Act now, says climate watchdog
The Independent is reporting Act now, says climate watchdog.
John Ashton – special representative for Margaret Beckett, the Foreign Secretary – warned that the costs of not curbing climate change and greenhouse gas emissions would lead to increasing conflicts around the world. The impacts of extreme climatic events in Africa and south Asia or the Middle East would be more dramatic than in the West, he argued. But, even in the US, the impacts of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans led to a breakdown of law and order and an explosion of racial and political tensions.
Mr Ashton explains that we citizens should be getting what we’ve paid for:
Writing on the BBC News website yesterday, Mr Ashton said: “The first priority of any government is to provide the conditions necessary for security and prosperity in return for the taxes that citizens pay. Climate change is potentially the most serious threat there has ever been to this most fundamental of social contracts.” He went on: “Conflict always has multiple causes, but a changing climate amplifies all the other factors.
Its hard to find fault with this idea. Our political leaders are supposed to protect us but it really seems that these days all they want to do is to scare us witless. Don’t wait for your government to wake up. You can take action now by offsetting your own personal emissions. You can be the change. — DS
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