THE Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recently released a report which the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described as a ‘code red’ for humanity.

I understand that many will be frightened by the report’s conclusions, and there is no question that there is tremendous work to be done and progress needs to be made.

However, we must be very careful not to cede these efforts to the most radical amongst us.

I have long been critical of groups like Extinction Rebellion, not because I do not share their concern for the planet, but because environmentalism appears to simply be an excuse for promoting radical social agendas and for disrupting people going about their lives.

Ultimately, I am both hopeful and optimistic that, through science not revolution, we will overcome the challenges of man-made global warming.

For example, the Sun alone produces more than enough energy for us to exploit in a sustainable way, it is simply a matter of developing the technology to utilise this effectively.

In so doing, we will be able to reduce our negative impacts on the environment without having to return our societies to the stone age.

One aspect if this issue that has been studiously ignored is that by allowing Chinese dumping and their anti-competitive behaviour we end up exporting our energy intensive industries to China, meaning we have lost our ability to play a greater role in carbon reduction.

Worse still, we now see that they are the largest emitter of C02 of any country in the World.

This is partly our fault because we import so much from them.

Sensible political action is also required at the local, not just the global level.

I understand that Herefordshire Council have recently written to the Government suggesting that the Bellwin scheme has not provided them with sufficient funds to fully defend our county against flooding.

It is possible that the Bellwin scheme may well need to be readjusted in the future if climate change is going to cause even greater flooding than it already does.

However, it is incumbent upon the council to prioritise environmental protections.

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