If you think that extinction rebellion is a time-wasting Waitrose-users irritant using up scant police resources, consider how it will look when societal order breaks down (as it inevitably will) and thousands of hungry families are looking for food. Things will not be so polite in central London.
Please come this weekend and connect with thousands of passionate people to make politicians and businesses take this seriously”.
I didn’t go to London this weekend and I feel bad that I didn’t.
Several hundred of the protesters have been arrested and, no doubt, their actions have induced many ‘tuttings’ and ‘shaking-of-heads’ around the country from the vast majority of the largely apathetic general public who think they should have better things to do.
So, where do you stand? Do you care? What actions have you taken that to reduce your carbon footprint? Have you written to your MP?
In the UK, you might recall the Climate Change Act 2008 which set strict targets to ensure (amongst other things) that the “UK carbon account for the year 2050 is 80% lower than the 1990 baseline” (the Act also set 5-yearly carbon budgets). Well, 10 years on, in June 2018, Clive Lewis MP acknowledged that: “This week, the climate change committee has reported back that the Government is now way off target with its climate change commitments and carbon targets."
Oh, what a surprise.
Again in the UK, you might recall that in March this year, only a tiny number of MPs bothered to attend the first climate change debate in two years (less than 35 in TV footage I watched – of which less than 10 were Tory MPs).
Oh, what a surprise.
You will no doubt know that, again here in the UK, Michael Gove is the Secretary of State for Environment (and Food and Rural Affairs)(the powers-that-be probably tagged on the food and rural affairs stuff because they thought ‘environment’ wouldn’t give him enough to do?). You might be aware that, after all the damage (IMHO) he caused in education, Gove isn’t one of my favourite politicians. But, in theory, this role ‘environment role’ could have been the absolute making of him… someone the whole country could get behind as he strived to protect the nation, and indeed the world(!), from the dangers of climate change. But no, he’s been remarkably quiet (too busy getting himself involved in all that silly Brexit stuff and those Tory Party leadership campaigns, poor bloke). True, he’s been involved in some laudable, albeit relatively minor, ‘initiatives’ such as: launching a ‘Year of Green Action’ for young people to improve the natural world (I don’t think he envisaged that this might involve school children going on strike over climate change!); banning products with microbeads, banning pesticides that harm bees and sales of ivory products; installing CCTV cameras in slaughterhouses and reintroducing beavers… but, in truth, no dramatic, desperately-unpopular-but-necessary initiatives in our battle against climate change.
Oh, what a surprise.
There are some very determined, intelligent MPs at Westminster, including Caroline Lucas (obviously), who regularly speak out on green/environmental/climate change issues… but they are very much in the minority. Whatever the government and opposition might say, ‘Environment’ is a very low priority in the eyes of the two main political parties (who clearly don’t see many votes in the issue)(don’t get me started). It seems the best we can hope for is politicians making sympathetic, supportive remarks – and certainly not introducing ‘game-changing’ policies… and, whatever you do, don’t mention Mr Cameron and his huskies!! How utterly appalling.
Oh, what a surprise.
But, hey, why should YOU worry? Afterall, it’s people in the Third World who’ll suffer first, not ‘us’ (despite the fact that ‘we’ are the root cause of the problem). Climate Change certainly won’t affect YOU, will it (actually, I think you might be in for a big surprise)? Yes, it might have some detrimental implications for your children and their children – but surely, ‘someone’ will have invented stuff that will sort it all out by then (but, in the meantime, you just enjoy your own selfish, materialistic life)? What on earth can a Swedish 16 year-old or a bunch of schoolchildren teach you about climate change (I think Greta Thunberg might change your opinion!)? So, no, you just carry on doing all the things you love to do… jetting here, there and everywhere… driving big cars… buying lots of stuff you don’t really need… not caring about the amount of stuff you buy/throw away… not worrying about ‘buying locally’ or ‘living simpler lives’… and why on earth would you want to do something like ‘reducing your global footprint’ (whatever that is)? And, in any case, all this stuff about climate change is just ‘fake news’ and ‘fake science’ (you know this because Mr Trump told you?)…
Oh, what a surprise.
Well, I know that the BBC hasn’t exactly
been at the forefront of the march to combat climate change (despite that we’ve
known about the severity of global warming for years… surely, we need ‘actions’
rather than ‘facts’?) but, at long last (some would say), last night’s
prime-time documentary, presented by David Attenborough, MIGHT prove to be an
important turning point.
If you haven’t already watched it,
then I URGE you to do so. REALLY.
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