This piece in the Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,,1727885,00.html) is rather sobering and makes a mockery of Beckett's nauseating rhetoric about growing your economy and reducing your emissions. Basically with aviation and shipping included our emissions are higher than they were in 1990. They are not 20% lower or even 12.5% lower or 11% lower which is where we are now without overseas transport. The government is failing us. The aviation white paper openly encourages airport expansion. This is an act of gross abuse of power and their moral responsibilities to us all. They are actively encouraging genocide. That may sound histrionic but I am at a loss to understand their motives.
Kyoto was a paltry mis-leading sham. Governments need to implement contraction and convergence before it is too late. And according to today's Observer we may not have the luxury of that option: http://www.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,,1729256,00.html.
This adds impetus to CCC highlighted upcoming events: Budget Day Aviation Protest, 22nd March & Aviation Day of Aviation, 10th June.
Ian.
Margaret Beckett
Thanks Ian! It does seem clear that several metres of sea level rise are now inevitable, but whatever is in store will still be made considerably worse if a sustainable retreat is not begun now.
In my view, however, Margaret Beckett is a mole who seeks publicly not to seem detached from the government (she has remarked on how others would like her job), whilst strongly batting for the cause within government, viz. her tenacity in contesting the DTi's proposed emissions targets for many months (is that still ongoing), the recently published book of the hearings of the Exeter conference, and DEFRA's acceptance that world emissions should peak by 2015.
Environment spokespersons are ever-increasingly likely to be tearing their hair out at their parties' apathy, viz. Michael Meacher's remark that seemed to lose him his job, and Tim Yeo's resignation.