The Green Liberal Democrat COP26 Diary - Day One
Day One - 1st November 2021
Just a short entry from me (Keith) this morning, before I spend the rest of today making sure the caravan is ready to go early tomorrow and is fully packed.
My first COP26 thought this morning was prompted by a news item last night showing our PM - Boris Johnson - speaking at the G20 meeting in Rome. He was making it clear that we could not doubt that we were in a Climate Change crisis and we could not "...procrastinate any longer...!" What puzzled me, and has puzzled me for a long time to be honest, is that Governments around the world know the facts and yet allow themselves to be `lobbied` out of making the right decisions for the security of the planet.
IF Johnson truly believes what he was saying yesterday, why, oh why, are they going ahead with new licences for extracting oil and gas from the North Sea. The information is as clear as crystal that this will outstrip, by a long way, the global carbon budget available. Greta Thunberg, not yet out of her teens can see it, scientists around the world have called it "Code Red for Humanity", so why can the Prime Minister not see it?.
I know in this time of toxic debate, the easy answers we could choose, involve words like "corruption" and "lying", but let us assume for the moment that Johnson is actually bright enough to understand the truth of what he is saying and that he actually cares for the children he has sired and their likely offspring enough to want their survival. Let us also assume that he is not actually poor - although much is made of his financial "difficulties" from more than one divorce - but he seems to be property rich, so may be `cash poor` despite his Prime Ministerial income. If that is the case, he may not be immune from the corruption tag.
You will all have to make your own minds up - but I am genuinely puzzled that his actions do not match his apparent analysis of the seriousness of the situation. Is that just too naive?
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As Yrsa Daley-Ward just declared in her spoken poem - just before Boris Johnson spoke - "Anything later than NOW is too little too late!"
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8.30 pm Monday - so - the caravan is pretty well packed - only last minute items to go in tomorrow morning. Then I took time to watch the opening ceremony on a recording from Glasgow. There have been some very good speeches and films, but, if you have a heart and any sensitivity, Delphine`s animated story will not fail to move you. Go and see it at the Blue Peter website here >>> https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/joinin/bp-competition. Stunning!