Climate change how important is it for you in this election

Conservatives and Brexit Party received donations worth £8m from aviation industry

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tories-brexit-party-labour-funding-donations-aviation-industry-millions-climate-change-a9237576.html

David, the energy required to build a car battery for an electric or hybrid is the equivalent of driving an ordinary petrol driven car 100,000 miles, not to mention the problems associated with recycling it when its life is up as it contains a range of heavy metals.

I will stick to my 16 year old Toyota Yaris, which I have owned for 11 years without problem and will happily run for another 11 years if it continues to run like it does currently. Overall a much more energy efficient way.

While electric cars have their uses in crowded and congested towns where the emissions the car causes are emittted elsewhere, outside that situation you are better running a reliable old petrol driven car. It is environmentally more efficient.

I’ve just read the U.K. Energy Research Centre report on Transport, the comparisons they use are arguable , the vehicles they use are not representative. They have compared a Ford Kuga SUV with a VW Golf, it depends which model is chosen, the lower performance Kuga emits no more than a similar Golf.

The trend to more powerful engines and automatic transmissions is more significant than a hatchback compared to an SUV.

BEVs and improved Hybrids are becoming more available The Tesla Model 3 used in comparison is only just available and is only going to appeal to an owner with a driveway to park it and charge. I’m looking for a hybrid to replace my diesel but am struggling to find one at a sensible price, they seem to be the most expensive model in the range.

Concern about climate change is another good reason not to vote Tory or Brexit.

LibDem, Green and Labour Parties all have far better climate change policies than the Tories and Farage's lot are climate change deniers..

The LibDems brought in good policies in coalition when Ed Davey was Energy Minister, many of which have been reversed by the Tories since 2015.

The "immense" rise in sales of high-emission sports utility vehicles means they now outsell electric cars in the UK by 37 to one, research has found. As a result, overall exhaust emissions from new cars have been increasing, not declining, for the past three years, says the UK Energy Research Centre. SUV sales are jeopardising the UK transport sector's ability to meet EU emissions targets, it said.

And who are buying these SUVs, if not the oldest tranche of Millenials and the group before them? Yes, some older people, but not many.

That about volcanos is a famous climate myth not so craftyone Google it and next time check your facts.

tell the earth about CO2 and other emissions. It has yet again thrown out masses of emissions in NZ, far more than produced by earth inhabitants. Earths climate has been changing since the earth was born but that fact has been jumped upon as a way to make money by various big businesses by preaching to the guillable. Having said that there is climate change and there is pollution of the seas, entirely man-made and a reason to worry

Ex geo-physicist btw also oceanography and now bowing out

Climate change is very low on the agenda at this election and so it should be we can only fund better social assets and living conditions by the whole country working efficiently and creating wealth. To that end sorting out the Brexit mess is most important then we have cash to spend on renewable resources as well as all the social improvement everybody wants.

There is one issue that never gets addressed, Population growth, a larger global population demands ever higher resources. In any developing country when the demand for food is satisfied it is transport, a motorbike or a car is the next purchase. Without addressing population growth are we ever going to get emissions reduced?.

Global warning has indeed been news for years, even on the odd day when nothing better, front page. But nothing has made an impact and as DA says, it’s too late to do anything to reverse if.

Why such patronising comment from some on her about Greta? Many of us admire her stance, many of us do what we can in our own small way, so why is she not allowed to do what she can in her own way.

Oh! And ‘I won’t mention her autism’ but you just have. ?

Very interesting. These last two paragraphs make sense to me.

Who do I think overall has the best policies? I am astonished Friends of the Earth think it is Labour. I am afraid nothing they say comes close to the Greens overall on this issue, and Greenpeace call that correctly.

But there is a comfort: however you vote ABC (Anything But Conservative) the commitment to green issues is high whilst voting Conservative would be to ignore the issue. It is that blunt.

The issue is as usual that we have a "fake" reason given to us, by the Conservatives, for this election. It should have been a "Green" election. We really can't waste time shilly-shallying about when our lives and those of our children and grandchildren are at stake.

David what colour is the sun on your planet?

Richard Murphy has posted the assessments of all the parties' 'green' manifesto policies by Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace. Handy to have them collected in one place.

www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2019/12/08/voting-anything-but-conservative-is-a-vote-for-the-green-new-deal/

Whitewave which paragraph of my post are you referring, to and which section

Are you suggesting that scientists and environmentalists do not want a thoroughly thought through and planned route to zero emissions . Or do they still think that shouting a lot will convince the unconvinced?

Climate warming has gone way past the jumping up and down and shouting stage. That was 20 years ago. Nothing is going to convince those that remain unconvinced and if anyone anywhere doesn't know about it, then nothing will succeed in getting through to them.

What we need are practical carefully thought out implementation plans and it is those that are sadly lacking.

Not complacent, our power generation is set to be mostly nuclear plus renewable and some gas in a short time scale, new cars have to be electric by 2040. The one thing that would help is for us all to consume less as individuals we buy far too many disposable products just because they are more convenient or fashionable.

There are a great many countries that polute more than the UK, we are a tiny part of the planet and anything we do is diluted greatly.

monica I think that very few climate change scientists or environmentalists would agree with you.

