Do you worry about climate change?

Was that right about fracking on NT land - it belongs to the NT members not the government surely?
They may not own below the surface but they will need to approve access.

I bet it was a man who raised it at this time of the year
aka 'a good day to bury bad news'
ie when most people are preoccupied with Christmas preparations and they think people will have forgotten it by the NY.
And some of us boringly serious-minded types can't switch it off for the whole of December
but it is the 17th, over halfway through now, they thought it would be good timing.

I do know about the Paris conference, thank you jess.

That's great jingle and it is in the news, because of the Paris conference. And some of us boringly serious-minded types can't switch it off for the whole of December.

I do take it seriously. Of course I do. Before I get jumped on.

Can't we worry about it after Xmas? I bet it was a man who raised it at this time of the year.

The Government have decided to give licences to companies for fracking in National Parks but here in the NW companies were refused licences by the local council. Is that local decision going to mean nothing now?

Re NT etc is it that "mineral rights" thing - NT might own the land but don't own the mineral rights below? Therefore someone could get a licence to frack on anyone's land?

Yes quite Absent - if the North Atlantic lost the gulf stream, as suggested by some models of global warming, we would have the climate of Newfoundland. (look at any map of the N Atlantic...) This could happen a lot faster than the melting of icecaps. In fact it is weakening significantly at the moment as explained very clearly in this short article.
www.iflscience.com/environment/gulf-stream-weakening-bad-news-north-atlantic

I rather suspect that climate change is a mixture of "what happens" and what we are actually doing. I think it is wise to minimise the damage that we are doing as much as possible.

However, if people in the UK believe that they are going to find themselves in a pleasing, sunny, summer Mediterranean climate, I think that they might be mistaken. Severe climate change will affect ocean currents and the Gulf Stream is what keeps the UK much warmer than its latitude would normally expect. If the Gulf Stream is diverted as a result of melting ice in the Arctic, it will be devastating for the country with profound effects for agriculture, energy provision, society in general and other aspects of life.

Will be not I'll

I am extremely worried about climate change and it has bothered me for many years. There is so much ignorance and don't care attitudes. It ppears when it comes to what people put in their stomachs, whether it is making them sick or causing climate change they just don't want to know.

The highest cause of climate change is livestock for meat and dairy. "The global livestock industry cause more greenhouse gas emissions than cars, planes, trains and ships combined."

I have lived with the increased danger of fires, floods and extreme heat (in Australia) and I get extremely cross at the ignorance and it's not affecting me so I don't care attitude. Our grandchildren I'll be living with this, what sort of future will they have.

Re fracking,

'The government said its plans would protect "our most precious landscapes".'

Sorry, but I cannot write any more for falling about laughing. I wonder what they consider our most precious landscapes - nowhere near where I have ever lived.

Education, starbird. Just because some behave in a way that harms the planet does not mean that we should not try to educate them not to, does it? Leaving a worse planet for your children and grandchildren does not sound like a good idea.

I don't worry about it because I think it is inevitable. Although there are a lot of people in the world who care about the earth and are willing to make sacrifices, others live for today and to h**l with tomorrow - I just saw a report on how some ignorant people are destroying ancient reefs off China by ramming them with boats, in order to harvest crabs that live there. Such an attitude is only too common and until people see the results of climate change close to home, they will continue in the vein of 'every man for himself'.
I also wonder if we can stop it even if we try - to what extent is the Earth still warming up and shifting as a result of coming out of the last ice age?

Our children will have to be strong - they will have a lot to deal with.

Other areas of Outstanding National Beauty and world heritage sites included.
If they want fracking, why do they need to do it in these places before trying elsewhere?
They did not even allow a parliamentary debate on it. Maps in the Guardian show it includes most of North Yorkshire and the Durham Dales.
It seems we are not allowed to have any beautiful places left in the North.

I thought it was 'just' on National Parks and had been condemned by the NT and Woodland Trust.

It is of course absolutely disgraceful if that is the case, because (correct me if I'm wrong ) but I thought they'd given a promise this wouldn't happen???

