Sun, wind and water hold the key
FOR 12 days now, some 25,000 taxpayer supported delegates from all over the world have been yattering away in Glasgow on climate change.
Some agreements have, on paper, been hammered out, one in particular in relation to methane gas.
However, as our Queen indicated, talk is one thing, but resulting action taken, another.
Politicians have a long history of debating and of passing resolutions, but after the “jolly”, not a lot really happens as they face the resulting commercial pressures of their actions. Then it is a case of swiftly casting around for the long grass!
Take our British Government. Just before COP26 opened, in their latest Budget, they reduced Air Passenger Duty on internal flights.
In the light of the worldwide desire to reduce carbon emissions, this was a daft thing to do.
They could, with some justification, have applied this reduction for flights to our offshore islands and Northern Ireland, but surely not for short hops to internal destinations served by rail.
After all, in another part of their Budget, further money was allocated towards reopening closed Beeching lines with the sole purpose of getting car use reduced.
If politicians were really sincere in their desire for cleaner air, they would immediately dust off the existing plans for the long-discussed Severn barrage that would provide much electricity from tidal movement.
Even the smaller version, namely the Swansea Barrage, seems to have been quietly forgotten. It is evident that much more research is needed into generating electricity from fast flowing tides.
I have long held the view that the human race has to make much greater efforts to harness and utilise the free elements that we have, namely, sun, wind and moving water, whether marine or rivers and waterfalls.
If all the delegates are to repay the taxpayer for their Glasgow junket, then they must ensure that actions are in greater number than words. Our government could start by forgetting about supporting a new coal mine in Cumbria.
Actions, not words!