A letter in the Bracknell Standard of 4 December asked how we all know that global warming is a fact. Well all the independent scientific studies over the last 20 years say so (the latest, last week, was about the melting of the glaciers in Switzerland). Even David Bellamy has now stopped being a denier and his strange opinion in the past was never scientifically supportable.

The scientific studies, including the UN International Panel on Climate Change, base their evidence on measurement. For example: ice-core records show the variation in yearly temperatures, most glaciers on the planet are now shorter than before, the width of tree rings (including those that have been long dead and preserved in peaty bogs), corals (which like trees grow a new ring every year, bigger in warmer years than colder ones) and most strangely the pollen count of dead vegetation in mud at the bottom of lakes.

The really detailed measurements, however, have been made of the change in maximum and minimum temperatures at the same places all over the world every day for very many years. Readers will be familiar with the white slatted boxes standing four feet off the ground called Stevenson screens. These were designed 150 years ago and the instruments they contain provide daily readings of temperature and humidity. These prove it is getting hotter much too quickly.

The scientific community has been unanimous in its pessimism. They say it will soon be too late to prevent the removal of most human life on the planet. The key conference is in a year’s time in Copenhagen. The politicians of the world must take action to prevent runaway global warming for the sake of future generations.

David Young

The Green Party General Election candidate for Bracknell.

Morning After Pill

I refer to the letter from the Pro Life Alliance in the Bracknell News of 11 December. This condemned the use of the morning-after pill. Now I accept that many people have religious views on this and I have no wish to criticise them, merely to point out that the useof the pill is legally allowed by Parliament.

The world's population increases by one and a half million every week, that's births less deaths. Throughout their lives, all these extra people will be using up resources of fossil-fuel energy that are irreplacable. How are all these extra mouths to be fed? And of course we must avoid runaway global warming. There are lots of questions to be asked, and few answers available.

The population of the planet has tripled in my lifetime. It just cannot go on like this. Preventing unwanted embryos turning into unwanted children can only be a good thing for the planet and its occupants. Surely we have a duty to future generations not to leave a devastated world behind us.

David Young
The Green Party General Election candidate for Bracknell.

VAT cut?

I am shocked that so many businesses and local shops have chosen not to pass on to customers the recent VAT cut of 2.5%. They have decided to increase their prices instead. Of course purchasers don't notice but as taxpayers we will all have to meet the cost of the increased profit by the enterprises concerned. The Government will receive less revenue and so, in time, we will all have to find the balance through increased taxes.

I call for publicity for local organisations that have reduced their prices to benefit their customers and UK taxpayers.

David Young
The Green Party General Election candidate for Bracknell.

Climate Change and the Empathy Defecit

Roman Krznaric argues for a revolution in empathy to tackle climate change.

‘We seem to be suffering from an empathy deficit – our ability to put ourselves in someone else’s shoes, to see the world through those who are different from us.’ – Barack Obama

Occasionally – just occasionally – a mainstream politician says something that is both original and useful. This is the case with Barack Obama’s views on empathy. In a thousand speeches, and in his book The Audacity of Hope, he has put cultivating empathy – learning to see the world from the perspective of others – at the centre of his moral and political vision.

Read more here:
Climate Denial.org

Bracknell Bandstand: 13th December 2008

From Bracknell Friends of the Earth...


Dear Local FOE Activist Friends,

As you know we are booked to be on the bandstand in Bracknell on the 13th from 10am to at least 2pm weather permitting.

I suggest we aim to start setting up at 9.00. If all goes well with good public interest we may stay longer, weather permitting.

I spoke to Nick Mercer of www.c-realevents.demon.co.uk fame on Friday, and confirmed that he will come with his pedal generators, and hopefully Anita as an assistant, although as usual we must be expected to help them set up, supervise the machinery with them now and then ,and help them pack up.

The basic aim is to engage the public on the subject of Climate Change, and Renewable Energy in particular- as a major main part of the solution, by way of the usual familiar Christmas themes.

Unless anyone has any better ideas, the basic plan is to have a real Christmas tree in a pot with LED lights on it driven by one pedal generator, another pedal generator to power a music machine which will produce Christmas carols, and another generator for whatever the kids want.to try out - but particularly to power at least one appropriate bin liner monster.

The Recyclops one we have is less appropriate for the basic theme, so we wont use that.

