Climate change is an issue of national security, warns Ed Miliband

Climate change is an issue of national security, warns Ed Miliband
Labour leader says UK is 'sleepwalking to a crisis over climate' as storms bring more major disruption and flooding



Britain is sleepwalking towards disaster because of a failure to recognise that climate change is causing the extreme weather that has blighted the country for more than a month, Ed Miliband has warned.

The Labour leader says in an interview with the Observer that climate change is now an issue of national security that has the potential not only to destabilise and cause conflict between regions of the world, but to destroy the homes, livelihoods and businesses of millions of British people.

Criticising David Cameron for appearing to backtrack on his commitment to the environmental cause, he calls on senior figures in all parties to unite behind the scientific evidence that climate change is a key factor in extreme weather. Failure to do so, he warns, will have catastrophic consequences.

Miliband says the science on the issue is now overwhelming, citing the government's own special representative on climate change, Sir David King, who recently warned: "Storms and severe weather conditions that we might have expected to occur once in 100 years in the past may now be happening more frequently and the reason is … that the climate is changing."

Miliband says: "In 2012 we had the second wettest winter on record and this winter is a one in 250-year event. If you keep throwing the dice and you keep getting sixes then the dice are loaded. Something is going on."

Suggesting the country rebuilds the frayed national consensus on climate change and shows the kind of cross-party unity seen in wartime, he adds: "We have always warned that climate change threatens national security because of the consequences for destabilisation of entire regions of the world, mass migration of millions of people and conflict over water or food supplies.

"But the events of the last few weeks have shown this is a national security issue in our own country too with people's homes, businesses and livelihoods coming under attack from extreme weather. And we know this will happen more in the future.

"The science is clear. The public know there is a problem. But, because of political division in Westminster, we are sleepwalking into a national security crisis on climate change. The terrible events of the last few weeks should serve as a wake-up call for us all."

With the Tory party divided over whether extreme weather can be linked to climate change, a leading independent adviser to the government has also joined the fightback against the sceptics. Lord Krebbs, a member of the Climate Change Committee, described those who question the science as "the flat earthers of contemporary society who show a flagrant disregard for the future needs of our children and grandchildren".

Krebbs said not enough was being spent on flood defence because "we have not taken a long-term view of what needs to be done".

An Opinium/Observer poll shows more than half of voters (51%) believe the recent floods are a sign of climate change and global warming while 24% do not and 20% are neutral. Among young people aged 18-34, 60% blame climate change, while 44% of those aged over 55 take the same view. Some 51% say David Cameron has handled the crisis badly while 21% says he has done well.

Political fallout from the floods and storms continued as it was confirmed that three people died on Friday during weather which left tens of thousands of homes without power.

A woman killed in a car crushed by falling masonry in Holborn, Holborn, central London,, was named as minicab driver Julie Sillitoe, a 49-year-old mother of three. An 85-year-old man died after the 22,000-tonne liner Marco Polo, on which he was returning from a cruise to South America, was hit by a freak wave in the Channel causing water to enter through a window. The man was airlifted off the vessel with a woman in her 70s, but later died. Bob Thomas, 77, from Caernarfon, died in hospital after being hit by a falling tree in his garden on Wednesday.

More than 30 people had to be rescued from a seafront restaurant in Milford on Sea, Hampshire, after wind-blown shingle shattered windows and the sea flooded in.

Chief Inspector Gary Cooper, who co-ordinated the rescue, said it was probably the most difficult joint operation he had been involved in during his 28 years of policing. "The extreme weather conditions of stones being thrown from the beach with the power of the wind to smash windscreens of fire engines and military trucks was almost like they were being shot from a rifle," he said.

There was disruption across Britain's road and rail networks, with hundreds of trees uprooted. Many train services were cancelled. Some 22 severe flood warnings – indicating a danger to life – were issued for coastal communities from Cornwall to Hampshire, Gloucester and the Thames Valley, where rivers remain at their highest levels for decades.

Nearly 190 less serious flood warnings and 320 flood alerts were also in place on Saturday.

Miliband said he was ready to work with politicians of all parties, including "green" Tories such as Zac Goldsmith, to rebuild the consensus around climate change. He announced a three-point plan to tackle the crisis, including tougher decarbonisation targets, moves to strengthen the country's resilience to floods, and a push to boost business investment in the green economy.

