The latest IPCC report makes the choice that humanity faces yet more stark, both the clarity of the evidence and the urgency to take action. Yet those who have a vested interest in fossil fuel consumption continue to spread doubt and confusion. Here are some of the myths they propagate:
Myth No. 1: Scientists still aren't certain humans are causing climate change
The latest number put on scientists' certainty is 95%. What does 95% certain mean? That they are about as sure as that cigarette smoking causes cancer. And this is a good analogy for more than one reason. The tobacco industry and its paid lobbyists fought desperately to deny this science when it first emerged. Smoking is also a good example of how humans can be very very bad at taking sensible decisions and weighing up risk. But when it comes to cutting carbon emissions, it's not just our own health and wellbeing we're risking, it's all future generations. It really is time to act.
Shale gas is methane (natural gas) which is trapped in impermeable shale rock deep underground. The gas cannot flow through the shale, so simply drilling a well, as you would for conventional natural gas, is not enough. The shale rock must be cracked to free the gas, so large quantities of water, sand, and a range of chemicals are pumped in under high pressure (hydraulic fracturing or 'fracking'). Tens or hundreds as many wells are needed to produce as much gas as in a conventional gas field.
1. Proven global reserves amount to five times as much fossil fuel as could be burnt between now and 2050 and keep under 2°C of global warming. This basic fact is frustratingly often absent in media discussions about exploiting about yet another source to exploit.
2. Without effective policies to limit carbon emissions there is no reason to think that shale gas in Europe will push out coal – it is just as likely to compete with renewables.
3. There is a big question mark over whether shale gas exploitation is actually any better for the climate than coal burning. It all depends on how much gas leaks out during the process, since methane is a shorter lived but much more powerful greenhouse gas compared to CO2.
Yesterday, an emergency meeting was held at the Met Office to discuss the unusual weather patterns experienced here in the UK. Examining the frozen winter of 2010/11, the wet summer of 2012 (the second wettest since records began) and this year’s bitter spring, scientists pointed to a number of factors thought to be responsible for our ‘weird weather’ – most of which (rapid arctic melt, disruption of the jet stream, warming oceans, more moisture in the atmosphere etc.) could be attributed to climate change.
But despite scientific consensus and a growing body of empirical evidence affecting the every day lives of citizens of this country, there exists a continuing juxtaposition between the reality of the world facing climate change and the alternate reality inhabited by politics and the press.
The failure to secure necessary green amendments to the Energy Bill in the House of Commons at the beginning of this month, Osborne’s proposed ‘Dash for Gas’, and rumours of renewed plans to expand Heathrow, demonstrate a ‘business as usual’ attitude held by a select group of political climate deniers apparently determined to pursue a path to growth at all costs.
Heathrow is in the news again. The coalition Government dropped plans for a 3rd runway two days after it came to power in 2010. That followed a massive campaign against the Labour Government’s plans for Heathrow expansion: The coalition also ruled out new runways at Gatwick and Stansted.
The idea that any warming up to two degrees is ‘safe’ has shaped not just discussions on climate change, but the process of international negotiations. The Campaign against Climate Change has always tried to be clear that significant harm will take place well before this, and that we must consider the risk of triggering positive feedbacks such as the release of methane from Arctic melt.
The Campaign against Climate Change Trade Union Group has a successful history of involving trade unions in climate campaigning - including the production of the One Million Climate Jobs pamphlet which sets out the changes we need to avoid catastrophic climate change. Inspired by the Trans-Africa Caravan of Hope to Durban, we thought of organising a Climate Jobs Caravan around the UK, stopping off at perhaps a dozen cities on route. This might seem an ambitious plan...
The Campaign against Climate Change Trade Union Group has a successful history of involving trade unions in climate campaigning - including the production of the