Rt Hon Tony Blair, Prime Minister, Sept 2004
“What is now plain is that the emission of greenhouse gases, associated
with industrialisation and strong economic growth from a world population
that has increased sixfold in 200 years, is causing global warming at a
rate that began as significant, has become alarming and is simply unsustainable
in the long-term. And by long-term I do not mean centuries ahead.
I mean within the lifetime of my children certainly; and possibly
within my own. And by unsustainable, I do not mean a phenomenon
causing problems of adjustment. I mean a challenge so far-reaching
in its impact and irreversible in its destructive power, that it
alters radically human existence.
Let me summarise the evidence:
- The 10 warmest years on record have all been since 1990.
Over the last century average global temperatures have risen by 0.6 degrees Celsius:
the most drastic temperature rise for over 1,000 years in the northern hemisphere.
- Extreme events are becoming more frequent. Glaciers are melting. Sea ice and
snow cover is declining. Animals and plants are responding to an earlier spring.
Sea levels are rising and are forecast to rise another 88cm by 2100 threatening 100
million people globally who currently live below this level.
- The number of people affected by floods worldwide has already risen from 7
million in the 1960s to 150 million today.
- In Europe alone, the severe floods in 2002 had an estimated cost of $16 billion.
- This summer we have seen violent weather extremes in parts of the UK.
These environmental changes and severe weather events are already affecting the world
insurance industry. Swiss Re, the world's second largest insurer, has estimated that
the economic costs of global warming could double to $150 billion each year in the
next 10 years, hitting insurers with $30-40 billion in claims. By the middle of this
century, temperatures could have risen enough to trigger irreversible melting of the
Greenland ice-cap - eventually increasing sea levels by around seven metres.
- There is good evidence that last year's European heat wave was influenced by global
warming. It resulted in 26,000 premature deaths and cost $13.5 billion. It is calculated
that such a summer is a one in about 800 year event. On the latest modelling climate
change means that as soon as the 2040s at least one year in two is likely to be even
warmer than 2003.
That is the evidence."
(Rt Hon Tony Blair, Prime Minister, Sept 2004)
Our Responsibility
There is now clear evidence that global warming and climate change are a reality
that will have damaging effects on sea levels, water supplies and current agricultural
patterns, worldwide.
There is little doubt that one of the causes of climate change is the emission of
large volumes of the main greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide (CO2), created by burning
fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal.
Amongst other things, these fossil fuels are used to generate electricity. Even without
concerns over global warming, these fuels are finite and will at some stage in the future
become incapable of meeting the world’s energy needs.
Nuclear power provides a potential alternative major energy source, but current economics
and the unresolved issue of waste make it an unattractive option.
We are all aware of the environmental damage being caused to our planet, and as such we
have a responsibility to consider how the energy we consume should be produced.
Climate Change
