China gets it in the neck from Cllr Dave

Good morning, Dave

It was really good to hear from you last month.  Thanks for debating.  You wrote,

DAVE: "NetZero should be done in a balanced way that does not deny freedoms and to penalise the British people."

I don't think that net zero has made the slightest difference to 99.99% of the British people.  We have all carried on as normal, as if nothing is up.  Nothing has changed!

We all find it extremely difficult to cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions because everything we do is dependent on finite fossil fuels.  Thanks to Mrs Thatcher, we got out of coal, almost totally.  Coal is the worst for GHG emissions out of coal, gas, oil and timber burning.  Each of us, in our advanced, heavily industrial dependent societies are finite fossil fuel freaks or addicts, don't you think, Dave?  Therefore, there is very little we can do apart from cutting our consumption of everything and, to live more simply, less greedily so that others - both the poorer, developing nations and our very own descendants - will have something of coal, oil, gas and even wood left for them to burn, to simply survive.  Without burning something we cannot survive.  Unfortunately, it is a double whammy.  One day, fossil fuels will be gone and, as we burn them up as if there is no tomorrow, we change the planet's climates for the worse, meteorologists and other scientists tell us.  We are between the devil and the deep blue sea.  Snookered!  But, what little we can do to help ourselves, we MUST do.  Exactly what my wife and I are doing in our home in heavenly Halesowen!

Achieving net zero means that we carry on burning and emitting GHG but, somehow, find a way of sequestering or storing the GHGs.  This is extremely difficult to achieve, if not impossible.  Our world populations are expanding fast and that means more forests and woodland must be turned into concrete, brick and tarmac.  With the help of the Chinese who are doing more than any other nation to go down the renewables route but, they also have to build more coal fired power stations because they are the workhorse, the workhouse, the industrial powerhouse of the world, just as we were from about 1760 for 150 years.  To save ourselves we have to cut production and consumption, even population, and rapidly reduce our dependence on finite resources.

DAVE: "All your protesters want, is to control and oppress the British people – not ONE protester, that I’ve heard, has mentioned the big polluters – what’s your answer to China building 300 new Coal fired power stations by 2050??"

It is the very uncomfortable scientific facts of life living on planet earth, with the way it is that it is scientific laws of life that are "controlling and oppressing the British people" and all of life on earth.  "Either, we get our numbers and our activities into harmony with the powers of the earth to support life or, collapsing life support systems will do the job for us."  (anonymous)

What do you think, Dave?  By the way, Stourbridge ring road is slow going because of all our cars.  In my previous email I suggested what we need to do.  In addition, I still cycle and use the bus when I can.  I was a very rare cycling, full-time social worker in Brum when I gave up the car for 90% of journeys in the early 90s.  I still cycle at 76.  Do what I do!

All the best.  And thanks so much for writing.