Children Demand a Future: Will Blair Listen?
by Treehugger Interns on 11.18.06
Tony Blair is no stranger to tough political negotiations. However, even he may have found it hard to explain to this bunch why he is unwilling to sign up to year-on-year targets for greenhouse gas reductions. Six school children, between the ages of 8 and 17, met the Prime Minister at Downing Street last week to highlight their concerns about climate change and what it means for their futures. The six who represent the Stop Climate Chaos coalition, handed in petitions from nearly 150,000 people calling for a climate change law that would commit the UK to reducing its emissions by at least three per cent year on year. The group was also involved in a lively discussion with Tony Blair on the need for the UK to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions and set an example to the rest of the world.
Jenny Avery, aged 17, from Northants had no fears about meeting the Prime Minister and telling him exactly what she thought:
“I wasn’t nervous about meeting Tony Blair as climate change is a very important issue and we wanted to let him know that young people care. We are the ones who will have to live with it when we are older.”
Earlier this week a new survey, commissioned by Friends of the Earth, revealed that nearly two thirds of young people showed 75 per cent saying they were worried about the impacts of climate change compared to just 60 per cent of respondents in a similar poll conducted last year.
Stop Climate Chaos - which organised Saturday’s massive ‘I Count ‘ event in Trafalgar Square (which Treehugger helped plug here), attended by more than 25,000 – is calling on the Government to:
• Introduce a new climate change bill requiring annual cuts in UK carbon dioxide emissions of at least 3 per cent a year in this month’s Queen’s Speech. The proposed bill already has the backing of around two thirds of Westminster Members of Parliament.
• Help negotiate an international agreement that ensures that the worlds’ carbon dioxide emissions are falling irreversibly by 2015. This will ensure global warming is kept below two degree centigrade danger threshold. International negotiations are currently taking place in Nairobi, Kenya, on what steps the world community should take to tackle global warming when phase one of the Kyoto climate treaty ends in 2012.
• Deliver assistance to developing countries to adapt to climate change and give access to clean energy to meet their developmental needs.
[Written by: Sami Grover]
Great post, Sami. Thanks.
Why should Tony Blair care, he's leaving office at the beginning of next year...
Thanks so much for this post. Youth in the US are actively trying to meet with policymakers to bring up the same issues. For three years, SustainUS has provided youth (15-26yrs) with the opportunity to meet face-to-face with decisionmakers at UN processes such as the Commission on Sustainable Development. Slowly but surely, our concerns are getting through...
See www.sustainus.org for more
tokenistic PR bullsh*t ... blair is too busy keeping up favours in his role as gimp-boy for big business, to take climate as seriously as he should
take a look at lakshmi mittal for instance ... his donations to blair/labour have helped secure his business empire which has already made him by far the richest man in the uk, and by virtue of his business, an enormous greenhouse gas emitter too ... thanks blair
on one hand blair really gives nothing ie. a pr photo shoot to pacify those who want real change ... into the other hand he accepts big money donations and helps ensure the rapid expansion of business chums and greenhouse gas emissions galore
the hole thing is a nonsense ... people are surrendering their power of protest straight into the hands of the government
kids - your elders, however well inent, shoud know better
you may as well have rocked up with a £1million+ donation for labour, together with a follow up call on monday
actually, i hear £2million is more the going rate for real change these days
wake up world
we are on a trajectory to quite literally raise hell on planet earth ... the writing is on the wall, but your all too busy looking at computer screens
stop asking and expecting others to take care of the problem
step into your power now
tokenistic PR bullsh*t
blair is too busy keeping up favours in his role as gimp-boy for big business, to take climate as seriously as he should
take a look at lakshmi mittal for instance ... his donations to blair/labour have helped secure his business empire which has already made him by far the richest man in the uk, and by virtue of his business, an enormous greenhouse gas emitter too ... thanks blair
on one hand blair really gives nothing ie. a pr photo shoot to pacify those who want real change ... into the other hand he accepts big money donations and helps ensure the rapid expansion of business chums and greenhouse gas emissions galore
the whole thing is a nonsense ... people are surrendering their power of protest straight into the hands of the government
kids - your elders, however well inent, shoud know better
you may as well have rocked up with a £1million+ donation for labour, together with a follow up call on monday
actually, i hear £2million is more the going rate for real change these days
wake up world
we are on a trajectory to quite literally raise hell on planet earth ... the writing is on the wall, but you're all too busy looking at computer screens
stop asking and expecting others to take care of the problem
step into your power now
Ahh.. the favorite topic of the month.. co2 and climate change
the science for climate change is very, very young.. the climate 'models' uncertain.. yet now everybody is soooo sure that its all about to end?! Why? Because they understand the science? Nope. Just because its now become the mob topic.. yes! publish an 'expert' day has arrived. Its so all consuming and almost impossible not to fall prey to.
