East London Humanists argue that climate and the environment should be at the top of the agenda in the upcoming election (Newham Recorder opinion piece 28.11.19)<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Newham boasts a remarkable emblem of\nhuman ingenuity. It\u2019s also a powerful\nreminder of our frailty. The Thames Barrier was built in the wake of the North\nSea Flood which took over 2000 lives in 1953, 49 on Canvey Island alone. It\u2019s\njust one reminder why climate and the environment should be at the top of\neveryone\u2019s agenda this election, whatever their political persuasion. To quote\nDavid Attenborough \u2018What we do in the next twenty years will determine the\nfuture of all life on earth.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The barrier has done a brilliant job\nprotecting Central London. But Met Office Climate Projection figures show sea\nlevels are set to continue to rise. Swathes of London are at risk according to\nthe Environment Agency flood map, including parts of Newham.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But isn\u2019t action here futile when China is building power stations and Brazil is burning rain forests? No. We can\u2019t expect other countries to play their part unless we do too. In fact China leads the world in solar power installation. It has, whatever its faults, tried to address population growth. And it\u2019s easy for us to claim lower emission rates when heavy industry on which we rely mostly takes place abroad. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Criticism of Brazil is unconvincing when our country is among the least wooded in Europe. The State of Nature Report (October 2019) warns a quarter of our mammal species face extinction. The 70 UK wildlife agencies responsible describe unabated decline across our wildlife and habitats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You may find environmental activists annoying, but if your house is in danger of being laid waste a rude awakening might be welcome. Of course we could all do more ourselves to lead environmentally kinder lives, but changing lifestyles is difficult. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The point is that there is only so much we can do as individuals. The Barrier is a concrete example of far-reaching measures which only Government can realise. It brings home the importance of acting before disaster strikes, and that the environmental policies of the Government chosen for the next five years will be crucial long after Brexit is \u2018sorted.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n Paul Kaufman (East London Humanists are staging an Election Hustings at Wanstead Library 25.11.19 on Climate and the Environment. The candidates for the Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green Parties have agreed to be on the panel).<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" East London Humanists argue that climate and the environment should be at the top of the agenda in the upcoming election (Newham Recorder opinion piece 28.11.19)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9c4oP-x5","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/eastlondon.humanist.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2051"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/eastlondon.humanist.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/eastlondon.humanist.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eastlondon.humanist.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eastlondon.humanist.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2051"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/eastlondon.humanist.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2051\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2052,"href":"http:\/\/eastlondon.humanist.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2051\/revisions\/2052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/eastlondon.humanist.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eastlondon.humanist.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eastlondon.humanist.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Chair East London Humanists<\/p>\n\n\n\n