Well, here's a new take on solar panels:

www.news.com.au/technology/environment/north-carolina-town-petrified-over-solar-panels-accused-of-being-the-dumbest-in-us/news-story/93c84889b4c50b73d0b1e01e3ae08249

So the government has got fracking through on National Trust, National Park and Woodland Trust land, contrary to everything they promised.
Why did they bother going to Paris? They are such conmen and liars.
They got it through without a debate, and are going to get details through tomorrow, handing out licences. Vast majority in the North. That's what Osborne meant about the Northern Powerhouse.
I am annoyed!

One would expect nothing better of the Sun.

Great article durhamjen. I despair of this government. I was listening to the calm, reasonable voice of John Major on R4Today this morning (he was talking about EU membership) and wishing that this government were not in his mould. He didn't do a lot - and that can be a great quality in a prime minister. Beats the hell out of wrecking anything and everything. There's a community not far from here that have been working hard to get their own hydroelectricity power. Taken them years. Villagers have bought shares to support it. Projects like this are now having the rug pulled out from under their feet.
Oh and you have become the queen of link posting durhamjen if that does not offend any republican tendencies
Meanwhile it is so warm here that spring flowers are coming into bloom, 14deg C is forecast tomorrow and I saw a young middle-eastern couple out having a picnic in the park yesterday

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/dec/15/george-osborne-solar-panels-climate-summit-paris-renewable-energy-subsidies

An article by Josie Long saying why she wanted to put solar panels on Osborne's roof.
Read it if you want to. I am so grateful to gransnet for showing me how to put links on posts. I would never have done it if it wasn't for gransnet.

The Sun is concentrating on combatting the effect of global warming on the future of the haggis - well, if worrying about that brings it to the forefront of more thinking, it was worth this bizarre claim was made at Westminster by Calum Kerr, the SNP’s environment and rural affairs spokesman. The changes in climate won't just turn Inverness into the Nice of the north.

Yes there have been large scale fluctuations of things like, Co2, methane, solar radiation, slight changes in orbit etc etc. But the current rise in temperature is very rapid and is not on trend. The science that more CO2 in the atmosphere causes more heat to be retained is solid. Then you only have to think about all the coal and oil that was burned in the 19th C to now, combined with deforestation that has been going on since the dawn of agriculture (which can't help).
They can track changes in carbon by studying ice cores from the Antarctic.
Recent problems with the jet stream etc are thought to be related to this warming. One of the effects is the dramatically increased melting of sea ice in the Arctic, thus changing what happens in the whole Atlantic. (DH wrote and excellent MSc thesis on this subject a couple of years ago)
What happens in the oceans is a major driver what happens in the atmosphere and the ocean has been soaking up far too much heat.

Deedaa that's why I asked JessM because the last sentence of her post at 14.21 gave me the impression she thinks global warming is caused by burning fossil fuels, when I am well aware of other factors that play a key role.

dj the amount of fossil fuels burned during the Middle Ages is a fraction of that used since the industrial revolution.

I also think it's worth mentioning that the USA never ratified the Kyoto agreement drawn up in the 90s and other countries like Canada withdrew from that agreement. And despite all the back slapping that we saw last week, just last year China, India, and the USA all said that they will not ratify any treaty that will commit them legally to reduce CO2 emissions. This is because it would be bad for their economies and that's fair enough. It's the huge steps needed to reverse this situation that is the problem. In these countries companies make vast profits using environmentally unfriendly methods and those companies are not going to willingly pay the cost of moving to environmentally friendly methods. Incentives cost money and when you are as big as China, India and the USA that means a lot of money. The USA doesn't want to lead the world when it's bottom line is at stake.

On the other hand, the EU and other countries have binding targets and have been slowly moving to achieve those targets. So at the end of the day I believe it will be the power of individual action which will make changes happen. The number of individuals in the world aware of the problems of climate change can only keep growing. We can all do our bit where possible, not just because of the environmental impact , but because it makes common sense to live that way. Our children learn about caring for the environment from a young age and this helps educate their parents. Each generation is more educated than the previous about the world in which we live. It is like a kind of growing peer pressure that touches the lives of others in many ways.

I am rambling.

secure.avaaz.org/en/britain_renewables_14_sam/?ckHcnjb

To ask the government to honour their promises on renewable energy.