3 June 2014

Gigatons


1 gigaton = 1 billion tonnes

1 part per million of Carbon dioxide abbreviated to 1ppm CO2 = 7.81 gigatonnes of CO2

While the news of President Obama's initiative to circumvent climate change denying bloc in Congress is welcome and the even more welcome decision by China to cap its CO2 emissions we are way behind the curve in tackling climate change (please visit Skeptical Science for the full data - they deserve the full credit).



The recent election omitted any mention of Climate Change in the mainstream media, with saturation coverage on immigration, but now it is over the news hasn't gone away, with the acknowledgement that it will increase the severity of summer flash floods. It is no surprise that the only region of England where the Greens bucked the national trend against us in the European Elections, was the South West, which was hit by appalling floods in the winter. Enough people there have recognised that voting Green is one way to do something about it.

Many of us Greens are exceptionally frustrated that at a time when the issues of climate change, biodiversity and fracking should have been headline news, in the run up to the European Elections, they barely got a mention. The issue hasn't gone away and it won't go away. It will eventually not be able to be ignored. Our battle for recognition of the issues will have to continue. The BBC Daily Politics Show, fronted by a known sceptic, has seen fit to feature women MEPs who have just been elected, including the sole remaining Lib Dem MEP, but not one of our Green MEPs (we have 3 MEPs and the Lib Dems have just 1).

If you haven't signed already then please do sign our petition for media balance on the BBC.

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