Good News on European CO2 Reduction

Extraordinarily positive news about CO2 reductions was recently released by the European Commission.

Emissions in 2008 were an extraordinary 6 per cent lower than in 2007. This was a first since the European Emissions Trading Scheme was introduced.

If such a rate were continued for the next 17 years, the zero carbon dream could be realised. If this were copied across the developed and developing world, we might finally have a chance of averting the worst exceesses of the climate crisis, saving millions of lives and protecting hundreds of millions of family homes.



Whilst some of this reduction was due to the onset of the credit crunch crisis later in the year, it is also due to increasing awareness amongst consumers and businesses about the urgency of the climate crisis, leading to direct action to reduce their personal carbon footprints.



The downside of the figures of course reflect the loss of many jobs in existing fossil fuel dependent industries, whose political lobbyists are expending huge efforts to persuade European governments to take action to refloat their dinosaur industries.



The UK government's recent budget shows how successful their efforts have been with huge tax give-aways included for the motor, oil and coal industries. The challenge is now for us to persuade consumers and governments that the refloating of the economy cannot come at the expense of destroying our future prosperity but must rather concentrate on cinvesting in a new green economy based on eco-friendly industries, replacing the old destructive fossil fuel industries.



Ecoactivator Action Point



If you see any biased media articles bemoaning falling car sales without any balancing coverage of the positive aspects of a fall in fossil fuel powered vehicles during the current climate crisis, write in and point them out, including sympathethic references to the need for urgent action to create new eco-friendly jobs for those suffering loss of employment in the old destructive industries.