The Climate Change one sure is on message still - and it can be used.
But I think John said he wont be available on the day, since it is a Saturday (It would be great if you could be there John, even just for the morning!!) and so he has volunteered to make us up a new monster based on the renewables theme. John, I don't know if you can get large yellow bin bags for the basic material but that would be good since it is the colour of the sun, and all it needs is a suitable big happy face stuck on it and some labels like WIND, WAVE, SOLAR PANELS, BIOFUELS, CSP, CCS etc or whatever you fancy. I have seen white bags.and silver bags but not yellow though. I wonder of we could actually make up a round sun shaped monster in yellow somehow if we can just get some yellow polythene sheeting?
Do have a look at our website John - I dont think you have seen our bin liner monsters in action have you? See picture at bottom of home page.
http://bracknell-foe.makingithappen.co.uk/

If you pop round to see Nick I am sure he can blow one up to show you how they work.

Silvia is painting the rest of the plywood wall I made up with red bricks and varnishing them so that it will take graffiti and be weatherproof.
Siliva has suggested re-running the biofuels free-entry competition from the big day out in July and I do think that is appropriate and would be an added attraction, so I assume she will also try and organise some sponsors for the prizes again.

I will supply and bring the Christmas tree and the pot, and bring the usual table an FOE tablecloth and appropriate FOE literature etc., since I am the only one with large enough transport.

(Nick has a enough on his plate with the pedal generators! I trust he can provide lights and some carol music on a music cassette or something.)
Finally, I promised you some green wigs or hats to brighten up our Black "prophets of doom" FOE cagoules!

Just leave that up to me. I will hand them out on the day. Do please wear your cream FOE T-shirts under your cagoule to display now and then if it is not too cold to give people a quick flash of the green FOE logo & creamy colour!

Bright green stockings might be a good idea on the ladies?

Bright green trousers on the boys?

I have some green waterproof overtrousers and may need them anyway if it rains a lot!!

I can't find any green noses. Red ones would do to pick up on the "Rudolph" aspect of Christmas I guess!

Or yellow to pick up on the renewable energy theme of the sun?

These noses are pretty uncomfortable things to wear anyway, so this is an optional extra, if you want to provide and wear your own.

You can also do your own thing to attract attention with a mask and face paints etc if you want. I can get face paints and make up cheap or even for free from my wife's shop.

Just let me know!.

All best
Bill Dowling
FoE

Less Ice - a letter to the Bracknell Standard

I note your correspondent in the Bracknell Standard of 13 November claims that data published by the University of Illinois shows that global warming is contrived.

I have looked at the website he gave and have not found what he claims. For example the website has a heading that your correspondent seems to have missed: "Recent dramatic loss of multi year sea ice."

The figures from 2007 and 2008 show why world scientists and the UN are so concerned. Then the Arctic ice cap was 36% and 33% less in area than the average figure for the years 1979 to 2006. (It is this earlier period covered by much of the Illinois website.)

May I point out that many miilions of temperature readings have been taken to show that there has been a worrying rise in atmospheric temperature all over the world in the last 100 years. The scientists are only stating what we all know.

In Antarctica the Larsen B ice shelf had a larger area than Somerset. During autumn 2002, it all totally melted. This has exposed all the glaciers behind it to the warmer sea. If all the Pine Island/Thwaites glaciers now melt, together with the ice they drain from the interior, then the global sea level will rise approximately 1.5 metres. Do readers care if this floods some Pacific Islands? or parts of Bangladesh? or Venice? or some of London?

The loss of ice, glaciers, snow etc also means there is less whiteness to reflect the sun. The exposed earth absorbs the sun's heat. Thus contributes to global warming. The danger is that the permafrosts of Alaska, Canada and Siberia will melt and thus release huge amounts of carbon dioxide and methane that has been hidden for millions of years.

If this awful event happens, the earth's temperature will rise so high that human life would become impossible except in the newly exposed lands near the two poles. Our great grandchildren will be lucky, or perhaps unlucky, if they are some of the few survivors.

The politicians should ensure by world agreement that in future we burn much less fossil fuel and use renewable sources of energy instead.

David Young
The Green Party General Election candidate for Bracknell.

An Idea For Housing

Every few weeks there seems to be an item in the Bracknell Standard where residents or politicians are opposing new housing locally. Nevertheless Cllr Bettison spoke last week of the housing crisis. There will soon be 5 million people in this country on local authority or housing association lists. They need homes. The requirement for more dwellings is caused by an increasing population as we live longer and the sad fact that more relationships are breaking down. The recession will also add to homelessness.

Additional housing could be built on rural land, which will probably be needed for food production as the world population still increases by one and a half million every week, or near existing properties, which can threaten local infrastructure. I propose a third way.

