Comments on: UK Low Carbon Industrial Strategy

By: Jason Blake

Jason Blake — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 18:24:55 +0000

The financial sector has seen an injection several hundred times the £200m or so set out above. But letting a few of the banks fail to be honest would have been the best thing and would have had a far greater impact on industry reform (you can imagine the hurry to put houses in order if there were *real* consequences) than what has happened — essentially reward the appalling management and behaviour in the sector with a massive handout.

The difference between the financial crisis and the multiple environmental crises (fresh water availability, local and global climate changes, resource depletion, ecosystem degradation, etc) is that if we let the environment fail then society itself will fail. The economics have been laid out and the longer we leave it the more expensive it will get. For example, the £200m above would barely pay for the pollination of crops if bees were to be lost from the UK. Now, the loss of bees may or may not be linked to human activities, but it gives you an idea just what is at stake when we assume that humans somehow don’t need our natural environment because we have “wealth”.

Ironically, of course, both crises have been precipitated by man’s perceived need to exploit resources at an ever-accelerating pace that even a schoolchild could tell you is impossible to sustain.

By: Building a low carbon country « Observations

Building a low carbon country « Observations — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 12:51:11 +0000

[...] The Low Carbon Industrial Strategy sets out active interventions to support industries critical to tackling climate change. [...]

By: Paul McLachlan

Paul McLachlan — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 22:45:01 +0000

This is all very good – BUT look at the numbers and weigh it against the threat – being the permanent flooding of London (one small consequence). When Hitler was the threat, Britain waited till the last minute to react and look at the loss of life that caused. Why not be on to it with a war cabinet mentality from the beginning (assuming that the beginning has not long passed us by).

Barely worth making the news guys.