Mr Brown’s own yardstick and climate change
Mr Gordon Brown’s recent speech was about climate change and as you would expect he tried to put a very positive emphasis on the government’s climate change policy. It is worth looking at the speech in detail so that we can fully measure the government’s climate change policy against a proper yardstick. I shall give you my views of yardsticks later in this post, but first let us look at the policy initiatives which Mr Brown claims are the right initiatives to solve climate change:-.
The Green Hotline
Mr Brown announced a Green Hotline to advise people about carbon savings and efficiency. This was first reported to my knowledge (it may have been reported earlier) on 18th November 2007. I wrote about it in posts of 19th November 2007, 20th November 2007 and 21st February 2008. I am not impressed with the concept of a “Green Hotline”. It will waste money better spent on measures.
Plastic Bags
Mr Brown “seeks” to end the use of plastic bags in supermarkets and shops. This is quite an old chestnut. I wrote about this on 14th and 19th November 2007, 1st, 13th and 24th March 2008 3rs April 2008 and 5th May 2008. This is not a policy but simply a talking point and I shall not be surprised if we are still talking about it in a year from now. Mr Brown will convene a forum of supermarkets to discuss plastic bags. Now we know who runs our country’s plastic bag policy.
Targets
Mr Brown said the UK’s emission target of a 60% cut by 2050 could be increased to 80%. I have written many posts about targets; if you want to read them all just put “targets” in the search engine on the post. You can have all the targets that you want – they are easy to devise and hard to fulfil. Measures, not targets, will make a difference to climate change.
We have had a statutory “fuel poverty” target for many years, and we have failed to achieve the target. What remedy is available for the fuel poor? A judicial review! Probably embarrassing for the government but hardly something that a fuel poor person can use to fight off the cold.
Energy Efficiency
There will be more help – but it has already been announced. Energy efficiency is virtually the government’s sole carbon reduction policy for homes which account for around a quarter of the UK’s emissions. In this context the policy means loft and cavity wall insulation which saves energy and are important but should not be the sole tool of a home energy policy.
The UK a World Leader in building a low carbon economy
This was probably the best joke in the whole speech. Genersys has businesses in many countries and I have knowledge of the policies affecting our product – solar thermal technology around the world. In my view the UK government has the least support, the least confidence and the greatest hostility to using free benign light to provide heat. At the moment we do lead the world in one thing connected with climate change – consultations.
Tough decisions
Once again the Government talked about making tough decisions; these are the tough decisions that they have made – a Green Hotline, perhaps no more plastic bags if the supermarkets agree, targets which are unenforceable and home insulation. My posts of 19th November, 27th December and 9th January 2008 all suggest that Mr Brown is not making the hard, tough decisions.
The Yardstick
I am not a religious person but I was once told by one when we were discussing morality that there is no universal yardstick. Every person is measured by his own personal yardstick. It gave me pause. I had to agree. An intelligent person of principles is judged by his own qualities, not those of an unprincipled idiot. There is no measure against which we can judge Mr Brown but his own.
I do have the sense that Mr Brown is in politics because he cares and because he desires to right what he perceives to be injustice and wrongs. I think that most politicians are in politics for the same reason.
Mr Brown recognises that the Western world have created the problem of climate change by its greedy and uncontrolled consumption of fossil fuel. In fact the United Kingdom has been responsible for more emissions over the past 250 years than any other nation, due to its early and intensive industrial revolution. Mr Brown will not make the hard decisions about climate change becasue put simply these involve sacrifice now for future benefit.
And therefore when you put him up against his own personal yardstick, he fails to measure up.
Filed under: carbon emissions, climate change, energy, fuel poverty, genersys, global warming, gordon brown, renewables, solar, solar energy, solar panels | Tagged: consultations, energy advice, fuel poverty, green homes hotline, plastic bags, targets, yardsticks
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