Environment : 2006, time to act not debate.

January 3, 2006

The Environment - It's Getting Hot in Here By Mark Lynas

Posted Monday, January 2, 2006

2005 was the year in which concerns about the stability of the climate

regularly made the headlines; 2006 may be the year when demands to do something

about it finally become irresistible.

Please go through the excellent article;

ml

Some excerpts:

The Government is fond of reviews. It allows difficult decisions to be

postponed indefinitely while placating demands for action with warm- sounding

soundbites. Climate change is no different.

.....the challenge to climate campaigners is clear: the Government must no

longer be able to hide behind climate-friendly rhetoric while entrenching

patterns of social behaviour that make tackling global warming ever more

intractable.

UK will miss its target of reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 2010 by 20 per

cent.

Nuclear (power) is now justified on the basis that it generates carbon-free

electricity, perhaps the only persuasive argument for taking it seriously, given

the multiple other drawbacks varying from radioactive waste to the sheer

expense.

Montreal was also successful in cementing America's near-total diplomatic

isolation on the climate change issue. When the US delegation staged a petulant

walk-out during the final hours of the conference, it expected half the world to

follow. No one did. Instead of shutting down Montreal, the Americans were shamed

not only into returning to the conference floor, but also into agreeing to

further negotiations this year.

There are also indications that the US will not be able to evade legal

culpability for its emissions for much longer.

“New opinions often appear first as jokes and fancies, then as blasphemies

and treason, then as questions open to discussion, and finally as established

truths.” – George Bernard Shaw.

for Good - Make a difference this year.

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