As my seventieth birthday approaches, it occurs to me I’ll never know, personally, if humanity manages to overcome the Climate Emergency challenge. With the best will in the world, it will still take years to slow and turn the ship of our carbon economy, then decades more to be sure we’ve avoided the catastrophes it could bring. So sadly I won’t be around to see if we do.
But that’s with the best will in the world! Over just the last few days, as it happens, Rishi Sunak, our Prime Minister, has delayed or abandoned key commitments to carbon reduction, become the motorists’ new best friend, and given the green light to a whole new oil field in the North Sea, all in the hope of short-term political benefit. These moves are against the advice of his government’s own scientific advisers and are reckless eco-crimes not just against the planet but against our own children and grandchildren.
Fly-tipping our emissions onto future generations will not only make the reduction task much harder but significantly increase the quantity of carbon spillage they have to deal with. Sadly, though, Sir Keir Starmer, our esteemed Leader of the Opposition, is so far failing to oppose these moves too and it is not clear that a future Labour government would reverse them. Making them an accessory to the crimes as well.
Humankind is clever and hardworking, and with the right leadership can hopefully pull through this emergency. But if we want to avoid the most calamitous impacts of climate change, grassroots Labour and Tory members need to apply pressure, at both their party conferences this month, to make their leaders see sense. Our children and grandchildren are depending on them.
Andrew Myer, Islington Green Party