But global warming is already front page news. It didn't need further publicising. I doubt that ER and their figure head have had any effect on those who already had their heads in the sand

What is needed is for someone, anyone, political party or environemental group to come out with a carefully researched and verified plan to show how we can systematically reach an energy policy that means we can meet the energy demands that go with an emission free economy by 2050. What should the balance between wind and other energy sources. How would we meet energy demand when the wind wasn't blowing. Currently this is the main use of gas powered generation. More search needs to be done into alternative fuels for transport. Political parties are always waffling on about improving insulation. None have actually come up with a clear plan of how this can be done.

David I regret I do not share your complacency.

Action on climate change is happening and that will continue whoever is in power, that will gather pace I’m sure. We already have big policies on renewable, energy saving and transport, that is costing big bucks now, do we really want to take more away from services and the NHS.

Brexit is not happening that is going to dominate now and for the next 5 yrs at least

I don’t find it galling. I am of the opinion the more it is publicised the better.

The fact that I have been an environmentalist for most of my life and tried as far as possible to respect the environment, I have absolutely no problem with a young 16 year old telling grandmothers how to suck eggs. It is ever thus of the young. Like sex! They invented it you know!

The future is theirs, it is in their hands. They should be encouraged and applauded.

M0nica is right.
Many of us have been aware and concerned about 'global warming' and the dreadful plastic pollution for years before Greta was born.

It is astonishjng that it has taken a 16 year old to make others, including many older people, aware of this.

I said her naivety can be explained by her extreme youth. What else is there to say? My pejorative comments are aimed at ER, not her, I deplore the way they and others around her have exploited her youth and naivety.

I have carefully avoided saying anything about her autism because it has been made plain in the past that this is an elephant in the room we mustn't mention. However I do think this makes her particularly vulnerable to exploitation and I am shocked more than anything that her parents seem to have been complicit in her exploitation.

Were she being touted as a new Messiah for a new religion, everyone would be concerned about her exploitation and looking to social services to protect her from her exploiters, but just because her real and justifiable concerns have been picked up by a cause, that no one who has any pretensions to be woke dare challenge, nobody is doing anything to protect her.

I am not speaking from lofty experience, I am just one of the billions of ordinary people who have known about climate change for decades. It has been front page news in every news media you can mention for at least that long.

Billions of people, who have been working systematically to make lots of little changes in their lives, to support causes that support the environment and find it very galling to have a lot of professional protesters suddenly pop up from nowhere, claim that the government has done nothing and making preposterous demands that they have no idea how they can be implemented or what effect ot would have on the country. That they think in forwarding their cause that it is acceptable to exploit a vulnerable child puts them beneath contempt.

monica I am surprised at you pejorative comments on a young lady whose passion over climate change and environmental degradation shines through.

Do give her a break as you speak from your lofty experience. She has so much to learn, but given her specific strength and of course weakness in her autistic cognitive ability I would have expected greater kindness and understanding.

I would argue that we began to be aware of things like environmental degradation in the 1950s and 1960s., and climate change, although documented in the 19th century was first seen as a danger to our planet in the 1970s.

But it took the flat earthers until very recently to accept the scientific findings and of course many still do not, possible because of the profit motive.

If it needed Grete Thunberg to inform you about global warming Yehbutnobutthen you should be asking yourself why you managed to remain so ignorant for so long.

For millions, no, billions of people world wide - and I include myself among them, we have known about the urgency and importance of climate change for over 20 years and have been doing what we can to reduce our own carbon footprints and contribute to other people's efforts.

Look back at a previous post of mine Where there is a link to what Britain has been doing since 1990 , no I will save you the effort. Here it is: assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/776083/2017_Final_emissions_statistics_one_page_summary.pdf. These figures are only to the end of 2017. More has happened since.

ER and Miss Thunberg are the johny-come-latelys, and while she can be forgiven because of her extreme youth. there is excuse as to why ER did not start their campaigning 20 years ago at least. Phrases like jumping on rolling bandwagons and taking over the reins spring to mind.

Little miss wondergirl as you so disparagingly call her has put the issue first and foremost on the world agenda. Pity it is all too late for her generation and our own grandchildren Monica.

Had our post-war generation produced someone of her calibre then something could have been done to prevent this catastrophe. As it is, and as David Attenborough pointed out in his interview last week, the effects of climate change cannot be reversed .

Brtain has reduced its territorial greenhouse emssions by 42% since 1990 assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/776083/2017_Final_emissions_statistics_one_page_summary.pdf .

8211 wind turbines are operational onland and 2,016, offshore. Offshore turbines are generally larger and more efficient than onshore turbines because they have been installed recently. www.renewableuk.com/page/UKWEDhome . We are the world leader in offshore wind generation and have more installed capacity than any other country.

So much for the naive belief that no-one was taking climate change seriously until little miss wondergirl came on the scene.

Climate change and its consequences has been headline news now for well over 20 years, and while government has often seemed to not be as active as it could be, that we are one of the countries leading the world in addressing climate change, makes it clear that in our country the government are leaders not laggards.

If people on GN were unaware of climate change and its significance until recently, then they should look to themselves and not blame other people or the government. I had seen and read enough by 2000 to have introduced my own domestic emission shedding campaign. I set out to reduce our household energy consumption by half. It took just over 10 years, but I achieved it, by insulation changing and adjusting the controls on the DH systemand how we used it, by just good energy housekeeping.

I am not suggesting by any means that progress is fast enough, much more can and should be done. But the current doom and disaster preached by the late comers to the problem, none of whom have any sensible researched and fully tested policy to offer or any understanding of the problems most of their panic station solutions will cause, is just virtue signalling that makes them feelwarm and cosy buit does nothing to solve the problems.