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Golden Valley Environment Group The Campaign and Communication The reason that this page exists is that while there is a lot that each and every one of us can and should do to reduce our impacts on the environment locally, nationally and internationally a lot of action is needed from others - other communities and individuals, companies (big and small) and particularly Government. You will hear a lot about personal responsibility - there's no denying that there's a lot to it - but don't be fooled into buying the line that if we do our bit the problem goes away. Stern argued that we can mitigate global warming (limit the effects and live with it - not stop it) for about 1% of our national income. In the UK that's about £11 billion at the moment. My question to our Government is what did they spend that £11 billion on last year to address climate change - I have not seen the investment in public transport, the new clean power station, the carbon capture from an existing coal station, the review of planning and economic development that leads to structural reductions in car dependence.... Until and unless we see concerted, effective and joined up thinking at these levels everything that we do personally will have nothing more than a minor effect. You will hear people say that why should we do anything - the UK's only putting out 2% of global CO2, and what's the point if China, India, the US emit so much more. It may be true in one sense - the UK is a small part of the problem - but there's no getting away from the fact that we emit more than a fair share (if you take the CO2 that the planet can emit and share it out between the population). We also have huge influence and a responsibility to lead not drag our collective heals - how can we expect the developing world to reduce or avoid their emissions when they want to develop? - we did it. You may have heard that China may become the biggest emitter of CO2 this year, overtaking the US - you may not hear at the same time that China has a population over more than 1.1 billion people - the US around 300 million - so per person they emit much much less. The other thing I try to bear in mind is that a lot of Chinese industry that's putting out the CO2 is making stuff for us to buy.... The point - the politicians will only do what they are persuaded they need to do - and that means what will get them elected. They will follow rather than lead - they need to know that we collectively care and want to see action. We need to tell them! In December 2007, a petition on the Climate Change Bill was submitted to Paul Keetch with copies to the Shadow Environment Ministers in the other parties. We requested they lobby for Climate Change targets to avoid the worst impacts of global warming. Here is a recap of our representatives' responses. Just click on this link Feedback on GVEG Climate Change Petition |