Was talk of climate emergency just a load of hot air?

The article in the Chronicle last Friday – ‘significant work still needed to hit net-zero targets’ – was revealing, not just by what it said but also by what it failed to say.

So, in September 2019, Barnsley’s cabinet declared a climate emergency. For what reason?

An emergency is an unexpected and serious happening that calls for immediate and determined action. I know in recent years we have had a few hot days at the height of summer which you may think unusual, but hardly create an emergency.

The Barnsley cabinet, in wanting to protect the town for future generations, came up with a solution to take place in 26 years’ time. What happened to immediate action?

We are told that if world temperature rises are not maintained at 1.5C then consequences will be catastrophic for humanity’s survival, something that could happen at any time in the next 22 years.

When they have reduced living standards to the level of a thirdworld country to achieve their aims of net-zero I suppose that any residents still surviving in 2045 will have realised that there never was an emergency but still be expected to believe that they are now safe and immune from any global climate change.

These are fears that are constantly being relayed to us by politicians and the media yet our national contribution to global emissions is just one per cent. So how much of that comes from our borough?

They gloss over the significant work still needed but Coun Higginbottom, spokesperson for the environment and highways, tells us that we recognise that we need further action if we are to deliver these ambitions and demanding targets.

So when will they be rolling out the ULEZ 20mph zones and other restrictions across the borough? When they do, we really will have an emergency.

A few weeks ago a man rang me to say that I could get a government grant for a new boiler if I was on benefits. I told him I wasn’t on benefits, just a pension.

He then told me I could get a grant from the council because according to a survey my house was emitting more carbon dioxide than others in the area. It was then that he revealed that the new boiler came with heat pumps.

I asked him to explain that, as my house is insulated as far as it can be and I am all electric.

He said if you have electric cables and sockets over ten years old that can cause it. I realise then that I was either dealing with a man extremely desperate for work or an extremely inexperienced conman.

After I had told him what he could with his boiler and heat pumps, he ended the conversation.