Government

"Greenest government ever." That’s the phrase that’s already been used to slap the current UK administration a fair few times. It’s an ambitious claim, but it seems even on the black-and-white issues UK ministers can’t quite bring themselves to go green.

So we've heard that, at long last and after much faffing around, the government will finally announce its decision on that third runway tomorrow. I have to add the 'probably' caveat as it's been delayed many times before but I doubt anyone will be slack-jawed if they give Heathrow expansion a big thumbs-up.

Despite the enormity of this decision, and the ramifications for people around the world, Gordon Brown has refused to promise a vote in the Commons on the issue. John Randall MP referred back to the day Plane Stupid sat on the roof of the house when he waggishly reminded Brown what he said at the time.

Alex Steffen of Worldchanging recently wrote an excellent piece called Who Will Tell the People? And How? about the yawning chasm between the reality of climate change and the failure of government to bring in the massive changes needed. Talking about US emissions cuts, he writes:

We're running into a situation here where the acceptable political action is to move from A to C, but where realism demands that - if we want to dodge a catastrophic collision with ecological reality - we move from A to say Q. And that gap, between C and Q, is large enough to lose a future in.

As you're reading this blog, you probably don't need reminding about the catastrophic collision with ecological reality Steffen mentions. With stakes this high, the changes needed (Steffen's A to Q) are profound, fundamental and cross all facets of human existence - from our energy and transport systems to, dare I say it, our social and economic systems.