The Halifax has stated it knows of 290,000 private properties that have been empty for at least 6 months out of the last 12. Surely a partial solution to the housing shortage is for local authorities to purchase (under existing powers) private properties that have been empty for a long time and improve them with increased insulation and energy efficiency. That is good for the planet.

Local building firms would take on extra staff who would otherwise be unemployed. The enhanced homes could then be rented, or sold at a profit, so all residents would pay less Council Tax. We would all win; nobody would lose.

David Young
The Green Party General Election candidate for Bracknell.

Tues 9pm BBC2 Horizon

Dear bcc


This is the second and final part of a programme about the thin line between normality and mental illness. It is educational if you’ve no experience of this.



I’ve not watched reality TV programmes since the Generation Game, a very long time ago! This one has five sane people together with five people with problems. The panel of three experts in psychiatric medicine try and decide who has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Depression, Bipolar Disorder, Anorexia, Schizophrenia, or is one of the five without a difficulty.



In part one, the panel identified the OCD person, which wasn’t difficult. They also had to pick one person who they were convinced had no psychiatric problems at all. They picked Yasmin who then said they were wrong as she had an illness.



Thus there are nine people left in the final part on Tuesday, five of whom are considered to be without a personality disorder. As I said it is all very educational and I felt more informed from watching the first programme.

North Sea Ice and Climate Change

Many scientists believe climate change has made it already too late to retain human kind as we know it on the planet. Let's hope they are wrong for the sake of our grandchildren.

From www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article5014744.ece
"The Arctic icecap is now shrinking at record rates in the winter as well as summer, adding to evidence of disastrous melting near the North Pole, according to research by British scientists. They have found that the widely reported summer shrinkage, which this year resulted in the opening of the Northwest Passage, is continuing in the winter months with the thickness of sea ice decreasing by a record 19% last winter."

Thankfully most scientists, however, believe that we do have a few months left to get world leaders to take climate change seriously. Hopefully by 2012 we can start to reduce carbon emissions. (The estimate is that from 2012 onwards, developed nations must reduce by 9% a year, providing the undeveloped world keeps to 2011 levels.)

I refer to the Stern Review (2006), Al Gore’s DVD An Inconvenient Truth (2006), the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Scientific Assessment Report (2007) and Gabrielle Walker & Sir David King’s book The Hot Topic (2008). The recent research by Dr Kevin Anderson at the UK government-funded Tyndall Centre shows, however, that global warming is happening even faster than previously thought by the four references above.

Cut anti social behaviour

My neighbour’s car was vandalised on Saturday night. I’m fed up with the all the criminal damage that we have to put up with. Most properties in our bit of the road have suffered. I blame the Council. Their liberal policy in allowing drinking at clubs and pubs well into the early hours means that police have to be on standby in case of civil disorder. Now the police have many calls on their limited resources and cannot therefore patrol our streets at nights to discourage hooligan behaviour.


I call for a review of Council policies that currently allow for extended licensing after midnight. A big reduction will release police to do their proper job. Still on anti social behaviour, I think there is a need for Council Litter Wardens empowered to give on the spot fines. And when our Dog Warden fines people who are too idle to clear up after their dogs, well there should be publicity.


David Young

The Green Party General Election candidate for Bracknell.

Wind turbines are beautiful

I note your correspondent in the Bracknell Standard of 23 October denies accelerating global warming by claiming that data published by the University of Illinois shows an increase in ice in the northern hemisphere. Please can he give us the exact scientific reference. I cannot find it and I need to check the claim.



In contrast the Stern Review (2006), Al Gore’s DVD An Inconvenient Truth (2006), the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Scientific Assessment Report (2007) and Gabrielle Walker & Sir David King’s book The Hot Topic (2008) all show that the ice is decreasing at an alarming rate as one of the many effects of climate change. The very recent research by Dr Kevin Anderson at the UK government-funded Tyndall Centre, however, shows that global warming is happening even faster than previously thought by my four references above. He says the politicians of the world have only a few months left to act or else it will be too late to prevent runaway climate change rubbing out most, or all, human life.



For the last 20 years the global scientific community has been unanimous in its pessimism. I’m sorry but I cannot help being very worried, not for myself but for my grandchildren. They are entitled to a full life, not one ruined by the lethargy of our generation over the last 10 years, continuing into the next decade. This is the most important crisis that the human race has ever faced. Yet the politicians do very little, being mainly concerned to win the next election for themselves.



