Climate Issues: Information for Seniors
NEW TEN YEARS down: how many to go? At a time when climate change seems to have dropped down the agenda of public concerns, the forthcoming COP30 United Nations summit in November and the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Paris climate-change agreement will be here to remind us all.
Pope Leo has, in a reference to his predecessor's Encyclical Laudato Si ten years ago, recently said "some have chosen to ridicule the clearer signs of climate change, to ridicule those who talk about global warming, and even blame the poor for what is hitting them the hardest." (as reported by BBC).
It's just ten years since Mark Carney, former Bank of England Governor, now Prime Minister of Canada, made his famous speech about climate risk , which has recently been picked up on by
Tragedy of the Horizon, a group of 40 international organizations (including our new friends at ShareAction). They focus on the need for the banking system to change its attitude to financing the extraction of fossil fuels.
This should all be grist to the mill for COP30 in November which will particularly focus on finance this year (and for our own prospective working group on banking, insurance, and finance, which we hope to get started in the next few months)
Think you know everything about how plastics are destroying the world? Read here
Pollution is a climate issue, and, as with most woes, affects people unequally, also in the UK. The Climate Finance Fund (Fossil Fuels and Pollution) Bill, is being tabled by MP Richard Burgon, although it stands few chances of becoming law at present. But it should heat up the public debate. Some local groups are campaigning against one of the largest insurers of Oil and Gas companies - namely Howden's, a cosy-looking insurance company that can be found in many more than 130 UK High Streets.
Effects of air pollution (and, more positively, green spaces) on children's developing minds. 30-minute Youtube clip here:
Is China becoming a world leader in green energy? Read this.
Many of us are writing to our Members of Parliament about our climate concerns. Even if we have MPs who agree with us, it is good that they can say how many constituents are writing to them on a particular topic. The easiest way for contacting your local MP is to use the (free) website www.writetothem.com, stating your post code. Please mention Our Grandchildren's Climate and our website (www.ourgrandchildrensclimate.org) when doing so. The website will later ask you whether you received a response. You can also contact your own Local Councillors this way. Stuck for a question, for instance about unspent Council "climate money"?
Some suggestions here: https://councilclimatescorecards.uk/methodology/
Insurance is a climate change issue and an issue for future generations. It's a double issue. More and more people in the UK are living on potential flood plains. Who is going to insure their houses? Californians are already discovering that they are uninsurable following recent fires.
NEW: You may want to check the possibility of finding a more ethical insurer yourself. Here is a brief guide from The Ethical Consumer:
Even the re-insurers, the companies that insure the insurance companies are getting worried:
https://coveringclimatenow.org/event/press-briefing-is-insurance-the-next-big-climate-story/
And there's more: From time to time there are street protests across the UK (as in Bristol, see picture below) against the insurance companies that are themselves investing heavily in fossil-fuels. NEW: Listen to the one-hour Radio 4 programme about insurance "The risk takers" in the Rare Earth series here:
See more here Insure Our Future Global.
