The predominant moral issue of the 21st century, almost surely, will be climate change

In a recent opinion article published in The Independent, Joss Garman, a campaigner for Greenpeace UK is quick to agree with world-leading climate scientist Professor James Hansen of NASA, who said recently, "The predominant moral issue of the 21st century, almost surely, will be climate change.” Yet the debate continues as to whether this ‘predominant concern’ has been sufficiently addressed during the election, given the serious implications of climate change if we, and more importantly, our next government fails to act.

Highlighting the full burden of reducing carbon emissions that the next government will have to shoulder, Joss is quick to point out climate scientists agree we need global emissions to peak and begin to reduce in the next decade. Britain, it seems, is at an energy crossroads and the next government will hold the vital role of how to direct the billions of pounds of investment needed if we are to drive down emissions and reduce our environmental footprint.

However, it’s not all doom and gloom. The economic benefits that will derive from hitting our renewable energy targets (15 per cent of our heat, transport and electricity fuels from renewable sources by 2020) will lead to approximately 70,000 new jobs and carry a net economic worth of roughly £65bn over the next 40 years.
Of course none of this is going to happen without a commitment to invest a significant amount of money in renewable resources if we’re to hit the renewable energy targets. According to the article, we’ll need more than £150bn to be invested in energy infrastructure and efficiency measures in the next 10 years. That’s why it’s so important to ensure wind energy is on the next government’s agenda from the outset.

If you’d like to support wind energy in your local area ahead of the election, please visit our homepage and click on the pink button to locate and email your local candidate and support the I am a WIMBY campaign.
To show your support for a wind farm application in progress, click the green ‘support’ button on our homepage.

Source: The Independent http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/joss-garman-we-need-to-talk-about-the-planet-1953548.html