There have been many letters in the Star and Journal complaining about the cost of investing in renewable alternatives to fossil fuels and suggesting that climate change is a phenomenon that is caused by natural rather than human variables. This narrative is reinforced by the business interests that MPs are willing spokespeople of. The Wrekin MP is a good example of the fossil fuel industry capturing politicians (at £325 per hour for Linden Energy) to promote their interest and influence government. But I would ask those letter writers to look at the science. The recent heat waves and record breaking wild fires that have affected vast regions of the world are part of a graphical trend that can be traced back to the beginning of the industrial revolution and this temperature graph exactly corresponds to the increasing amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. The costs of continuing emissions are already being felt and often in unexpected quarters. In Germany, droughts have meant that the dried up rivers and canals that transport much of the raw materials used in manufacturing can no longer be used resulting in an additional £4.2 billion of transportation costs for companies. This is one very small example of additional costs caused by a world continuing to increase carbon emissions. This year alone the cost of climate change will be in the hundreds of billions world-wide at a time when temperatures are only at 1.1º above pre industrial levels. Imagine what the costs are going to be when (and it will be quicker than forecast) we arrive at 1.5º warming. Inevitably it will cost the world trillions financially and that’s before you take into account the human catastrophe of millions of lives being lost. If civilisation is to survive then systemic changes rather than reform are now essential.
Patrick McCarthy
Telford and Wrekin Green Party Co-ordinator
58 King Street
Wellington
Telford TF1 1NR
Mob: 07986927282