Why We're All Going To Fry (Part I)

Derek Wall, Male Principal Speaker for the Green Party of England and Wales, speaking after the release of the IPCC report on the potential environmental catastrophe facing the planet:

"We need an end to road building and new airports; a moratorium on all new fossil fuels extraction; the rapid phase-out of coal for energy; cancellation of airport expansion plans, a tax on aviation fuel and plane tickets, and an end to short haul flights; abandonment of fossil fuel-intensive industrial agriculture in favour of decentralised, locally-grown, sustainable food sources; drastic increases in energy conservation; and the immediate transition to clean energy sources such as wind, solar and tidal power.

Hair-shirtism is no option. We must make the move to an ecologically sustainable society as enjoyable as possible. Local production for local need, a huge expansion of public transport and renewables, zero waste and all the rest are possible. Ecologically sensitive and diverse forms of economics that meet the needs of those most in need must be preserved and extended.

"The most important part of change will be the demand that policy is governed not by the needs of more economic growth but on the basis of what is good for humanity and the rest of nature."

Of course, he is exactly right. But can anyone really see any of these measures being adopted with so many vested interests opposed to them?

As Black Francis of the Pixies once sang in the group's prescient 1989 hit "Monkey Gone To Heaven" from the Doolittle album: "Everything is gonna burn/we'll all take turns/I'll get mine, too."