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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In discussing climate change

Posted by James Montgomery on 16/01/2007 - 12:56

In discussing climate change there is a huge amount of disinformation in the media. This is not due to scientists scaremongering but due to terrible journalism. Journalists tend to read the abstract of a scientific paper and cherry pick the most worrying figures.

Due to the huge skepticism around climate change it is important when reporting conclusions to explain levels of possible error or how simulations were run.

Almost all of the published papers which criticize climate change have at their routes funding from the oil and gas industry however, a huge number of papers are government funded which could imply impartiality.

It doesn't help when respected figures such as Al Gore twist the facts (in the recent film he draws a link between tropical storms and climate change). What I’m trying to say is that more in-depth responsible coverage is required. Unfortunately few journalists or politicians have a scientific or engineering background and so fail to fully understand scientific papers and the concept of peer review.

p.s. this site has an excellent moderator