Environment Monday - Is net zero dead?

"Drill Baby, Drill!" - This is the clarion call of the Leader of the Western World. The highly prestigious and always accurate Daily Express reports that Sir Keir Starmer is going to sack his Net Zero minister Ed Miliband, as Starmer abandons green policies. One may conclude that "Net Zero is dead". Are they right? It certainly seems like this may be the case. The question is, has the whole global warming thing been a scam to impoverish us? Are all the sceintists, supercomputer models etc wrong? Does Bert down the pub, who has done hours of research on Youtube and thinks Laurence Fox and Nigel Farage are the way forward, have it right? Well, in the short term, if you only are concerned with economic prosperity, yes. Abandoning net zero will be good for the economy. The GDP will rise and we will feel better off. I am not qualified to know what effect this will have and when or even if we will see the downside, but personally, I do trust the people who are qualified. When I had cancer and needed my prostate removed, I went to the best surgeon I could find. Thus far, it seems that was a very sensible decision. Likewise with climate change. I would trust the person who is best qualified to plan the future of the world.

When it comes to experts, I think of something my Dad taught me. We were discussing racial prejudice. He posed a problem to me. When he was flying Wellington bombers for the RAF in 1944, he relied on the engineers who serviced the planes. He asked me a question. There are three engineers, one is English, one is Indian and one is African. Which one would I choose to service the plane? The answer? The best engineer. When your life and your future depends on it, you want someone who you have absolute faith in. Now with climate change, are we listening to the best qualified people, who have scientific data to back their views up? Or are we listening to ignorant loudmouths, who have opinions that are not supported by data? 

In effect, by allowing CO2 levels to rise in an uncontrolled manner, Trump et all are conducting a massive experiment on a planetary level. Is this wise? It doesn't strike me as the most sensible way to proceed. I get that the UK produces a tiny amount of the worlds CO2 and if the USA decides to go hell fo leather for a petrol based economy, theres not much we can do. I do wonder about Elon Musk though. He made his name developing electric cars and efficient batteries. Trump's stance will be bad for business. I simply cannot believe Musk is a climate denier. Has he sold his soul for a seat at the table? 

The world can act like ostriches and bury our heads in the sand. That won't make the problems go away. It just means that when we do address it, the pain will be far worse. By then, the likes of Trump will not be around to pay the price.