Dog poo more important than climate change

This week I've had a couple of evening Green party meetings. One of those was starting to look at next years elections - yes we start early to plan - but there is always never enough time to do all we want - anyhow some Greens were keen to see us lead again on climate change - pointing out that we are the only party that has policies to tackle climate change (confirmed by a recent Friends of the Earth study in Scotland).

Photo: Climate Change march, London 2005

However while this clearly is a critical issue despite all the progress we have made over the last couple of years, a recent poll showed the British public believes the effects of global warming on the climate are not as bad as politicians and scientists claim - ughggggrh and other similar noises....

Responsibility must lie with some key corporations like Exxon, the media with some of their outrageous programmes like the Channel 4 Global Warming Swindle casting doubt (see my blog on 14th March 2007 for detailed comment on that one), politicians being too afraid to tackle vested interests, scientists and Greens failure to get message across....I could go on.....

Anyhow this Ipsos Mori poll of 2,032 adults - interviewed between 14 and 20 June - and found 56% believed scientists were still questioning climate change. The survey suggested that terrorism, graffiti, crime and dog mess were all of more concern than climate change.

Dog poo!!????!!!!!

This only serves to highlight how much more work we need to do and the importance of relating this issue to the local and what people can understand.

One of the other findings in the poll was that there was a feeling the problem was exaggerated to make money! Make money - who? The green industries? No more likely wicked Government's excuse to tax more - this is perhaps an indication of how poor we view our government and politicians? At least very few people actually reject out of hand the idea the climate is changing or that humans have had at least some part to play in this.

The Royal Society responded to the poll saying most climate scientists believed humans were having an "unprecedented" effect on climate:

"People should not be misled by those that exploit the complexity of the issue, seeking to distort the science, seeking to distort the science and deny the seriousness of the potential consequences of climate change. The science very clearly points towards the need for us all - nations, businesses and individuals - to do as much as possible, as soon as possible, to avoid the worst consequences of a changing climate."
Sir David Read, Royal Society

Anyhow on top of that poll I had a comment thrown at me from someone who ought to know better saying climate change is a middle class issue. Is it really so that people still can't see that it is the poor that get hit hardest - you can't have environmental justice without social justice - all that bull about Greens only being concerned about the environment....

OK so back to the election campaign? Well more news on that over the coming year - and certainly we wont be forgetting climate change. One fellow Green, when asked his thoughts, said: "Ask yourself this, what would the polar bears want us to do?"

A great question to make us think. Suggestions welcomed!!

One piece of news related to all this talk re climate change is that the Stroud team that won the national competition re climate change were off to Svalbard yesterday - see Citizen report here. See my blog entry on 29th March 2007 for info on their Enuffometer and link to their website - they very effectively demonstrated the amount of CO2 used by using balloons including a giant 6ft by 6 ft balloon which held 1kg of CO2.

Their Enuffometer and these balloons are clearly a great way to help people connect with the amounts of energy they are using. See their blog here.

Anyhow as I close this post I hear that its now official - it was the wettest June for almost 150 years: an average of 140mm of rain fell across England and Wales - twice the long-term average. Not sure we need the Met Office to tell us that!