He said that "dither and denial" would be disastrous for the country.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/feb/15/ed-miliband-stark-warning-climate-change

When the water goes - 'when' being the operative word, how much money is it going to take out of the public and private purse to sort it.   How many crops that could not be planted, how many jobs lost etc.   This is not just a problem for those that are flooded.   Over the last couple of weeks we have had loads of sink holes open up, probably as a result of the ground water table being so high and causing erosion underground.   How many more to come.   How many people having to be re-housed?  Those that stick their noses up their proverbials and claim it won't happen again should be made to live in the worst areas.   This needs to be faced as a national problem with the highest priority.   It could even mean that we get a national task force to co-ordinate the defences we need and the action that has to be taken, the infrastructure that we have got to update and make safe for the future.   Looked at in the right light, it could even be a wake up call to change the whole economy, putting infrastructure and defences as top priority and employing all the people required, boosting the workforce and giving us a huge boost.

People have been warning about this for some time, including reports made by the U.S. Dept. of Defense: http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=121237

We're going to see wars, pandemics, extinctions and urgent mass migration over this. And it will be our own damn fault for sticking our heads into the sand until it's too late (which it is, right now).

What a tosser. If Cameron had adopted the green policies that were planned before the economic disaster Sillyband would have been ranting about the poor being charged a green levy in their electric bills!

   AS Brtain's military allies have been doing studies, models and preparations over the past decade or so (inc. Canada and Russia building sea ports within the Arctic circle !) :

I wouldn't put it past a few Brigadiers and bureaucrats in your MoD to be sitting on a warehouse full of these reports, just waiting for the pollies to give them the word !!!

I DON'T put the amount of weight and importance on the guvm'nt and it's temporary "bench warmers" in an issue like this ~ they may well set the policies and wield the chequebooks, but they just come and go ~ while your MoD, MI5 and MI6 are always there, plugging away in the background.. ::=|Q::

Tess. wrote:What a tosser.  If Cameron had adopted the green policies that were planned before the economic disaster Sillyband would have been ranting about the poor being charged a green levy in their electric bills!

Sorry Tess, but you couldn't be more wrong if you tried. This is part of a speech by Caroline Flint in Feb 2012 to the Aldersgate Group, a coalition of environment agencies, NGOs, think tanks and industry representatives:

The starting point is the question of climate change and the corresponding drive to reduce emissions.

Is this a threat to business or an opportunity?

Two well-rehearsed arguments are in contention for the ear of business and Government.

On the one side are those who argue that Government-led action on climate change is a threat to growth – an unnecessary burden on business – a lead weight around the neck of UK plc. That view says that economic growth is not possible if we tackle climate change,

The likes of the present Chancellor not only believe that the green agenda is bad for business, bad for jobs and bad for growth, but actively revel in their contempt for environmental protection. According to this view, environmental policies are a luxury that can only ever be afforded when times are good.

It is an argument, I believe we should firmly reject.

On the other side, there is the view that all economic growth threatens to deplete the world of resources; that the need to protect the planet means that advanced societies should break with their addiction to the motor car; end holidays abroad; and focus on quality of life rather than material consumption. The West, they believe should accept a lower standard of living in the interests of the planet.

Both the “extreme eco view” and the Tory right share one central premise – that economic growth and environmental sustainability are inherently irreconcilable.

One forsakes the environmental policies; the other forsakes the growth.

I reject both arguments.

History shows us that only economic growth spreads wealth and prosperity and with it the means to reduce poverty and civilise societies.

There is a path between untrammelled growth at all costs; and a zero growth world. We can grow our economy and benefit the planet; we can provide for our citizens and meet their aspirations without ruining our planet. It is not a zero sum game.

Investing in the green economy is not just a route out of recession, but a necessary and urgent adaptation to the economy and society we will need in the decades ahead.

It is not something that can wait for our economy to emerge into those broad, sunlit uplands. An optional addition afforded only once prosperous times have returned.

The transition to a low carbon economy must begin now, during the toughest of times; preparing the road for recovery.

This is not a journey of economic altruism – but a battle for economic survival.

We are on the cusp of a new industrial revolution, which is shaking up the old world order. The UK can be followers or leaders in that revolution.

The longer we delay action, the costlier mitigating and adapting to climate change will become. And the economic opportunities will slip through our fingers.

Our society did not reach this point without centuries of economic convulsion. Convulsions that created economic advance by harnessing technological change.

Successful economies are those that adapt to new technologies quickest, build the new industrial base for that era and plan the transition to avoid huge economic shocks.

http://www.labour.org.uk/building-a-green-economy-a-low-carbon-plan-for-jobs-and-growth,2012-02-07

Think you will find that this has been the standpoint of the Labour Party for quite some time.

Sassy wrote:Think you will find that this has been the standpoint of the Labour Party for quite some time.

Never said it wasn't. I said Labour would blame the Tories if they imposed green taxes, and still blame them for not being green - as if we could follow a green agenda without it costing the taxpayers anything.

