Hello, and a warm welcome to the November edition of the Voice.
Over the last month the world has seen, among other things, the publication of the International Panel on Climate Change’s report, a Scottish Green Party conference, the re-starting (and stopping again) of fracking in Lancashire, and the UK government’s latest budget. We are hearing the voices stacking up, warning us about the consequences of not taking urgent measures to limit global warming, yet witnessing action that still amounts to not very much, and much worse, which contributes further to the impending problems.
There seems to be a blind spot, highlighted clearly in this journalist’s comments in the Independent, on Chancellor Hammond’s failure to outline comprehensive plans for the global situation.
“In the Budget Philip Hammond announced schemes to encourage tree planting and to tax plastics, but critics said such actions fail to tackle the problems Britain and the planet as a whole faces. Many pointed out that the chancellor’s speech contained no references to climate change, despite coming in the wake of a major report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on the devastating impacts of rising global temperatures. Given the widely reported estimate that world leaders have roughly 12 years to dramatically cut emissions and restrict global warming, environmentalists criticised the government’s focus on road building and fossil fuel infrastructure”.
Or, according to the Green Party (see in this issue their party conference review and ‘What planet are these people on?’) and others (see the Listening Post video in the Media and Climate Change article), not so much a blind spot, but a political system that cannot put people and planet before profit. As journalists and researchers point out, it is a really disconcerting place to be – on the one side hearing scientists and some politicians telling us in stark terms the critical nature of the situation, and stating what needs to be done, and on the other, witnessing those in power continue to support and develop the industries and businesses that directly run against both the evidence and this advice. As The Listening Post film points out, climate change should be connected to all news items now being reported, and as Green Party members pronounced there needs to be a “system change not climate change”.
Elsewhere in the Voice this month, we take you to Corrie and their recent food festival, to the Darien Disaster of the late 17th Century and point you in the direction of the Arran churches who join the nationwide bell-ringing for the Armistice on 11th November. Hope you enjoy the issue and have a lovely month!