Remember Y2K. Ahh.. now cognitive dissonance will set in, "No the science is so conclusive. This is NOTHING like Y2k or any other mob-we-got-it-wrong idea. No, its real science.. even Oprah (cough, cough) is talking about it.."
yes, i know, I may have some vested interest in oil or maybe i listen to only the 'BIG BAD SKEPTICS'. However, it might be possible that I actually care about responsible research that isn't twisted and pushed by a media frenzy.
Its funny that since 9/11, the world is even more trusting of the media even as they spin them lie after lie. Politicians (as all humans do) lie but our media turns it into print and then find 'evidence' to back up the lies. Media sources flip between pro-iraq, anti-iraq, pro-bush, to anti-bush.. pro this and anti that.. so long as it keeps 'bums on seats'
Stephen
Re: Y2K
I used to work on a computer system which *would* have failed due to Y2K. The company spent money and implemented a system-wide Y2K conversion which fixed the problem.
If we hadn't done this many of our customers would have either gone out of business - or suffered major financial losses. We changed the system and they didn't.
Therefore the media hype was justified: the media hype forced companies to act and made the whole Y2K issue a non-event.
"the science for climate change is very, very young.. the climate 'models' uncertain.. yet now everybody is soooo sure that its all about to end?! Why? Because they understand the science? Nope."
Not all of us understand the science as well as we should, but we would do well to listen to eminent scientists such as David King and countless others. Yes, there are some uncertanties, but it is fair to say that there is a broad consensus now from the vast majority of climate scientists: man-made climate change is real, and looking increasingly dangerous.
I for one hope beyond hope that the sceptics are right, but I am not willing to risk my future, or my children's or grandchildren's future. In the worst case scenario, if we cut our emissions and build clean technologies, and the climate models prove to be wrong, where will it have got us? To a more energy independent society with clean cities, livable communities, less traffic jams, warmer homes, protected forests, better local food, more efficient use of resources and a renewed sense of purpose.
If we follow the business as usual model, and believe the minority, even if they prove themselves right about climate change (which is looking increasingly unlikely), we'll still live in congested communities with inefficient technologies, leaky homes, disconnected economies with food shipped from miles around and a dependence on (increasingly scarse) foreign oil. Seems like a no-brainer to me.
--
editor note: To which I'd add that uncertainty cuts both ways: Things could be better than predicted, or they could be worse.. So the precautionary principle dictates that we act.
Stephen,
Interesting, most media went against Climate Change, Global Warming, or Climate Chaos. Now recently some media has switched directions.
Most science is really young. The same can be said for must of the chemistry involved with drug production. You are hopefully familiar with all of the wonderful commercials of new prescriptions.
It is a wonderful thing that your trying to stay objective. However considering what has happened. I hope that we can take a real stand, and not be coerced by another group to just stand back and wait to know the truth. Perhaps we should be a lot more preventive.
But no, I like stuff like Arborgeddon. Let's keep taking a dump on all of Mother Earth's systems and set ups. Human centric ideas should just continue. Because we are the center of the universe (ohh that was proved wrong several centuries ago), we are the center of the planet, we are the center of the solar system.
Whatever, humans are part of the system, not center of the system.
Vicki Felgate of Friends of the Earth (UK) says that many young people think that not enough is being done to combat climate change and are worried about how it will affect the world:
Not enough done to combat climate change say young people, who will face the effects