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Climate change is an issue of national security, warns Ed Miliband
‘Britain is sleepwalking towards disaster because of a failure to recognise that climate change is causing the extreme weather that has blighted the country for more than a month, Ed Miliband has warned.
The Labour leader says in an interview with the Observer that climate change is now an issue of national security that has the potential not only to destabilise and cause conflict between regions of the world, but to destroy the homes, livelihoods and businesses of millions of British people.
Criticising David Cameron for appearing to backtrack on his commitment to the environmental cause, he calls on senior figures in all parties to unite behind the scientific evidence that climate change is a key factor in extreme weather. Failure to do so, he warns, will have catastrophic consequences.’
Sack all Cabinet climate change sceptics, say the Greens in 'quasi-fascist' policy
‘Climate change sceptics in the Cabinet should be sacked to show the Government is serious about tackling extreme weather events such as the recent flooding, the Greens said today.
Green Party leader Natalie Bennett singled out Environment Secretary Owen Paterson, Chancellor George Osborne and Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles as prime contenders for David Cameron’s axe.
Her comments, which have been branded “quasi-fascist” by opponents, came as the Party announced a 10-point plan to improve the UK’s flood resilience.
Other proposals include an end to the “revolving door between the fossil fuel industry and government” and a demand the Government pays more attention “to advice from the Met Office and the Climate Change Committee that climate change will lead to even more such events in the future.”‘
No, global warming did NOT cause the storms, says one of the Met Office's most senior experts
‘One of the Met Office’s most senior experts yesterday made a dramatic intervention in the climate change debate by insisting there is no link between the storms that have battered Britain and global warming.
‘Mat Collins, a Professor in climate systems at Exeter University, said the storms have been driven by the jet stream – the high-speed current of air that girdles the globe – which has been ‘stuck’ further south than usual.
Professor Collins told The Mail on Sunday: ‘There is no evidence that global warming can cause the jet stream to get stuck in the way it has this winter. If this is due to climate change, it is outside our knowledge.’
His statement carries particular significance because he is an internationally acknowledged expert on climate computer models and forecasts, and his university post is jointly funded by the Met Office.’
UK weather: it's not as weird as our warmists claim
‘Inevitably, in the wake of all these dramatic storms and floods, the usual suspects, eagerly abetted by the BBC, Channel 4 News and Sky, piled in to claim that the latest “extreme weather events” – coupled with blizzards in 49 of the 50 American states – are clear evidence of man-made global warming. At their forefront, proclaiming that “all the evidence suggests there is a link to climate change”, was that arch-climate proponent Dame Julia Slingo, chief scientist at the Met Office; that same Met Office that, back in November, was predicting that “precipitation” for the three months between December and February was likely “to fall into the driest of our five categories”, and would more likely than not take the form of snow.
This is also, of course, the same Met Office that in March 2012 was assuring us that April to June that year would be drier than average, with April the driest month, just before we enjoyed the wettest April ever; that in October 2010 forecast that December would be 2ºC warmer than average, just before the coldest December since records began; and that in April 2009 said it was “odds on for a barbecue summer” with “below average” rainfall, just before the heavens opened for months on end.’