To avoid runaway global warming, we need to burn much less fossil fuel and use renewable sources of energy instead. For the good that they do our planet, I think wind turbines are beautiful. After all humankind has been using nature’s windstrength for thousands of years.



David Young

The Green Party General Election candidate for Bracknell.

The scientific evidence is there - A letter to the Bracknell Standard

The scientific evidence is there. The Bracknell Standard of 2 October printed a reply to my letter on climate change. Your correspondent used such phrases as “the current propaganda on global warming” and “scientific argument”. He really should bring himself up to date with the facts as there is no longer any scientific argument. All the independent scientific papers published in the last 20 years have warned of the extreme dangers to human life but thankfully most scientists agree that if actions are taken now, we can save the planet. We know what needs to be done. The minority of scientists, however, say it is already too late to prevent runaway global warming; all we can do is slow the demise of most of the human race (not helped by a population that increases by one and a half million a week); maybe a few of our great grandchildren would live in the new land where we call Antarctica, after the ice has all melted.

 

We all know from looking around us for the last 20 years that global warming is here. In our loft the children’s sledges have remained unused for many years due to the mild winters. I know there used to be a minority of informed people who did not accept that global warming existed. Their view was based on satellite data that has now been shown to be totally false. It had been assumed that the satellite was stationary but it wasn’t. Adjusting for this movement brought the satellite data into line with all the very many millions of temperature readings showing that the planet is getting warmer, all over its surface.

 

I accept that all sorts of nonsense can be found on the world wide web. All some nerd has to do is to write lies and paste them there. To avoid runaway global warming, we need to burn much less fossil fuel and use renewable sources of energy instead. The politicians must sort this out and provide leadership to prevent global disaster. They must act very quickly.

 

David Young

The Green Party General Election candidate for Bracknell.

A ramble into the past

DID you know that there was once a Roman town and probably also a Roman fort in what is now Swinley Forest?

 Neither of them were at Caesar’s Camp, which was, of course, and Iron Age hill fort which had fallen out of use almost a century before the Roman invasion of AD43.

 These were just some of the subjects covered on Saturday during a historical ramble around the woods, led by local historian and environment campaigner David Young.

 The walk was one of 13 free Heritage Open Day events to take place between Thursday and Sunday organised by Bracknell Forest Council.

David had expected six or seven people to come along, maybe a dozen if it was a nice day. In fact there were 55, including David’s wife Pauline, who walked with a bag for collecting any rubbish found along the way.

Part of the walk was along the Devil’s Highway, which may or may not be a Roman road, no one is quite sure. It is named, one of the group said, because it is very straight, and anything straight was believed at one time to be of the Devil!

David showed the group a site where he believes there may once have been a Roman fort – midway between Staines and Silchester – and pointed out an area where the Roman town of Wickham Bushes had once been. There is nothing to see there now, but it was once a base for iron works using iron ore from Bagshot. 
He also pointed out the site of Gorrick Well, which had been there since Medieval times but was deemed too dangerous for modern ramblers and was duly filled in in 2003.

The party was also shown the site of five redoubts – manmade trenches and ramparts used for practising manoeuvres at the time when Napoleonic France was beginning to flex its muscles. A military exercise went on for two weeks there in July 1792, watched by a crowd of 200,000, including King George the Third.

Other open days in the series were:

An exhibition at St Michael the Archangel Church, Warfield: a talk on the Benedictines at Warfield; a historical stroll around Warfield; a rural craft and folk day at Lily Hill Park, Bracknell; a tour of Pope’s Manor grounds, Binfield; a tour of the Berkshire Record Office in Reading; a Bracknell Stitching Society exhibition in Bracknell town centre library; tours of the church and churchyard at St Michael and St Mary Magdalene, Easthampstead; tours of the house and grounds at South Hill Park, Bracknell; tours of Wellington College, Crowthorne; a stroll round Newbold College Gardens in Binfield; and a tour of St Michaels and All Angels’ Church in Sandhurst.

We broke it - A letter to the Bracknell Standard

We have done it. They are broken and need repair now. In response to my letter on climate change, Nick Turner said in the Bracknell Standard of 11 September that the Earth’s atmosphere is kept relatively stable by the various feedback mechanisms. Well not any more.

Beware of optimistic scientists. Even at the start of this year, most were saying that by 2100, all the summer ice at the North Pole would have melted. This has now been found to be wildly optimistic as it has been shown that the Summer North Polar Icecap decreased 80% by volume over the last 18 years. It could vanish by 2013, rather than the 2100 estimate of only a few months ago.

