Following the failure to reach binding Treaty agreements among the Nations attending the Cop 15 Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in November 2009 UK Column readers have probably already noted that media coverage of the 2010 COP 16 Conference in Cancun, Mexico was surprisingly low key. In fact the Wikileaks affair and the tuition fees protests might be viewed as yet another deliberate media attempt at public distraction.
In June 2010 Lord Hannay, United Nations UK Association Chairman conceded that
We are deeply concerned that public support for action against climate change is showing some signs of weakening. We believe that such action is no less necessary and urgent than it was before the recession..... We urge the Government to undertake a renewed campaign to set out the facts which justify taking action against climate change and to gain support for the decisions that will be needed'. - Lord Hannay of Chiswick, Chair UN-UKA letter to Rt Hon. Chris Huhne MP, Sec of State for Energy & Climate Change, 24 June 2010.
On 15th September 2010 Chris Huhne made a speech to the Green Alliance UK-EU Action on Climate Change from which it would appear that the UK, instead of following UN Climate change policy, is actively seeking to lead it. Huhne said
'Europe is....poised to take full advantage of its status as the worlds early adopter of decarbonisation. The launch of the European Foundations 2050 Roadmap is another contribution towards..that ambition. It sends signals to individuals, industries and Governments around the world: that the low carbon transition is achievable, beneficial and cost effective. The ECF's roadmap mirrors our UK 2050 Pathways study. The UK ambitions are clear. We are determined to be the greenest government yet. We are dedicated to achieving a comprehensive International deal on Climate Change. And we are committed to reducing the UK's carbon emissions by 80% by 2050'.
He added:
'If we have the courage to build a new kind of economy, we can ensure global competitiveness, protect ourselves from price shocks and tackle climate change in one fell swoop. It must be a low carbon, sustainable economy....The Government will create a Green Bank.'
He continued:
'At the UN negotiations in November, Europe can showcase what developed countries can achieve when they work together as a bloc......We also have a chance to show what Europe can achieve when it uses its collective strength in support of a common purpose'.
We don't have to look far to see just who will be paying towards this Common Purpose vision: Huhne says yes to £22 Billion green tax: Petrol could soar under LibDem Minister's Drive. Additional media reports in advance of, and during, the Climate Change Conference in Cancun, Mexico have included:
- 10: 10 campaign Reduce your carbon or be killed.
- Prince Charles criticises 'appalling treatment' of climategate scientists
- Biggest squeeze on family living standards since 1982 as energy companies hike prices.
- Climate change experts call for second world war style rationing in rich countries to bring down carbon emissions.
- Climate change aid will cost British Taxpayers £2.9 Billion over four years.
- Britain needs 20,000 more wind turbines to stick to green targets.
- Ted Turner urges global one child policy to save planet.
This style of sensationalist reporting is unlikely to move a highly skeptical British Public especially when considered alongside new revelations that 'Climate policy has almost nothing to do anymore with climate protection ... The next world climate summit in Cancun is actually an economy summit during which the distribution of the world's resources will be negotiated'. IPCC official: Climate policy is redistributing the worlds wealth.
If the United Nations Climate Change and Sustainable Development Agendas really are for the communist style principles of wealth redistribution readers might find the following information concerning certain individuals and their 'Common Purpose' activities of particular interest.
President Obama & Common Purpose
On pages 2 & 15 of the United States 09 Copenhagen document Our Common Purpose: Addressing Climate Change President Barack Obama is quoted as saying
'If we are flexible and pragmatic, if we can resolve to work tirelessly in common effort, then we will achieve our common purpose: a world that is safer, cleaner, and healthier than the one we found; and a future that is worthy of our children......We are optimistic that the world will succeed in our common purpose, but there is much work to do. The United States is seeking nothing less that the transformation of the World's energy systems, and it will require a massive effort. -
Lord Stern & Common Purpose
The 700 page Stern Review on the economics of climate change provides prescriptions for environmental taxes. Stern, a former chief economic adviser to the UK Government was also the chief economist and Senior Vice-President of the World Bank from 2000 - 2003...In 2008 Lord Stein was appointed Chairman of the London School of Economics Grantham institute on Climate Change and the Environment, whose mission is to drive climate related research and translate it into real world impact.
Stern is associated with leadership training organisation Common Purpose and in an article in the Telegraph he suggested that people should give up eating meat to help climate change.
The Role Of European NGOs In Tackling Climate Change
The report Action on Climate Change: From a divided Europe to a Common Purpose by Chris Church, Co-Chair of the Northern Alliance for Sustainability, looked at the role of NGO's in tackling climate change. The report was based on a survey carried out by NGO's within the ANPED network in Autumn 2007.
Chris Church worked for Friends of the Earth from 1984 - 1990 before starting to work freelance. He has since worked for many NGO's and other organisations including the National Trust, Charter 88, UNED UK, the Community Architecture Group. British Trust for Conservation Volunteers, Groundwork, Global Action Plan, ENCAMS, the Environmental Council, English Nature, the Local Government Improvement & Development Agency (IDeA) and the EU TACIS programme. For six years (2003 - 2009) he chaired the Board of London 21, a cross London Network of 2,500 organisations working on sustainable development. He has also worked with many Local Authorities across the UK on their Agenda 21 programmes, on long term projects, one off events and training. According to the divided Europe to a Common Purpose report
'Climate change is a complex, multi-faceted set of issues. There are issues on this agenda such as adaption to climate change, emissions trading, and energy security......underlying this complexity is a simple truth. Humanity is changing the world's climate, the impacts are likely to be severe, and every part of the planet is likely to be affected. This is a problem for every nation and every community: tackling climate change must be a common purpose for us all'. Action on Climate change: from a divided Europe to a Common Purpose, A publication of the Northern Alliance for sustainability, March 2008.
