EYP Talk - Your voice on Europe's future. This is the online forum of the European Youth Parliament in the UK.

The Challenge of Climate Change

The challenge of climate change: how can people and governments across Europe help to tackle this global threat?

The panellists in this discussion are:

Mark Avery
Director of Conservation, RSPB

Mark Avery is a scientist by training who heads up the RSPB’s conservation work – from nature reserves to species reintroductions and from research on threatened birds to lobbying government on land use policies that affect wildlife. He has solar panels on his house, gets his energy from RSPB Energy – a green energy scheme – but has to admit to having well-exceeded his lifetime allocation of air travel.

David Baldock
Director, Institute for European Environmental Policy

David Baldock is the Director of the Institute for European Environmental Policy, an independent think tank that seeks to encourage positive environmental policies in Europe. As well as being an authority on European agricultural policy and the environment, David’s specialist areas include the implementation of environmental legislation; and EU strategy with regard to environmental integration. He has an active interest in sustainable development and the external dimension of European policy.

Catherine Stihler MEP

Catherine Stihler has been a Member of the European Parliament representing Scotland since 1999. She is a member of the European Parliament’s Fisheries Committee, Regional Development Committee, and a substitute member on the Transport and Tourism Committee. She is Labour’s European Spokesperson for Fisheries and also for Regional Policy. She is also the Vice President of the Moscow Platform. She served as Deputy Leader of the European Parliamentary Labour Party from 2004 – 2006.

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Does every little bit help?

Posted by BenHouchen on 15/01/2007 - 23:06

I am a second year student studying law and am facinated by politics, national and international and I think climate change and the environment is going to play a central role in many national governments in the future, more so than it is at present. Climate change is a sleeping giant, that is if it hasn't already been awakened by the increasing media attention it has attracted over recent times. I suggest this because although there seems to be a move towards being "environmentally friendly" people generally are giving lip service to it rather than taking it as seriously as it ought to. There are many initiatives by governments aimed at trying to reduce things such as carbon emissions, which as I understand are a leading cause in global warming. Such examples of these are suggestions made in Britain to tax cars for distance travelled aiming to reduce travel to essential cases.

Its good that the government are realising that something needs to be done, however, they seem to be working reactively again as they have in many other political agendas which have surfaced over recent times. I read, although I am sorry I have no citation for this information, that if the whole world stopped producing carbon emissions completely but China continued to do so as it is. They would have equalled and doubled the worlds output in a year. This I found quite allarming as it suggests to me that although the smalls things we do can only help, its the bigger picture that needs to be observed. The only thing that can help climate change are nations and organisations, such as the EU, negotiating with emerging powers such as China and India, which I believe have been accepted as a future giant global economy (although thats a different discussion).

I believe it is only nations that can effect this issue. Why they haven't been more proactive is again open to discussion but obvious reasons are the damaging effect it would have to any of the world powers economy as it wouldn't be cost effective to reduce or slow production to help reduce emissions.

I do not profess to know everything there is on this subject, indeed I profess to know very little. I would just like to know the state of friction between nations on the issue and what is being done to come to a compromise?