Ice cores going back up to 800,000 years tell us that the carbon dioxide level in our atmosphere has always been between some 180 and 280 parts per million (PPM). That is until we started to burn oil, around 1860. Now the level is 385 PPM and increasing by over 2 PPM every year. And the figures are even worse if the other greenhouse gases such as methane are included. Turning to temperature, the planet has kept to the same sort of level (plus or minus 0.2 of a degree) since reliable records have existed, from around the year 1000. Since oil started to be burnt, the temperature has risen by 0.8 of a degree, including half a degree in the last 30 years. The sharp rises in temperature have been caused by the sharp rises in our emission of greenhouse gases. There is no other scientific explanation. The Earth’s atmosphere is highly complex and its delicate balance has been disturbed.

Nature’s feedback mechanisms have been broken by the burning of fossil fuels.

For the sake of future generations, we must save the planet. The latest calculation shows that for all years from 2012 onwards, the population of the planet must create 6% less greenhouses gases than the year before. To avoid runaway global warming, we need to burn much less fossil fuel and use renewable sources of energy instead. The politicians must sort this out and provide leadership to prevent global disaster. We haven’t time to leave the bill for the next generation.

David Young
The Green Party General Election candidate for Bracknell.

Energy Charges

This winter many people in Bracknell will have to choose whether to eat adequately or heat their homes. Yet Mark Owen-LLoyd, an executive of E.on, was quoted last week as saying that the continued high gas and electricity prices would mean more money for people such as him. What an awful thing to boast about when so many are suffering.

Some energy company have been making profits of £1000 per second throughout the first six months of this year. Huge sums of money are leaving this country and going abroad, as many of the utility companies are foreign owned, Why should poor UK residents pay high energy prices to benefit foreign shareholders?

Of course it was the original decision of the Conservatives "to sell off the family silver" (against the advice of their ex-Prime Minister, Harold MacMillan, who used these words). And since 1997 the Labour Government has continued to allow this awful situation. The Green Party calls for a large windfall tax on the vast profits of the energy companies. I think the money raised should be spent on providing solar panels in public and private buildings. This would mean less power being used in Summer. For Winter reductions in the use of fossil fuels, I call for more wind turbines locally.

David YoungThe Green Party General Election candidate for Bracknell.

Climate Change

Colour Photo is 2008 , black and white is 1956

In response to my letter on climate change, Nick Turner suggested in the Bracknell Standard that control should be through education, science and religion.

Education tells us that the planet was formed 4.6 billion years ago, modern human civilisation only started 11,000 years ago with end of the last Ice Age, around 1860 we started to burn oil causing an increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and that the earth’s temperature started to rise from then on. The rise has now rapidly increased by half a degree in the last 30 years, an increase far greater than anything in the past as shown from to ice cores going back 800,000 years.

Science tells us that the earth’s temperature should in fact be cooling as the change in the planet’s movement (angle of obliquity, precession, the shape of our orbit around the sun, the Milankovitch cycle) show we should be moving towards a cold period. The fact that the atmosphere is getting warmer (and the many resulting effects) is down to the burning of fossil fuels. There is no other scientific explanation. The Earth’s atmosphere is highly complex and its delicate balance has been disturbed. Some scientists now state that runaway global warming is inevitable and all we can do is minimize the horrid changes so it takes longer for the Earth to get like the planet Venus. According to Sir David Attenborough, all the independent scientific papers published in the last 20 years have warned of the extreme dangers but thankfully most scientists agree that if actions are taken now, we can save the planet. Let’s hope they are right for the sake of our grandchildren.

I’ve less to say about religion. There are many, some believing they are the only true faith. Most religious leaders state that humans should not harm God’s planet.

Nations can never come up with a global agreement on climate change until everyone takes responsibility for their emissions. We need to burn much less fossil fuel and use renewable sources of energy instead. The politicians must move away from always thinking about winning their next election and instead provide leadership to prevent global disaster.

David Young
The Green Party General Election candidate for Bracknell.

Bracknell Recyling

I was shocked by the letter published on behalf of the local Liberal Democrats in the Bracknell News of 21 August on the subject of recycling. The major point is that the new Bracknell Forest Council system resulted in a huge increase of 12% in the amount of local recycling. This reuse of materials is good for everybody. Another point is that domestic waste in landfill leads to methane, the most harmful gas creating global warming. 

