Thursday 14th November

David Cameron promised that this Government would be the greenest ever.  He was even phot-op-ed with a husky.  It was the fashionable cause a few years ago, everyone was talking about Global Warming, Carbon reduction targets, more and more Renewable Energy.  It was the new politics.

And just as quickly it has gone; the enthusiasm, the failed targets are brushed aside, no more mention of the Environment in his speeches.  It’s the economy, stupid.  We just cannot afford to be so worried about Global Warming, and anyway it seems to have slowed down a bit, doesn’t it?  Naysayers are reporting that the ice caps are increasing, not shrinking anymore, and who knows – I have no way of measuring them myself.   America has embraced Fracking and cheap shale gas is lowering energy costs there; here, our Government is giving the oil industries the green light to do the same.  Whichever way you look at it will still mean burning fossil fuels; it will still be pumping CO2 into the atmosphere willy-nilly.

So, we are now in a harder battle for the Environment, a rearguard action to attempt to defend the gains made, not even to press forward with more.  And the environmental disasters keep happening, though they cannot be one hundred percent attributed to Global Warming all the models predict more typhoons, more rain, more floods.

It may take a real disaster, here in Europe or New York, before things start to change.  And maybe it will just be too late by then.  China and India, Russia and Brazil are booming, and are consuming more and more oil and gas.  I cannot see them voluntarily slowing down, or changing tack.

So what exactly will the future hold?  Of course no-one can be sure, but I think I trust the scientists rather than the Oil Executives.  Keep smiling.