Climate Debate Forest Row

People from all over the Wealden area packed into Forest Row Village Hall on Friday 12th May to hear three high profile speakers deliver the latest news on the likely impact of Climate Change on the local area and the rest of the world.

The meeting, entitled “Climate Change – What Can We Do?” heard firstly from Friends of the Earth Parliamentary Campaigner Martyn Williams, who explained that even if we were able to stop all CO2 emissions today, the average surface temperature at the earth’s surface would continue to rise from 0;7 (today) to 1.5 deg C above that which prevailed before the start of The Industrial Revolution.

Scientists predict that if this surface temperature increase were to reach more than 2 degrees, then we are likely to experience a “tipping point” where vast stores of greenhouse gases would be released from The Amazon, and the melting Siberian Tundra for example, creating runaway climate change that would be catastrophic for future generations.

Friends of the Earth is campaigning for a new law called The Climate Change Bill, to be passed by parliament, which would commit the government to a 3 percent annual reduction in CO2 emissions, and a total of 80% by 2050. This petition has the support of 370 MPs and is the minimum action required to prevent the potentially catastrophic 2 degree rise in temperatures.

Green MEP Dr Caroline Lucas reinforced the need for urgent action, and stated that the real question was not “what can we do?”, but “why on earth are we not doing it?”

“The real challenge is; can we build the public and political momentum to make the changes happen, or will we go down in history as the species that spent all it’s time monitoring it’s own extinction, rather than taking steps to avert it.” Said Dr Lucas.

She concluded by saying that we should focus on the positive aspects of a low carbon lifestyle: more jobs created in repairing, recycling, re-use, public transport, renewable energy and conservation, all of which are labour intensive industries and a boost for local business. Improved insulation would mean poorer people could more easily afford to heat their homes.

Wealden MP Charles Hendry stated that there is now a real determination amongst the various political parties to work together to tackle climate change. The debate is no longer about if, but how best to deal with it.

“There is so much that can be forced by government, but are you the public ready to accept the necessary changes?” Hendry asked the meeting. “We can’t just leave it to business to make these changes, we’ve all got to do it in our homes too. We’ve got to make difficult decisions, like putting tax on aviation, the fastest growing sector in terms of carbon emissions. But if we as politicians go down that route and you as the public are not backing us, then the nature of politics is that politicians will turn away from it.”

Amongst the questions put to the panel, were concerns about local housing and road developments, and how these developments would impact on climate change. All of the speakers lamented the current government’s determination to burden the South East of England with a disproportionate level of new housing construction. Hendry predicted that improvements in motor vehicle technology would soften the ecological impact of road developments, whereas Williams and Lucas were adamant that just building more efficient cars is not enough, because increases in efficiency can be wiped out by increased use due to bigger and more roads, and consequent increased car use. Research shows that building more roads just encourages more traffic.