this and serve on the standing committee that will pour over every line.

Nobody can now doubt that our climate is changing: ice caps melting, oceans warming up, more violent weather patterns, flooding and so on. The scientific evidence for all this is compelling and so is the evidence of our own eyes. But the issue is: are we causing it, or is it just a natural, cyclical, set of events not caused by us?

My view is a simple one. I cannot comprehensively prove that mankind alone is causing this, because it has happened before in the planet's history. But it is obvious to me since the time that we started burning coal and petrol to fuel factories and cars that the increasing amounts of carbon we are pumping out into the earth's atmosphere is bound to be contributing to global warming. If so, we must now do all we can to correct things, or our grandchildren risk living in the midst of utter devastation.

The government's climate change bill will introduce a target by which we have to reduce this country's carbon emissions by up to 60% by the year 2050. That seems like a long way off, but a child born this year will only be 43 by then. (I might even be hanging on, shaking my walking stick at my great-grandchildren at a sprightly 95! OK, that's less likely.)

The bill will also create a powerful new commission whose job it will be to monitor progress and advise government on how to hit its targets. All 3 parties support this bill. The EU is imposing tough carbon reduction targets on every member state. For once I am glad that the EU is legislating on this, because there is not much point in us enduring the pain in the UK if every other country carries on belting out the greenhouse gasses.

We will all have to make changes. I predict that successive governments will get tougher and tougher on this. So we may as well get our own houses in order before the man with the big stick shows up at the door. Soon the most asked question might become: what are you doing to reduce your carbon footprint?

posted by Nigel on Friday, January 25, 2008