The government has set a target to completely negate the amount of greenhouse gases produced by human activity (to be achieved by reducing emissions and implementing methods of absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere), i.e., to go ‘net zero’, by 2050.

2050.

Why are we waiting so long to implement the changes that we so desperately need in order to save the planet?

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Already, we are seeing the effects of climate change on a mass scale

Last year was the hottest year ever recorded in the UK

It was only last year that the UK had its hottest summer ever recorded since records began in 1884, with temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in July ‘22. For a country whose average summer temperature is between 9 and 18 degrees, and 30 degrees plus is considered a heatwave, 40 degrees was unprecedented.

The UK is just not built for such an extreme climate.

We saw roads and railway lines melting.

We saw hospitals being overwhelmed with an influx of admissions for heat related illnesses, particularly in the older, more vulnerable population.

We saw weather warnings being issued on a weekly basis.

We saw restrictions to our usual activity being advised… Not dissimilar to the rules that we were governed by when the country went into lockdown during the global pandemic of COVID-19.

We saw, with the rising temperatures, people being told to stay indoors where possible, to only go out when necessary.

We saw it all, and yet, we did nothing.

And we’re continuing to see it.

We’re continuing to see wildfires breaking out across the globe.

Mass draughts.

Whole species being on the verge of extinction.

And, perhaps most horrifyingly of all, we’re continuing to see the government’s complete lack of action to do anything that will slow the effects of climate change down… In fact, it was only last month (September ‘23) that British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak declared that he was delaying some of the measures that were set to be imposed in the efforts to slow, what is, as of 2019 (4 years ago and yet, here we are, still doing the same old shit), being declared as, a climate ‘emergency.’

The decision to outlaw the sale of all new petrol and diesel cars by 2030 (which, personally, I think is still far too late. What are we waiting for?) has been delayed by a further 5 years, until 2035. Just to make sure the environment as polluted as it can possibly be!

Our lack of inaction towards climate change is completely nonsensical

Why has the ban been delayed, then, when we are in such a dire situation? Why would any government delay the measures that we so desperately need when we are, quite literally, on the precipice of entering the point of no return?!

To answer the ‘why’, and it’s a very dissatisfactory reason, I’m afraid, in Rishi Sunak’s words, to ‘ease the burden on motorists during the cost of living crisis.’

The ‘cost of living crisis!’

Mr Sunak, OPEN YOUR EYES!

The biggest ‘cost of living crisis’ we are in is related to climate change.

When whole countries become uninhabitable due to mass famine and floods and wildfires, what good will an ‘eased burden on motorists’ be?

An electric car won’t help us all when, in the future, the planet has been made completely impossible to live on…

A boat, yes.

A coffin, definitely.

But not a car.

And so, this is the greatest burden- the prospect of there being no planet at all…

When you think about it like this, you realise just how ridiculous the whole situation is.

Double standards meet hypocrisy, a government classic…

If we knew that there was a terrorist plot to wipe out the UK, we would immediately act. We would ramp up our security, we would try to minimise, if not completely prevent, any harm coming to anyone. And yet, with the climate crisis, despite us having known about the risks it poses for years and years, not just to the UK, but to the world, we do nothing.

We could have a massive banner being flown across the UK telling us that we are all going to die if we don’t change our ways, and people would still look the other way. People would still go about their daily lives as they have always done, because to change their lifestyle is ‘too much of an inconvenience…’

We need to take action while we can…

Oh, how our children will wish that they had the luxury of convenience when the world around them is coming to an end…

Oh, how our children will wish that we did something when we could, before it was too late.

Oh, how we must all wish that the people in power do something while they still can.