Saturday, 13 February 2021, 7:37 am
Friday 12 February 2021 - Scientists
Warning Europe (SWE) have issued an open letter to Prime
Minister, Boris Johnson, asking for much stronger leadership
in the face of catastrophic climate change and growing
ecological collapse. This endorses the letter from ex Nasa
scientist, James Hansen, which also called on Mr. Johnson to
step up and lead the world in solving the climate
crisis.
The letter from SWE is supported by 20 eminent
scientists and academics including the government’s ex
science adviser Sir David King; leading Dutch Climate
Scientist Pier Vellinga who was one of the architects of the
UNFCCC, involved in the inception of the IPCC as vice
Cumbria County Council had previously approved a planning application by West Cumbria Mining, but the local authority now says it will reconsider the application “after new information had come to light”, Sky News reports.
A spokesperson for Cumbria County Council said the decision to reopen the planning application followed the publication of a report by the government’s Climate Change Committee in December. “The report. sets out the volume of greenhouse gases the UK aims to emit during 2033-2037. In light of this the council has decided that the planning application should be reconsidered,” the spokesperson said.
“Government ministers had declined to intervene in the go-ahead for the mine on the basis it was a local decision,” Sky News added.
A CLIMATE action group is urging Dorset Council to fix 2030 as the date for the whole county to achieve zero carbon emissions. Dorset CAN (Climate Action Network) has called on the council to act far more rapidly than it had planned to cut greenhouse gases and stop the loss of wildlife amid the climate crisis. The council in its draft Climate and Ecological Emergency Strategy set 2040 as the target for cutting to zero its own carbon emissions, and 2050 for all other organisations in the Dorset Council area. Professor and head member of CAN, Michael Dower, said: The council need to act faster than previous predictions.