It’s an Ill Weather Word on the Week 3rd June 2023.
It’s an ill weather, (or is it wind?) that does nobody any good! Like underachieving children our Government makes climate promises which go unfilled. In this case the promises of a carbon-free future are not enough to focus our minds on the target of 51% reduction in carbon by 2030 which, according to the EPA, we do not look like we are going to meet.
According to our Central Statistics Office the economy is growing. This should be encouraging news but the Environmental Protection Agency has warned that increased activity means increased carbon making our targets, which we are failing to meet, already too low!
Apparently most sectors have underperformed. The EPA names the usual suspects; Agriculture, Industry, Transport and Energy. The two check points arise, one in 2025 and the other at the end of this period in 2030.
If the measures already agreed were put in place, we may only have a small amount of carbon credits to buy from Nations who have a surplus. On the other hand, if we continue as we are going, which is in the wrong direction, the cost could be very considerable.
It is not all bad news however. The rising temperatures in the rest of Europe is making the climate unbearable in mid-summer. We can expect tourists from the hotter parts to head for the more temperate regions, perhaps coming to our shores for their holidays!
There is a recurring video used by our Television suppliers of a cliff, composed of ice and snow, spectacularly collapsing into the sea. It graphically represents the thawing of the ice cap at the North pole. It is shown as a reminder of the loss of land to the sea in the arctic and is already encroaching upon citizens of poorer countries globally who live at the coast.
Do I hear someone say, “It’s not the end of the world” – no, it’s coming and in the meantime we have a moral duty to care for those who lose their home from rising tides. They become someone’s refugees.
Unlike us, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise as some understand slowness. He is patient with us not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3 verse 9). We are told that the end will be fire not water so we are not there yet! We are asked to live holy and godly lives as we look forward to the day of the Lord and speed its coming (verses 11/12)