The Council will still have to get rid of our rubbish when landfill becomes even more heavily taxed and so the effort by local people to increase recycling is most welcome. Of course the local recycling level is not high enough and the Bracknell Green Party, together with Bracknell Friends of the Earth, have held a meeting with Bracknell Council when further improvements were suggested. We should be aiming for the levels reached by other European nations.

Some scientists believe that it already too late to prevent runaway global warming resulting in the extinguishing of most human life on Earth. Let's hope they are wrong for the sake of our grandchildren. I ask the Liberal Democrats to accept that increasing recycling is one of the ways that residents can help to save the planet. 
 
David Young
The Green Party General Election candidate for Bracknell.

the importance of global warming and climate change

A letter in last week's Bracknell Standard doubted the importance of global warming and climate change. May I state a few facts.

Let me compare the problem of increasing carbon dioxide to the thickness of glass in a greenhouse. Normal levels of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere equate to thin glass which keeps the temperature nice and stable. Thicker glass leads to a warmer temperature in the greenhouse. If the glass is too thick, the temperature will just get hotter and hotter until the greenhouse is broken. It is the same with increasing "greenhouse gases" in our planet's atmosphere. 

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is made up of leading climatic scientists from many countries. In 2007 they were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their work. They say there is no room for doubt, the temperature of the the earth's atmosphere has risen since we started to burn fossil fuels increasingly since around 1850. There has been a rise of half a degree centigrade in the last 30 years.

We know the effect this has already had. The warmer atmosphere has caused an increased number of killer storms. Diseases from Africa are moving north as the bugs thrive in our warmer climate (blue tongue disease arrived last year and malaria is following). Our wildlife is changing as the seasons alter. Water shortages in some parts of the world (e.g. Australia) are caused by rain storms being fewer in number but torrential when they come. They also cause flooding. Hot temperatures mean less efficient food production that leads to higher prices. We are using more fossil-fuel energy to keep cool in summer. Expansion of warmer seas and the melting of glaciers and ice caps lead to rising sea levels which will mean some cities and low land going under water. 

Unfortunately it takes time for the atmospheric temperature to catch up with the greenhouse gases we humans have put there so far. So even if we used no more gas and oil, the temperature will still rise by a further half a degree in the next 50 years. To avoid runaway climate change, we must start now to cut back our carbon emissions. It will make a difference if we all help in many tiny ways. 

According to Sir David Attenborough, every independent scientific paper published in the last 20 years has supported the consensus that the rise in world temperatures has been caused by the increasing carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. Yet in UK our carbon emissions are still rising by 1% each year.

It is a world wide problem and thus down to Governments to agree world wide solutions. Nevertheless the UK should provide leadership. Unfortunately this is unlikely to happen whilst politicians seek election by supporting NIMBYism (Not In My Back Yard) and offering short term financial bribes to the electorate. Why do the rich worry about Inheritance Tax when there is unlikely to be a world as we know it today for their grandchildren to inherit?

Readers may wish to borrow the DVD The Inconvenient Truth from their local local library or read Gabrielle Walker and Sir David King's book The Hot Topic. Sir David King was until recently the UK Chief Government Scientist. Trust him not the optimists. 

---------------
David Young is the Green Party General Election candidate for Bracknell.

To retain human life on the planet we need to save the Gulf Stream and the permafrost. To help, we can all cut our CO2 emissions: Reduce consumption; Reuse; Recycle; Insulate our homes; Use less electricity, gas and water; Buy local food and save food miles; Use less fossil fuel; Fly less.

Proportional Representation

I was shocked by a letter in the Bracknell News of 12 June. This was from the Liberal Party which seems to be a spent force locally. At the last General Election they lost the seats of Guildford and Newbury to the Conservatives. They have no seats on Bracknell Council and they had major losses in last month's elections in Wokingham. Their letter describes the procedure of electing our members for the European Parliament as "anti-democratic".

In fact I believe it is the very opposite. It is the only voting process for Bracknell or Wokingham electors that uses proportional representation. Proportional representation allows for minorities to have a voice that they cannot get in the first past the post system.


All the Borough Councillors were Conservatives when I came to live in Bracknell in 1982. This is almost the position today except there is an opposition of three Labour members to the
 39 Conservatives. It is obviously the wish of the electors to have a Conservative council. So be it, but with proportional representation the opposition would be larger and allow for better review of Council decisions and thus better governance.

The Green Party strongly supports proportional representation for European Elections and there is merit in considering its use for other elections too. The South East of England returns 10 MEPs. Last time the Green Party received some 10% of the vote and thus one member. The Green Party MEP for the South East is Dr Caroline Lucas. She has very many major achievements to her credit. This is an example of what can be achieved by an electoral system of proportional representation.