Energy And The Common Purpose
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According to a book review in the Energy Bulletin 2005 'Economist David Fleming has designed a mechanism for a 21st Century rationing system which he calls Tradable Energy Quotas or TEQ's. In brief, it is an electronic system. Every adult is allocated an equal number of units whereas the Government and Industry have to bid for theirs at a weekly tender. Everyone has a card, like a credit card, which must be produced every time energy is purchased. You account is then debited accordingly. If you use more energy than your quota you can then buy them from those who haven't used all theirs'.
According to Fleming, 'Common Purpose - (Also known as Collective Motivation) means shared effort to reach a shared goal, where collective aims are advanced by the individual purpose, and individual aims are advanced by the collective purpose'.
Under the sub-heading, Carbon reduction as a common purpose, Fleming adds that 'withdrawal from dependency on fossil fuels will be an extremely ambitious and difficult programme. It will be achieved only if it is done as a joint, cooperative task - that is, if there is common purpose........Individual choices within the common purpose are profoundly different from choices which the individual makes in isolation'.
At the Audit Commission Annual Lecture in 2006, UK Environment Secretary David Miliband invited his audience to
'Imagine a country where carbon becomes the new currency. We carry bankcards that store both pounds and carbon points. When we buy electricity, gas and fuel, we use our carbon points, as well as pounds. To help reduce carbon emissions, the Government would set limits on the amount of carbon that could be used'.
A year later the New York Times published When Carbon is Currency by Hannah Fairfield. She wrote
'To build a carbon market, its originators must create a currency of carbon credits that participants can trade'.
Further evidence of the thinking of the globalists came in a November 2009 Telegraph Article Everyone in Britain could be given a personal carbon allowance. The article stated that
'....implementing individual carbon allowances for every person will be the most effective way of meeting the targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. It would involve people being issued with a unique number which they would hand over when purchasing products that contribute to their carbon footprint, such as fuel, airline tickets and electricity. Like with a bank account, a statement would be sent out each month to help people keep track of what they are using. If their "carbon account" hits zero they would have to buy more credits'.
Church of England Archbishop Rowan Williams And Common Purpose Bishop John Inge Climb Aboard The Climate Change Bandwagon
In December 2009 Archbishop Rowan Williams & Bishop John Inge added their signatures to globe trotting paddles in a show of solidarity in the fight against climate change. Bishop John Inge is also a Trustee of the Leadership Training Charity, Common Purpose.
Common Purpose: How Great Leaders Get Organisations To Achieve The Extraordinary
Joel Kurtzman is a senior fellow, Executive Director of the Centre for a Sustainable Energy Future. Kurtzman began his career as an International economist at the United Nations, where he was deputy director of the U.N.'s project on the future. He was responsible for 19 teams of researchers in 23 countries who were engaged in a massive, global, economic and social forecasting and policy making program.
Julia Middleton's Leadership Training Charity Common Purpose & Climate Change
England's Northwest Climate Change Charter is described as a major initiative, spearheaded by Lord Thomas of Macclesfield CBE and Sustainability Northwest where signatories agree to 'encourage others to take action to ensure that England's Northwest becomes a champion for climate change activity.
Should UK based Educational Charity Common Purpose, as a signatory to the Northwest Climate Charter, have signed up for political campaigning activities?
Earth In The Balance: Forging A New Common Purpose
The 'Gore effect' is the inconvenient truth that when Al Gore attends a conference to give a climate speech he is accompanied by cold spells and freak snow storms. According to the Washington Times the Gore Effect was 'first noticed during a January 2004 global warming rally in New York, held during one of the coldest days in the City's history'. In October 2008 London saw its first snow since 1922 while the House of Commons debated the Climate Change Bill. In the same month Gore's appearance at Havard University coincided with low temperatures that challenged 125 year records. In the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference in December 2009 no new binding Treaty obligations were agreed and this might have been part influenced by the fact that a Blizzard dumped snow on Copenhagen as leaders battled global warming.
Last Novembers Conference appears to be similarly affected 'Gore effect' strikes Cancan Climate Conference 3 days in a row.
UK Climate Change Policy Post Cancun
The Australian reported that there
were no improvements to the emissions pledges made by 80 of the parties under the Copenhagen Accord [and] there is still no guarantee that they will be honoured, but some countries may feel under slightly more pressure to deliver.
Despite Cancun being the second Climate Change Conference in a row in which no new binding Treaty Obligations were agreed it was also reported that 'Chris Huhne, the Energy Change Secretary, signaled that he would unilaterally raise Britain's emissions reductions target'.
What this effectively means for those on low, modest and fixed incomes is a further reduction in living standards due to the regressive nature of environmental taxes that are applied to drive fuel consumption downwards. With the Telegraph reporting in December 2010 that Britain could be heading for its coldest winter in 300 years, many UK residents will be praying that Huhne's words in Cancun turn out to be as meaningless as his parties pre-election pledge not to raise University tuition fees.
Additionally, with more than 1,000 International scientists now challenging the man made global warming claims made by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and former Vice President Al Gore, it is difficult not to believe that Huhne's actions have been shaped more by common purpose than by common sense.
Beware of false prophets which come to ye in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them
- Mathew 7: 15.