Tess. wrote:

Sassy wrote:Think you will find that this has been the standpoint of the Labour Party for quite some time.

Never said it wasn't.  I said Labour would blame the Tories if they imposed green taxes, and still blame them  for not being green - as if we could follow a green agenda without it costing the taxpayers anything.

That's wrong as well. They have blamed the Tories for DROPPING the green promises they made at the election, they have never blamed them for imposing green taxes. And after the last floods they gave a massive rise for flood defences, which the Tories immediately cut right back for two successive years.

I think we need to stop the gospel like spreading of the CO2 and human cause of climate change and that we can do something about it - we can't, there's a whole lot more to it than us, we may be making things worse but the climate change has happened with and without us. We need to stop taxing people to the hilt on a false promise and get real we need to try to lessens the damage, that's all we can do, maybe dredging rivers, dykes, weather proof safe buildings for refuge that could be dual purpose etc and whatever else is needed maybe sealing the foundations of houses to prevent the rise of ground water, valves in inlet/outlet water systems in houses, it comes up the toilet and pipes as well. Lets stop telling people its all their fault and we have to make it better usually by paying more tax- we can't so its better to prepare for the worst. I think there's little point in who cut what and when, we need to grow up and get omn with it and not use what's happening for political purposes.

You think we should sit back and do nothing apart from the few things you mention? We have to move railway lines from the shore etc, improve sea defences, dredge, so much more, and that costs money and the only money the government gets is taxes. We need a countrywide response and a national taskforce, the implications are huge, we cannot just bury our heads in the sand and tell people to get on with it.

There is much more we need to do I agree but I can't list it all, my point is don't try and sell a lie to gain taxes and telling people we can do something about it, we can't, tell people the truth and most of us would be happy to pay up and make efforts to protect ourselves and properties, stop treating people like simpletons, most are not and can even think for themselves and can even work things out for themselves.

That I'll absolutely agree on. We can't reverse what is happening, although I do think doing things that we know might make it worse in the future is pretty silly. We have to face up to the situation we are in and stop pretending it is going to happen in the far and distant future. And we need all parties to work together on this.

Agree with that.

Vintage wrote:I think we need to stop the gospel like spreading of the CO2 and human cause of climate change and that we can do something about it - we can't, there's a whole lot more to it than us, we may be making things worse but the climate change has happened with and without us. We need to stop taxing people to the hilt on a false promise and get real we need to try to lessens the damage, that's all we can do, maybe dredging rivers, dykes, weather proof safe buildings for refuge that could be dual purpose etc and whatever else is needed maybe sealing the foundations of houses to prevent the rise of ground water, valves in inlet/outlet water systems in houses, it comes up the toilet and pipes as well. Lets stop telling people its all their fault and we have to make it better usually by paying more tax- we can't so its better to prepare for the worst. I think there's little point  in who cut what and when, we need to grow up and get omn with it and not use what's happening for political purposes.

Well Cameron's announced today that theyre giving £5,000 to each householder that's been flooded so that, when they do their normal repairs, they can implement improvement against floods in the future, like you've suggested above. It's a start.

Now they need to excavate more reservoirs surely.

£5,000 will barely cover the cost of repairing the buildings, especially if they are in an area that has flooded before and therefore not covered by insurance.   But that isn't the problem.   The whole infrastructure has to be looked at.   There is a chance the the high ground water has caused the sinkholes and we need to look at why the normal drainage didn't work for the ground water levels, and that's in areas that haven't flooded.   Then the sea defences and how strengthening one area impacts on another, same for the rivers, people in some areas are complaining that the defences put in place for Windsor etc has made the flooding in their areas worse.   The railway lines, the way some roads are lower than the surrounding area, the list is huge.   We don't even know yet what has happened to the sewerage systems in flooded areas.

What we NEED is for the govt to F**k off out of out lives so much and actually ENCOURAGE people to do things for themselves...yes thta carries a small risk but for example

I could make my home almost independant of carbon producing gas and electricity
I could fit solar heating (which btw is VERY effective)
I could also install solar electicity generating panels and storage batteries with inverters for night time use

NOW to do that os quite expensive at best..ADD to that the fact that the GOVT wont LET me (do it myself) without involving hugely expensive planning permission, hugely expensive inspections from greedy councils and yet more expense then to have it legally "signed off"
Add to that that UNLESS I have all that pointless paper work my home insurance would be invalidated (another scam)
NOW of course the alternative is to have a "firm " to do the work...at a ridiculous and over inflated price.

