Good on Gordon

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown makes ambitious climate speech

Posted at 1:18 PM on 21 Nov 2007

In his first major speech on the environment, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has suggested that Britain could aim to cut its greenhouse-gas emissions 80 percent by 2050. To accomplish said goal, Brown promised that all new dwellings in Britain will be zero-carbon by 2016, and that free insulation, low-energy light bulbs, and efficient appliances will be distributed widely to homes over the next few years. He wants to eliminate plastic bags and source 40 percent of British energy from renewables by 2020. He also said that the climate crisis will spur a "technological revolution" and announced a summit to explore how to maximize economic opportunities in a low-carbon future. Brown also encouraged nations meeting in Bali in December to agree on binding emissions caps for all developed countries. "I know this means facing up to hard choices and taking tough decisions," he said. "That means governing, not gimmickry." Uh oh, George -- he's on to you.

sources: The Guardian, The Independent, Agence France-Presse

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Comments: (4 comments)

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Brown's bloviation

Prime Minister Gordon Brown's proposal that global warming will be reduced if we eliminate plastic bags hardly deserves your editorial comment on "governing, not gimmickry".

by danallen at 1:43 PM on 21 Nov 2007

Actually...

The bit about plastic bags isn't about global warming. :)

Guess you didn't actually read any of the articles; that's okay. I'll fill you in.

Britain is currently suffering a major garbage crisis--their own, and if I remember correctly, a bunch of other countries' that they stupidly took in. (Yeah, it would have been someone else if they hadn't.) Brown's goal, if you read the Guardian, is to eliminate "single-use" plastic bags--meaning, bags that don't become trash are still in. That actually does reduce GHG emissions by reducing manufacture and transport of bags, but it's really about reducing landfill waste.

Don't know if Brown's got a plan for encouraging people to actually reuse reusable bags... But hey, what's there is a start.

And bags aside, you can't deny, the rest of his points are pretty damn cool.

by Pathos at 9:22 PM on 21 Nov 2007

puts Steven Harper to shame

Here in Canada, the government intends to renege on the Kyoto Accord. The government is cutting climate change abatement programs.

What's needed is strong efforts to employ current technology backed by regulation, not bogus 'intensity based' garbage.

Gordon Brown has it right.

by prospect77 at 12:25 PM on 23 Nov 2007

Tech and conservation

As I see it, we need a healthy cocktail of solutions, none of which are sufficient in themselves and few of which should be dismissed outright. There are no silver bullets (plastic bags, fusion, superconductivity, hydrogen, etc.), but pieced together it might work (including some targeted use of - yes - fossil fuels for specific applications). Burning coal may actually be an acceptable means to generate power if we can have a cradle to cradle mentality and use the CO2 emissions as a captured resource for some other type of product.

As CO2 emissions increase in the near term and biofeedback occurs creating an acceleration effect for climate change, we also are witnessing an exponential growth of knowledge and technological advance that is unprecedented in history (see Ray Kurzweil and other futurologists - http://www.kurzweilai.net/meme/frame.html?main=memelist.h ...). I get the feeling that we are engaged in a race to the finish line between the negative ramifications of our past industrial policies and practices and emerging solutions that may assist in developing a 100% efficient system (mimicking the natural order of nothing going to waste).

Now if we can avoid the law of unintended consequences whereby one solution (i.e. genetic engineering of microorganisms that can convert waste products to reusable inputs) doesn't create some other disastrous consequence!

by wmurphy67 at 9:31 PM on 28 Nov 2007

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