Aug 26 2007
Tragic Greek fires show how difficult curbing carbon is
My heart goes out to all those running from their burning homes and to those families who have already lost loved ones in the dreadful fire raging across southern Greece. It is difficult to fathom the depths of depravity if it turns out that these fires were started maliciously by arsonists. I trust our governemnt will be generous in offering help alongside the other international assistance that is being offered, to bring more firefighting equipment to bear to try to stop the spread of the flames.
It also shows how difficult it is to have rational policies to control the world’s output of carbon. The Greek fires are a double blow. They must be generating huge outputs of CO2, at the same time as destroying many trees which have previously operated as a carbon sink. It is galling for companies struggling to meet carbon controls and to pay carbon taxes to reduce their relatively small outputs, to see the massive escape of carbon gas in huge conflagrations like this, and in the forest fires of Asia and South America. If the world is serious about curbing carbon, it needs to turn its attention to how the really big events like forest fires can be dealt with more promptly, and how there can be better incentives to encourage more rather than less forest cover.
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John Redwood has been the Member of Parliament for Wokingham since 1987. First attending Kent College, Canterbury, he graduated from Magdalen College...
Thanks for an interesting blog post. I think we should look at all methods of trying to cut carbon emissions, not just one or the other. I believe with standard market forces we can correct the market failure of carbon emissions. Companies shouldn’t have to be cajoled into making small changes - it should be inherrent in their costs that they seek to reduce.
Our emissions have destabilised the world’s weather. We are going to see more fires and I think you are right to look at natural emissions as well but we must reduce ours down to as close to zero as we can. This isn’t just for planetary climate change reasons. It is directly a UK problem. I see a destabalised world where people will not have enough to eat in the really hot zones and will be looking to move out the more temperate zones. I’ve been reading ‘Six Degrees’ by Mark Lynas and his opinion is that the UK becomes quite an excellent piece of real-estate but still not good enough to feed the hundreds of millions who will be left without food when their crops fail because of what we are doing.
Any talk of the damage that carbon emission cuts cause to the UK economy (I would have to disagree with that anyway, it most certainly would be an innovative boost) will be insignificant compared to the direct damage done by crop failings in other countries, wars over land and oil etc.
It is in our national interest to sort this out sharpish. Hoping the Conservatives will be able to help lead this. They should be pursuing a low carbon and oil free agenda for the sake of our country.