A quarter of people in the UK consider climate change to be “a serious global threat that is out of control.” Photo: John Keeble/Getty Images Europe.
The UK needs to be on a 'combat footing' to fight climate change, says a senior Labor MP.
Barry Gardiner, former secretary of state on shadow energy and climate change, said the fight with a global rise in temperature is a “war for survival”.
He argued that “instead of playing partisan political games” over who has the best plans to solve the problem, the country and its politicians should “come together” and “mobilize on a military basis.”
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The comments were made during an interview with BBC Newsnight on Thursday evening after Sir Tony Blair made significant contributions to the climate change debate.
The former Labor Party prime minister warned against asking the public to donate a “massive amount” to fight climate change, saying the UK's zero-emissions efforts cannot solve global warming alone.
Sir Tony emphasized in an interview with New Statesman magazine. that climate change is “the single biggest global challenge”, and said “the UK has a role to play” in addressing it.
However, he pointed out that what the UK could achieve would be paltry compared to the consequences of actions by countries like China.
Climate change in the political spotlight
Climate change and the drive to achieve zero emissions by 2050 have been thrust back into the political spotlight in recent weeks following a surprise Tory victory in by-elections in Uxbridge and South Ruislip in west London.
Labor's failure to secure Boris Johnson's former constituency was widely attributed to the backlash of voters against Sadiq Khan's planned expansion of the polluting vehicle accusation against Ulez. -conservatives to rethink their approaches to climate change amid fears of being voted down if environmental measures result in direct costs to households.
But Mr Gardiner argued during an appearance on BBC Newsnight that “if this were a war we wouldn't be arguing about which is better, Labor strategy or Tory strategy, we'd be working together to try to win.”
Barry Gardiner says Britain's zero-emissions effort cannot solve global warming alone. Photo: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg
He said, “Well, this is war. This is a war for survival and climate change threatens everything. It threatens our food security with drought and desertification, it threatens our homes and our cities with floods and coastal flooding.
“People, when they cannot afford to feed themselves, when they cannot can find a place to live, they move. It causes a refugee crisis, it causes conflict.
“In fact, instead of playing partisan political games about who is at the top and who is at the bottom, we need to say: “Let's get together, let's mobilize on a military basis, and this is what is needed, that's why the Law on declining inflation in the United States has been transformational.”
Mr. Gardiner's comments come after António Guterres, the UN secretary-general, warned on Thursday that “an era of global boiling has begun” and July should be the most hottest month on record.
An Ipsos poll released this week found that a quarter of UK residents (25%) consider climate change to be “a major global threat that is out of control.”
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Meanwhile, a slim majority – 52% – said they consider climate change “a serious global threat, but there is still time to deal with it.”
Slightly less than one in 10 respondents – nine percent – in a survey conducted between July 19 and 23, they said they considered climate change “a global threat, but not one of the most serious”, and seven percent said that climate change was “not a global threat at all.”
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