So...I simply cannot afford it, the govts attitude is well we will tax you till you CAN afford it (i.e doing it becomes a financial priority to avoid the tax)..It should of course say ...get on with it.

now I can do all this work, to the same OR BETTER standard than ANY firm, after all i have the incentive to do it correctly, not only from a sense of pride in a job well done...but me, my missus, kids and grand kids all spend time here, so safety is the prime concern...

I estimate that if I was allowed to do it, I could shave 50% or MORE off the price of having a company do it.

The riosk is that "a few" incompetent wankers would make a pigs ear of it...so they fry themselves/family...much I care...THAT way we may weed out the incompetence gene,...why should I pay the price for the fact that today we ENCOURAGE idiocy?

That's all very well Victor, you could do it, but many, many people couldn't. Then there are the things like drains, rivers, sewerage, railways etc. There are two main lines that it is imperative they move, that has to be done by the government. People should be encouraged with things like you say, and the regulations put in their way should be sorted out, and quickly, but there is much more that the ordinary person can't do.

I think Victor makes a very compelling argument. The assumption that we wait for the government to do everything is so disabling. In the past we got on and did not waited for some government agency. When are people going to realise that it is up to us not be totally dependent of the government.

If we all made a little effort instead of moaning we could make real progress. Everyone can do their bit. I recently bought an all electric car which is a marvel and not only does it save the planet it is remarkably cheap to run.

I didn't need the govt to hold my hand as I did it I appreciated the £5000 grant though.

but, my argument IS the govt should BUTT OUT and STOP preventing me from doing it...
they wont...because their pals would lose money....

Absolutely agree about you doing it at a personal level Victor. However, even you can't move railway lines

drinky1 wrote:I think Victor makes a very compelling argument. The assumption that we wait for the government to do everything is so disabling. In the past we got on and did not waited for some government agency. When are people going to realise that it is up to us not be totally dependent of the government.

If we all made a little effort instead of moaning we could make real progress. Everyone can do their bit. I recently bought an all electric car which is a marvel and not only does it save the planet it is remarkably cheap to run.

I didn't need the govt to hold my hand as I did it I appreciated the £5000 grant though.

I had a look at the electric car option Drinky and it looked cheap enough until I realised that you have to rent the battery and after factoring in that cost it didn't make it seem that cheap.

Have I missed out on this grant thingy?

re; the electric car,they are very expensive to buy,the batteries have to be rented at approx £50 amonth, and more important,where does the electric come from,it comes fromPOWER STATIONS which have to burn coal or gas to provide it thus causing more polution.

nicko wrote:re; the electric car,they are very expensive to buy,the batteries have to be rented at approx £50 amonth, and more important,where does the electric come from,it comes fromPOWER STATIONS which have to burn coal or gas to provide it thus causing more polution.

Additionally the Batteries in the Electric cars currently take so much energy to manufacture that they end up being net polluting as they don't save enough over the course of their life to recoup the energy expense to produce them.

But it is easier to upgrade the grid with green power, than to try and equip each vehicle with the capacity to charge itself from the sun etc.


There is Huge investment in making batteries better then they are currently, the quality of batteries is what is holding a lot of our technology back

Vintage wrote:
I think we need to stop the gospel like spreading of the CO2 and human cause of climate change and that we can do something about it.....
we may be making things worse but the climate change has happened with and without us.

We need to stop taxing people to the hilt on a false promise and get real we need to try to lessens the damage....
maybe dredging rivers, dykes, weather proof safe buildings for refuge that could be dual purpose etc and whatever else is needed..
maybe sealing the foundations of houses to prevent the rise of ground water, valves in inlet/outlet water systems in houses, it comes up the toilet and pipes as well.

Lets stop telling people its all their fault.....
we can't so its better to prepare for the worst.
I think there's little point in who cut what and when..
and not use what's happening for political purposes.

  

You really ARE an ignorant old denialist ostrich, aren't you 'Vintage' !

PITY you don't know the first thing about environmental science, climate change, flood mitigation..
Or house plumbing and reticulation !

Otherwise, there may have been some room for debate in there..  :-:bravo:-: 

Vintage wrote:I think we need to stop the gospel like spreading of the CO2 and human cause of climate change and that we can do something about it - we can't, there's a whole lot more to it than us, we may be making things worse but the climate change has happened with and without us.

According to the geological record of climate change, the world has never warmed as fast as it's warming now. It's not just the warming but the speed of the warming that makes what we're doing unprecedented in the history of this planet. Some of the fastest and most dramatic pre-human warmings happened over spans of 200,000 years and culminated in mass extinction events.

Yes, the climate has changed before. No, it never happened as fast as it's happening now, and no, it never ended well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permian%E2%80%93Triassic_extinction_event