Blair is failing on global warming

[altyfc]

Tony Blair has presided over a rise in carbon dioxide emissions and Labour has alienated much of the public with its plans for onshore wind farms, Michael Howard, the Tory leader, has said.

In a wide-ranging attack on Labour's record on the environment, Mr Howard criticised the Prime Minister for failing to use his relationship with President George W Bush to persuade America to sign the Kyoto climate treaty.

More here.

Aaron

[jacher]

I wonder if the recent report on global warming put out by the Bush adminstration was an appeasement for Blair to help make him look good for re-election. But the article makes no mention of the new report on global warming put out by Bush so I wonder if Blair even knows about the report yet. Oh I'm sure he does. Unless of course he is relying on the same intelligence that took the world into Iraq that is.

[Andrea]

Originally Posted by jacher

I wonder if the recent report on global warming put out by the Bush adminstration was an appeasement for Blair to help make him look good for re-election. But the article makes no mention of the new report on global warming put out by Bush so I wonder if Blair even knows about the report yet. Oh I'm sure he does. Unless of course he is relying on the same intelligence that took the world into Iraq that is.

I find it hard to believe a single word that man utters any more. Lie after lie after lie. He should resign as soon as possible!

[Simon]

Originally Posted by Andrea

I find it hard to believe a single word that man utters any more. Lie after lie after lie. He should resign as soon as possible!

I agree with you but I'm not sure the Tories offer any better alternative

[altyfc]

That's the problem. They're all as bad as each other.

Aaron

[MarkuisMellvile]

Before we all get too excited about the speech by he with "something of the night about him", lets remind ourselves of how the Tories can claim that Labour have so badly failed compared to them:

Many of us will have heard (I hope) of "the dash for gas". This occurred during Thatcher's reign, and was quite simply the rapid transfer from Coal to Gas powered generating stations as natural Gas was discovered on a large scale in the North Sea. Now gas turbines are more efficient than steam generators used in coal stations, so we produced less CO2 per unit of power produced from then on.

Hence Michael Howard trumpets the Tories success, while ignoring that the reduction in CO2 occurred mainly due to technical (not political) reasons.

The population has continued to drive more miles each year, use more electricity each year and generally consume and waste more energy year on year, so it is no wonder that the national C02 emission has continued to rise under Labour.

Now I don't think Labour have done anywhere near enough to deal with the issues, but the Tories are stealing a march on the Govt. if they are allowed to make their claim without the Govt. countering it effectively.

Neither of those two parties is good for the environment.

[altyfc]

So should we all vote for the greens?

Aaron

[MarkuisMellvile]

Vote for whoever matches your ideology most closely Aaron.

Most importantly, we all, wherever we are, should vote every time the opportunity arises.

[altyfc]

This is the problem, though... let's say you had very strong environmental values. Is voting green going to help? Aren't you better off voting for someone that at least has a chance of gaining power?

Aaron

[MarkuisMellvile]

Compromise slightly Aaron.

The Green Party may not be perceived as a viable governing party here, but the yellow party are (apart from being led by a ginger Scot!)