Climate: Tory Blasts Green on Hurricane Link

Question: When is it not permissible to question whether hurricanes in the Caribbean and US were caused or exacerbated by climate change?

The British Government’s Answer: When the hurricanes have just caused death, untold damage and devastation and a Tory minister has told the House of Commons how well Britain responded to requests for aid.

Over the past week an unprecedented barrage of hurricanes – Harvey and Irma – has ripped through the Caribbean, devastated vast areas of Florida and Texas and left a trail of havoc and death in their path. The strength and fury of the storms was on a scale not previously recorded.

Experts agree that it is still impossible to say that global warming definitely caused the hurricanes but it has an undoubted effect on the intensity of such extreme weather events.

Sir Alan Duncan, a Minister in the Foreign Office with strong links to the oil industry, briefed the House of Commons about the UK’s performance in helping a number of British dependencies hit by the storms.

Asked  the impact of climate change on the disaster, Duncan swerved to focus entirely on immediate disaster relief ratherthan engage on the broader issue of climate change. A millionaire oil trader, Duncan has been linked to many oil firms and as recently as the first of half 2016 received £8,000 a month for serving  as non-executive chairman of Fujairah Refining Ltd, a  UAE-based operator of oil refineries.

So up popped Caroline Lucas, leader of the Green Party to ask whether the disaster could have been caused or worsened by climate change.

She takes up the story. “I made what I thought was a polite intervention.After welcoming the Minister’s commitment to immediate relief, I added ‘With respect, I think that today is precisely the day on which we need to talk about those broader causes.

Gaston Browne, the leader of Antigua and Barbuda, is talking about climate change today. Will the Minister reassure the House that we will not have to wait for a hurricane to hit the UK before we have the policies we need from this Government to tackle climate breakdown?

Without that, we will not see the climate leadership that his Government like to claim in theory being shown in practice’.”

“His response was astounding. He accused me of ‘deeply misjudging the tone of the House’ and went on to demand that I ‘show a bit more urgent and immediate humanity, rather than making the point that she has made.’ In the moment I was shocked, but I shouldn’t have been.

“Because the truth is that the Government doesn’t want to admit that its reckless attitude toward climate change has real effects.”

“The most powerful people in the UK right now don’t want to acknowledge that our failure to sufficiently cut climate changing emissions contributes to sea levels rising, and oceans becoming warmer They don’t want to face up to the fact that warmer oceans and higher sea levels make storms like Irma even more devastating and more frequent.”

Gaston Browne put it perfectly on the radio this morning when he said ‘The science is clear. Climate change is real – in the Caribbean we are living with the consequences of climate change. It is unfortunate that there are some who see it differently.’

“I hope that Ministers heard him. Because when they cut support to solar energy, plough ahead with fracking or effectively ban onshore wind farms, they might comfort some of their backbenchers and the more Right-wing sections of the press but in doing so they condemn people across the world to suffering the worst effects of climate breakdown.

“Alan Duncan’s comments were just one outburst but they reveal a deeply damaging attitude to climate change that is pervasive within our politics. They don’t want the link between their own policies and ‘natural’ disasters to be highlighted. The truth is that we simply can’t ignore climate breakdown anymore. We need to talk about it and we need to act on it.

“What kind of country would we be if we didn’t step up at this most crucial moment? Especially given how much we’ve contributed to the chaos. The Government needs to stop shutting down the debate. Ministers need to stop slashing green measures.

“They need to halt the ban on onshore wind and end fossil fuel subsidies. They need to get serious about supporting solar. And they need to stop sitting on their hands while hurricanes plough through people’s houses and ruin livelihoods.”

 

by Bob Graham

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