Andrew Simms's Blog, page 3
September 9, 2016
A new type of politics could help prevent climate disaster | Andrew Simms
A UK cross-party initiative addresses the appetite and mechanics for the cooperation needed to help us live within Earth’s limits
China and the US’s announcement that they will join the Paris climate accord comes at a time when the UK’s own climate and energy policies appear at best in disarray, and worst at odds.
August 12, 2016
We are in ecological overshoot. Industrial strategy can provide a way out | Andrew Simms
On 8 August 2016, the world slipped into “ecological overshoot” – having consumed more resources and produced more waste than nature can replace and absorb in the year. We hit this landmark earlier and earlier every year, and a big part of that – 60% – involves the carbon emissions driving global warming. Indeed, any idea of the UK being a world leader on climate action is sharply dispelled by the government’s own latest figures, quietly released a few days ago. They revealed that when you include emissions from all the things we consume, our carbon footprint is going up, not down, as other, more commonly quoted official figures suggest.
Climate records are being broken on a monthly basis as temperatures, sea levels and carbon concentrations all hit levels never experienced by modern, human societies. It’s no longer a problem we can delay facing until physical impacts become unavoidable – the government’s own advisers warn of a climate domino effect on key infrastructure.
Related: Environmental records shattered as climate change 'plays out before us'
Industrial strategy means getting cheap money on good terms to the sectors that offer a sustainable industrial future
Related: The climate crisis is already here – but no one’s telling us | George Monbiot
Continue reading...August 3, 2016
Britain shouts about immigration but is silent on one of the root causes: climate change | Andrew Simms
The Brexit campaign pivoted around migration but its politicians are sceptical of action on global warming that is a key driver of displacement
What happens as large-scale migration becomes inevitable due to a combination of environmental, economic and humanitarian reasons? Do we tackle the drivers and help the displaced, or worsen conditions causing the displacement and reject responsibility for those affected?
Continue reading...June 14, 2016
It's the economy that needs to be integrated into the environment - not the other way around | Andrew Simms
BP’s call for a ‘meaningful carbon price’ is the latest example of wrongly trying to apply economic theories and tools to the environment
BP’s Statistical Review of World Energy is a standard industry reference document. It’s a useful indicator of trends, if occasionally the victim of politics.
Continue reading...May 18, 2016
Imagine the fate of a global climate treaty without the EU
The ability to cooperate and coordinate will mean the difference between looking forward with hope to the future or facing catastrophic climate change
In 1972 the law was passed that allowed the UK to join what was then called the European Economic Community (EEC). Despite Europe’s current crises, it’s unchanging, fundamental challenge was expressed that year by Sicco Mansholt, then president of the European commission, probably better than by any of the current voices in the referendum campaign, whether for or against UK remaining in.
Continue reading...April 7, 2016
We are making the wrong energy choices for future generations | Andrew Simms
Our children’s children will not thank us for investing so heavily in technologies like nuclear at the expense of safer, low-carbon options
Which energy technologies will future generations thank us for?
Related: Scrapping Hinkley for renewable alternatives would save 'tens of billions'
Continue reading...March 4, 2016
When it comes to a shift to low-carbon energy, key players need a history lesson | Andrew Simms
From railway rollouts to post-war ‘homes for heroes’, history shows us that societies are capable of great and rapid transition in response to a known challenge with clear targets
Energy UK, the trade association representing the big six energy suppliers, has in welcome - if belated - fashion come out in favour of a large-scale shift to low-carbon, renewable energy.
Continue reading...February 8, 2016
‘Astronomical costs’ is no justification for jailing the Heathrow 13 protesters | Andrew Simms
It’s a perverse system that punishes peaceful activists while rewarding those who caused the banks to fail - economic sins that cost millions more than the inconvenience of a group of climate campaigners
With rare certainty we now know in advance the actual day on which an important climate threshold will be passed. It’s not a new temperature rise, or the calving of another Manhattan-sized chunk of glacial ice in Greenland, but the likely jailing on 24 February of 13 climate campaigners who staged a protest against aviation expansion at Heathrow airport.
January 5, 2016
The day of the champagne environmentalist has arrived | Andrew Simms
Wine could be the ultimately safe subject to communicate climate change where even great deluges of rain fail
Protesters standing in floodwaters hold a sign that reads: “Can we talk about climate change now?” Scant media coverage of the link between increasing weather extremes and a warming world suggests it’s a conversation still seriously waiting to begin.
The day of the champagne environmentalist has arrived | Andrew Simms
Wine could be the ultimately safe subject to communicate climate change where even great deluges of rain fail
Protesters standing in floodwaters hold a sign that reads: “Can we talk about climate change now?” Scant media coverage of the link between increasing weather extremes and a warming world suggests it’s a conversation still seriously waiting to begin.
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