Mike's Columns in the Portsmouth News
Combating Global Warming
The need to combat global warming may have hit the headlines recently but the Lib Dems have been committed to “green politics” for long time with our past two general election manifestos having “green action points” for all policy areas not just in a separate Environment section.
More recently The Lib Dems have proposed the “Green Tax Switch” – reducing income tax but taxing instead pollution and things that cause carbon dioxide emissions – the “greenhouse” gas that adds to global warming. Along with scrapping tax breaks for the super-rich, even with the extra environment taxes, this would save a couple on average earnings £1,500 a year.
Housing accounts for 27% of the UK’S carbon dioxide emissions, so we have proposed “Energy Mortgages” – a long-term loan secured on a property to make it more energy efficient and repaid through the substantial savings made as a result by the householder on quarterly energy bills. And we want new homes built to a similar standard to that of Germany’s PassivHaus standards which require no fossil fuels for their space heating, and are thus “zero carbon” except for water heating and appliance use.
And of course we need to take action here in Portsmouth. The Lib Dem council with local people’s help has already doubled recycling rates. We have introduced local combined heat and power schemes. We are doing simple things like planting more trees – both improving the local environment and helping soak up some carbon dioxide. City Council architects are helping design new school buildings with fewer energy needs and we are employing an energy efficiency officer. The Lib Dems also beefed up a recent council motion with £100,000 going into new local strategies, education and publicity on global warming. And the City Council is to write to local supermarkets to challenge them to reduce the packaging they use – often much more than is necessary adding to energy use and it will publicise the results.
None of this will be easy or pain-free, but not to take action now is likely to condemn our planet and indeed our city to severe problems in the future.
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