The mountain of evidence which shows that climate change is real is enormous. The temperature has increased, and all of the evidence points towards carbon emissions being the reason.
It is incredibly hard to find someone with relevant qualifications (doctorate or higher degree in a subject relevant to climate change) and who is not having the bills paid by an organisation with a vested interest; it is a simple conclusion to come to, that the evidence is so undeniably clear that anyone who has looked at it in detail will have reached the same conclusion. I would also point out, that while there are many people denying that we are causing it, they also deny the impact. In other words, they are putting their head in the sand. If we are not causing climate change, then given that we know that it is happening, we should as a world be making plans to abandon all land around the world below 30m above sea level at the very least. Some suggestions are that sea levels would rise as much as 150m if all the ice at both poles, and the Greenland ice sheet were to melt into the sea.
A survey done by Oxford university (amongst others) which looked at this across 6 countries including the UK and USA. The researchers found support for right-wing parties is strongly linked to scepticism on climate issues and opposition to climate-friendly policies. The study did not find a link between support for left-wing populist parties and climate change denial, but did observe respondents with less interest in political issues were more likely to be climate-change sceptics.
Key findings include:
- Supporters of left-wing and right-wing populist parties are more likely to visit news websites for climate change information than non-supporters of populist parties.
- Science related websites account for over a tenth (11%) of non-news domains visited by right-wing populist party supporters.
- Non-supporters of populist parties more likely to visit non-news website domains such as climate-related organisations websites
More than half of the net zero scrutiny group were also supporters of Brexit, and while this does not tell us a lot, it does tell us that the people who stated anyone disagreeing with Brexit was project fear – they have not of course come back and said sorry we were wrong (indeed far from it, despite virtually everything they promised being proved wrong or broken they say well we cannot reconsider Brexit for at least 20 years despite it only being won the the basis of lies). The problem is that the same attitude will not work for climate change, we cannot wait and see, we need to dramatically change how the world works ASAP. Furthermore, from a business point of view, this would be a foolish decision. As I wrote recently, fossil fuels will be a stupid business decision by 2035 (they already are, but this is only to get worse) and that will only get worse. People like Steve Baker, Peter Lilley and Craig Mackinlay all have extreme views, yet are the leading voices of what happens in the country.
Perhaps most concerning, was a survey done of 100 Conservative MP, of which 7%(7) believe climate change is a myth. Further 9% do not believe that it is human caused and there for can be solved by humans. Given it is one of the biggest threats facing the human race (and as we are an island the UK) this I would argue should be a reason for these people to not be an MP. If you don’t believe humans can do anything about climate change, get out the way, and let someone else try – If we truly cant do anything about climate change then we are heading for a hellish world without anything we can do about it. More alarmingly 37% (more than 1 in 3) deny that global warming can have anything to do with increased frequency of weather events. This is despite the fact that these are the early signs of climate change. Perhaps most worryingly of all (or perversely a relief) is a solely Conservative issue. Labour and other parties do not have the same bizarre block on viewing clear facts.
This climate change denial or the belief that we can do nothing about it, should mean that the Conservatives loose support from the majority of the population. If you are young (say under 40) or have children or grandchildren who are, you should be horrified. It has been a point throughout human history to try to leave a better life for our children and grandchildren, yet as one we are now doing the complete opposite.
At the very best, all older deniers of climate change must recognize that they are betting enormous sums of money on all of the worlds climate scientists (those not bought) being wrong. The outcome of that bet is a horrific life for their descendants. I would argue that any climate change denier shows that they lack the ability to judge things properly, and as such should never be an MP
We can take simple decisions which will save more than they cost (over the next few years) from electric cars, to thermal solar panels (and solar panels), extra insulation and so much more, it is very easy to cut your impact on the environment. This is not an issue that is restricted to the UK, indeed Donald Trump did not believe. We must act now, and if elected people get in the way, then they must be removed as soon as possible.