David Young
The Green Party General Election candidate for Bracknell.

Police Action On Abandoned Cars

I want to commend the police action on Thursday 22 May in the Birch Hill area. It resulted in many cars being taken off our roads that were either not roadworthy, uninsured or not displaying a road fund licence. Cars that are dangerous can cause accidents to innocent people. Where a driver is uninsured, other careful motorists can suffer whilst the rest of us pay more for our already expensive insurance. Tax evasion is a disgrace and a burden to all other citizens who have to pay more to compensate.

The police have a very difficult and often dangerous job and, for reasons that I don't understand, their paperwork is horrendous. We need to give our full support to the local police force at all times.


David Young
The Green Party General Election candidate for Bracknell

ALDI In Bracknell

In Birch Hill the use of the local shops and amenities has dropped since the Waitrose supermarket closed last year. Several months ago the ALDI supermarket group took over the site from Waitrose but still the store remains vacant. Now ALDI have submitted a planning application for the new shop front that will obviously be necessary. I urge Bracknell Council to process this application with utmost speed so that Birch Hill in particular and Bracknell in general can benefit from this additional local shop.

David Young
The Green Party General Election candidate for Bracknell.
---------------
To retain human life on the planet we need to save the Gulf Stream and the permafrost. To help, we can all cut our CO2 emissions: Reduce consumption; Reuse; Recycle; Insulate our homes; Use less electricity,gas and water; Buy local food and save food miles; Use less fossil fuel; Fly less.

technorati

Green Party Election Broadcast 2008 Local Elections

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yURPKlp866o

Sustainable Energy Exhibition At Garth Hill College

I went to the sustainable energy exhibition last week at Garth Hill College. There was lots of interesting material to read and the presentations were thought provoking. I congratulate the pupils and staff for their efforts. A sustainable energy officer from Bracknell Forest Borough Council was on hand and she added considerably to the value of the evening by her informative and helpful remarks. It is a pity though that more residents did not visit to benefit from all the work done. Most people would gain financially by accepting the advice that was offered. When our Council again undertakes an initiative in this way, then I urge eveyone to attend if they possibly can.

David YoungThe Green Party General Election candidate for Bracknell.

EXTREME WEATHER IS ‘A SIGN OF THINGS TO COME’

Last week we had two bad storms in our area. It was reported that even the roof of the Chancellor's 11 Downing Street suffered during the Budget Day storm. (By the way last week's Budget was a huge missed opportunity. It was not green; it was Brown.) Still the weather wasn't as bad as the awful floods last summer. Then, after the rainfall in June, the Government's Environment Agency told us not to worry as such downpours only happened every 30 years. Then to their suprise, the torrential rain was even worse in the very next month. I deplore the Government's apathy on what has been described as the worst ever threat to the continuance of human life on our planet.

The turbulent weather conditions frequently hitting the South East are a worrying sign of things to come unless the Government takes a tougher line on climate change. Studies have suggested that the South East of England is likely to be one of the UK regions worst affected by global warming. A 2004 report entitled ‘Global Warming, Local Warning’, showed the expected consequences for the South East where the dense population, long coastline and low-lying land make us increasingly vulnerable. To prevent the devastating consequences of climate change, the Government should belooking to dramatically reduce CO2 emissions by reducing demand, investingin carbon neutral sources of power and developing widespread energyefficiency measures. Having seen the daffodils in December and the bluebells in January (both 3 months early), we all know there will be a dire problem for future generations. All the independent expert scientists over the last 25 years have agreed. The UK needs to persuade other nations to take action. So we must urge our our politicians to act very soon.

David Young is the Green Party General Election candidate for Bracknell.
David Young, 9 Haywood, Bracknell. Tel 01344 456489.

To retain human life on the planet we need to save the Gulf Stream and the permafrost. To help, we can all cut our CO2 emissions: Reduce consumption; Reuse; Recycle; Insulate our homes; Use less electricity, gas and water; Buy local food and save food miles; Use less fossil fuel; Fly less.

The Future of Our Hospital

To the Bracknell Standard.
From David Young, 9 Haywood, Bracknell. Tel 01344 456489.

I congratulate the Bracknell Standard on its campaign about our local hospital at Heatherwood but I am shocked that so few people have felt able to sign the petition that asks the Prime Minister to protect the future of the Hospital and not to allow any further deterioration there. I suppose this lack of interest by residents means they will be happy to travel further for important medical services.

