People are dragging feet over climate

Two weeks ago, you were kind enough to publish a letter of mine expressing my, and many other people’s, frustration with our politicians, both national and local, slowness in tackling the climate emergency.

There was a response which you published in last week’s Chronicle, from Nicola James, of Bath Labour Party, objecting that I had accused politicians of not being bothered to attend the National Tram Conference which was held here in Bath.

This was a criticism of many politicians and was not directed at the Labour Party specifically, but perhaps I was a little hasty in accusing them of not being bothered.

I now understand that some Labour Party members had an internal local government conference to attend, so my accusation as applied to the Labour Party was misplaced, and for that I am sorry.

I was not being critical of the Labour Party and its environmental record. As many people know they have been very active in promoting the Green New Deal, and for that they must be applauded.

But let me explain my, and many others, feelings at not having a Labour Party perspective at this conference.

I was pleased that the Tram Group had invited Christian Wolmar to be the keynote speaker at this conference, as he has recently published a book entitled “Are Trams Socialist”.

I was therefore looking forward to some Labour Party input into the conference.

But of course there are people in the party, and outside the party who are dragging their feet. And

that was the point of my letter.

Many politicians do not seem to be acting in the way they should, if they really believed there was a climate emergency happening, right now.

If Nicola James had been at the tram conference she would have heard that trams can be up and running, very much quicker than the ten years she suggests. It is all about the political will.

The technology could allow it to happen very quickly. The climate and our health cannot wait for our politicians to catch up.

The mood of the tram conference was that our politicians

should just get on with it.

As I understand it, the Tram Group want to see a decent public transport system which runs on sustainably produced power integrated with other means of transport.

And it was emphasised at the conference that steel wheels on rails eliminate the PM2.5 emissions, produced by cars, lorries and buses, which have been shown to be far more damaging to our lungs, especially children’s young lungs, than the damaging tailpipe emissions.

David Lucas Bath