Ministers who won’t act on climate evidence must go, says Green Party

Source BBC

The UK’s response to the flooding crisis must centre on a long-term strategy to address climate change the Green Party says today, as it recommends a series of ten measures to improve the country’s flood resilience in future.

It says sustained political action on climate change is crucial to reducing the risk of severe flooding happening again.

The Party is calling for Environment Secretary Owen Paterson to be sacked and for the Prime Minister to remove Cabinet Ministers and senior government officials who refuse to accept the scientific consensus on climate change (1). The Met Office has said (2) all the evidence points to climate change contributing to these extraordinary floods.

“Politicians who ride roughshod over the painstaking findings of climate scientists (3), sometimes motivated by their inappropriately close links to fossil fuel big business, endanger our future and our children’s future”, said Green Party Leader Natalie Bennett. 

“It’s a crying shame more of the recommendations made by the The Pitt Review into the 2007 floods (4) haven’t been taken seriously by Labour, the Tories, and their Coalition government lackeys in the Lib Dem Party. But it is not too late for action.”

 Caroline Lucas, the Green Party MP for Brighton Pavilion, said:

“Across the country, homes and businesses are being devastated by the floods, and our hearts go out to everyone whose life is being turned upside down.  Nature is giving us another wake-up call.

“In addition to making sure everything possible is done to help people affected by the immediate crisis, we need a credible long term strategy to tackle the risk of flooding and extreme weather to people's homes and liveilihoods in the future.”  

The call to government urges ministers to adopt the recommendations of a major independent cross sector coalition[1]  for  a Cabinet-level committee on infrastructure and climate change resilience and a Royal Commission on the long-term impacts of climate change on land.

The Green Party is also calling for all staff cuts at the Environment Agency to be cancelled, planning rules to be strengthened to prevent further development on flood plains, and for increased levels of spending on flood defences to a level in line with expert recommendations from the Environment Agency and the Climate Change Committee.

And it is supporting the call of campaigners for  the billions of UK fossil fuel subsidies and tax breaks to be used to help the victims of flooding[2]. 

“This redirection will address the underspend and assist the victims of flooding, as well as putting a halt to public money exacerbating the problem of climate change that is making the floods so much worse”, noted Bennett.

Notes

1)    International Panel on Climate Change Climate Change 2013 Report http://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/wg1/#.UvuRuf3RozU

2)    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-26084625

3)    http://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/wg1/#.UvuRuf3RozU

4)    Pitt Report on floods: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7472813.stm

 

Join the Brent contingent on Climate March today

As often happens at the weekend  I am torn about which of the several events happening Saturday  I should attend. The Counihan Family March takes place in Kilburn High Road at 1pm, the Chalkhill Community Festival from 1-4pm and a crucial conference on the future of primary education is being held in Lambeth. All these events are important and worth supporting.

The Campaign Against Climate Change March in taking place in Central London. The threat posed by climate change is huge, so huge that it is almost impossible to comprehend its impact, and therefore so tempting to turn to something more manageable. It is almost like knowing we our all going to die eventually - too difficult to really take in so we ignore the inevitable and carry on living day to day because worrying about it will do no good.

Well, I believe we can do something, although the window of opportunity is shrinking rapidly. We have to shout from the rooftops about the issues and demand action from governments across the world. Tomorrow's march is a tiny part of that campaign.

Reasons to march tomorrow:

• The rapid melting of the Arctic ice cap.
• Floods and droughts driving up food prices and world hunger.
• Hurricane Sandy the most powerful Atlantic tropical storm since records began.
• Over 200 Flood Warnings and one Severe Flood Warning in Britain recently.
• Climate change will worsen the economic crisis as food prices soar and land is used to grow fuel instead of food
• Food and water shortages will cause armed conflict between countries
• Mass migrations will take place from affected areas with homes and livelihoods lost.
• The greed for fossil fuels will see oil companies turning to more and more dangerous extraction methods  that damage the environment.

Whatever the outcome of the UN talks in Doha, we have to step-up the pressure on governments to take the necessary action NOW to limit climate change.

NATIONAL CLIMATE MARCH  DECEMBER 1st
Assemble 12.00 noon in Grosvenor Square
or
Join the Brent contingent at the entrance to Willesden Green tube at 11.15am  

12.00 -1.30 Assemble Grosvenor Square and build the "Grosvenor Square Keystone pipeline" from the Canadian High Commission to the US embassy !
1.30 - 3.30 March to Parliament
3.30 - 4.30 Build a giant mock fracking rig outside parliament !