In fact I hear the Primary Care Trust has already taken note of this apathy and is planning to close the Stroke Unit at Heatherwood in December. Stroke patients who can get to a hospital quickly have a much better chance of survival so I urge readers to sign the petition without further delay. Our MP has signed it, so have lots of councillors and doctors. It is at http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Heatherwood

David Young
The Green Party General Election candidate for Bracknell.
---------------

Post Office Closures

From David Young, 9 Haywood, Bracknell. Tel 01344 456489.

It is ridiculous. Last year the head of the Post Office, Adam Crozier, received a salary of £1.1 million, a £300,000 bonus and had a hefty sum paid into his pension too. And what were his decisions that deserved a total package approaching £2 million for one year's work?

He decided to initiate yet another round of closures of much needed local post offices, cut the last collection of the day (so most post boxes are now emptied in mid afternoon) and abolish Sunday collections. Why does the Government allow the rich to get richer in this way?

I call for the introduction of higher taxation of such mega rich individuals and for the nationalisation of the Post Office to prevent further degradation of the lives of ordinary people.

David Young
The Green Party General Election candidate for Bracknell.

Council Tax Discount

I note the report in last week's Bracknell Standard that the Council Tax Discount for homes empty in Bracknell is to be cut from the normal 50% discount, to 10% after the first six months. I applaud our Council for this gesture but why not go the whole way? Under the Local Government Act 2003 the Council could have decided to cut the discount to nothing. I call for this to be done next year.

An opportunity has been missed for residents to pay less council tax. It is a pity that the Labour Government has not developed the proposal that dwellings empty for a long period should attract double council tax to induce owners to vacate their property to help reduce the housing shortage.

Houses empty for many months cause major offence to the thousands of local residents who are waiting for affordable housing. Most will have been on the Council waiting list for a long time. They want to move into their own home rather than stay with in-laws or friends or pay rents they can barely afford to a private landlord without security of tenure. So, in economic terms, it's a matter of increasing the supply of affordable housing to reduce the demand.

Poorly paid key workers in particular are badly affected whether they are policemen and women, teachers, council staff, firefighters, healthworkers or other professions. They have been harmed by the sale of council housing that has been encouraged by both Conservative and Labour governments over the last 20 years.

Our population is increasing as people live longer. Some families split up due to financial pressure. Thus more homes are needed. Now our Council should do more to provide additional affordable housing, particularly on brown field sites.

David Young
The Green Party General Election candidate for Bracknell.

Heathrow Terminal

"Terminal 5 may not be the last". So said a headline in last week's Bracknell News but I believe that an expansion in air travel is a luxury that our planet cannot afford. Even ignoring the harm that greenhouse gases are doing to the upper atmosphere by contributing to climate change, airline travel is just too cheap. Unlike other forms of travel (e.g. trains, cars, coaches and buses), airlines pay no tax or duty on fuel. They are exempt from the climate change levy too. They are also excluded from international schemes for controlling carbon emissions. We must have a level playing field for all forms of transport that emit carbon. The sharpest instrument for cutting pollution is a tax on polluters and this must include taxing airline fuel. Then taxes can be cut on less harmful activities or public transport subsidised. But back to Heathrow Terminal 6 (and the third runway too) surely by the time these are built, further improvements in teleconferencing will lessen the need for business travel and, as for leisure travellers, global warming will mean that we will be taking our holidays in UK. David Young, the Green Party General Election candidate for Bracknell.

Education in Bracknell

I note the comments in last week's Bracknell Standard by the Headmaster of
Wellington College, Dr Seldon, that schools independent of the state sector "cream off the best pupils, the best teachers, the best facilities and the best university places". I commend his honesty.

What seems truly awful is that these schools are still given charitable status by the Government. The effect of this privilege is that charitable status saves independent schools £100 million each year in tax breaks. Why should already over-taxed UK citizens subsidise those rich enough to pay for their children to get the educational benefits described by Dr Seldon?

When the Labour Party came to power in 1997, it had been said that something would be done about this anomalous situation. It was a broken promise, possibly because Tony Blair was himself a pupil at a top independent school. Of course the Conservatives would not change things as so many members of David Cameron's Shadow Cabinet went to Eton and the like.

As with lots of other longstanding political nonsense, (e.g. Members of Parliament deciding their own pay and pensions) this is something that needs changing. The rich should not be allowed to get richer in this way.

David Young
The Green Party General Election candidate for Bracknell.