"Political End of the World" Awards

Gordon Brown wants a 'Green New Deal' to save the environment.

This follows the 'Global New Deal' he wants to save the world's economy.

Which in turn follows the 'New Deal', which he wants to save our skills shortage and unemployment figures.

Somehow, like most of politics, it's the same old story with the same no results.

The environment is in a stiffer, more dangerous, more problematic and more ignored recession than any economy has been in history. I am a smug b*st*rd and love being able to say "I told you so", but on this matter, genuinely with the world at stake, I'd rather be wrong.
Wrong that global warming is even more serious than our Governments are letting on and looking at.
And wrong that our Governments won't take the appropriate action until it's far, far too late.

I do believe that my generation is the generation to fix it. I believe that we understand the risk, accept the sacrifices that need to be made, and are willing to do it. The problem is, by the time that my generation is in a position to enact the appropriate changes, in about 20-30 years, it will be too late.

Politicians, political parties, Governments and Leaders of the world are not controlled by 'doing the right thing'. They are concerned with winning elections. They are not concerned with the consequences of 20-30years time, as they will not be around or will be closing in on their twilight. They cannot make decisions now, not that will save the planet but also produce big vote-winning headlines. Politicians control government, government controls policy and policies across the world dictates the world's future. So when politicians only live in the short-term, focussed on the next, nearest win how can we tackle the big issues.

Haven't we just learned this in the financial crisis? Waiting til it crashes around us, then finding the solution afterwards has just proven to us to be the difficult way to do it.

So Gordon cannot claim to be green. Neither can Cameron, to be honest. Pilot schemes across the country, starting in two years? Yet another headline, no hardline.

Gordon cannot claim a Green Budget is about to descend upon Britain when it is happy to expand Heathrow and Stanstead. Governments cannot claim to be green when they bail out car companies without imposing strict, progressive targets towards cleaner methods of transport.

It's all a bit worrying that the Government is still approving coal plants. Coal Plants!! About as dirty a concept as Paris Hilton.

Ask someone who's just found out they have terminal lung cancer...
Do they wish they could go back and stop smoking?
Do they wish they could go back and listen to the hundreds of individual people who said STOP?
Do they wish they could go back and heed the SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE that said, if you keep polluting yourself, you will die?

Yes.

And in this generation, these days, now, can these people claim...
I didn't know the risks?
Nobody told me?

No.

These are the same arguments that can be levelled against Governments not doing enough on global warming. "Smoking is a mug's game". We are going to end up with the environmental equivalent of lung cancer, terminal lung cancer, a disease that once it gets so far along, we can do nothing about. Do we. as a country, as a world, really want to say "Yeah, we will, one day" until we get to the regret? No. But will we? Yes.