Coherent or simply banal?

As I said in my recent Op Ed piece on the website, one of the things that changed my day on Friday last week was that I had eventually seen the motion that caused our GLD motion to be bumped from consideration at the Lib Dem Online Conference at the end of September. If you recall, the letter sent to me from the Federal Conference Committee (FCC) indicated that the motion that was chosen was supposedly "more coherent" than the GLD submission.

Walking the Walk - positive neutrality.

Some days a certain confluence of events and thoughts changes the day; or changes one`s view of something; or both. Yesterday was one of those days for me. In the middle of the day I had a Zoom meeting with Jane Vaus and Karen Potter of "Sustainability Hub", talking about what a joint SusHub and Green Lib Dem Fringe meeting might look like at the Autumn Conference.

System Change Not Climate Change

There is a growing sense that the current political system in the UK is not fit for purpose. Many newspapers have written about the broken system and the lack of accountability in Westminster to the demands of the citizens. This flawed democracy has an impact on many areas, including how we deal with the climate emergency as a country.

LibDem Leadership Green Hustings from 28 July 2020

Some GLD members support Ed, some support Layla, either will make a great leader for the party and be able to outmatch Boris Johnson in the Commons

As the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for political and constitutional reform, the whole focus of my approach is trying to demonstrate the positive change which reforms can have. Our arguments are often too theoretical. They fail to meet people where they're at. If we cannot couch the case for a different voting system in terms of how it impacts people's lives, then I think we will continue to preach to the converted only.

Jane Goodall spoke at our Online Conference and Festival on the opening Sunday evening. What a way to close the first weekend!

Before she started we were told that she had just been awarded the 2020 Tang Prize in Sustainable Development, a very prestigious international award, given in recognition of "her ground-breaking discoveries in primatology ... and her lifelong, unparalleled dedication to the conservation of Earth environment". Her reputation as one of the most influential primatologists today, the founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and through that a great educator, and as a UN Messenger of Peace, preceded her. We were not disappointed.

Rejected by the FCC

(from a very angry, and disappointed, Chair)

As many of you will know members of GLD submitted two motions for consideration for the agenda of the online autumn conference. One was in my name as mover with Wera Hobhouse MP as summator, recognising the improved air conditions due to the "anthropause" (see below for definition!) . A second, dealing with a deeper approach to a carbon tax and a carbon dividend was submitted by Stewart Reddaway and Julian Hawkins.

Hopefully you will find this interesting and stimulating in asking yourselves how you can make the world a better place. It is the question that I put to Dr Jane Goodall at the Green Liberal Democrats 2020 summer festival on Sunday, and more importantly her fulsome answer. Read on....

My question to Dr Jane Goodall and her reply:

A progressive carbon taxation policy motion, including aviation, to reduce both CO₂ and poverty

28^th June 2020, Stewart Reddaway

Please support this motion by sending the following information:

Policy motion

Conference notes:

A Reductions in man-made Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions need to be accelerated, both nationally and globally, to prevent catastrophic outcomes.

Climate change caused by rising Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions is a critical threat.
We can limit the damage by reducing emissions quickly, and there are many technologies and behavioural changes available to do this. Technically, it looks as if the world can be saved with limited impact on people's lives. For example, the Committee for Climate Change proposed that the UK could achieve net zero territorial emissions by 2050 at a cost of about 1% of GDP.