Richard Tice, deputy chairman of the Reform party, has had an impressive business career, is a millionaire, and owns a third of the capital of the company “Reform UK Party Limited Company number 11694875, registered in England & Wales”. Clearly a man of some talent.
He recently said, as Reform sought to build its presence in Scotland, that “The first thing is to scrap the lunacy of Net Zero.” – ie the goal for stopping the further warming of the planet to avoid a devastating climate change.
Nigel Farage, too, has spoken against the goal of Net Zero.
What exactly do these two gentlemen regard as lunacy?
Do they deny that, since the Industrial Revolution, the volume of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere has increased substantially, through the burning of fossil fuels (coal, wood, and oil)?
Do they deny that, instead of allowing excess heat received from the sun to escape into space, these gasses trap it, so causing the Earth’s average temperature to rise increasingly?
Do they deny that such an increase results in changes to long-term climate patterns, that will (if not checked) lead to devastating changes in weather experiences that will make the planet more and more unliveable, through such things as unbearable temperatures, floods, fires, reduced food production, mass migration, the disappearance of animal and plant species, etc?
If they do make those denials, they’re ignoring abundant available evidence. Perhaps it’s more likely they’re aiming to increase support for Reform through the old trick of directing misinformation at a susceptible audience, such as Scottish beneficiaries of the oil industry or those who are fed-up with other political parties. Maybe they also hope for a profitable response from their American friends.
If Reform, with others, succeeded in ending the world-wide target of Net Zero, our descendants would inherit a dangerous and miserable Earth to live on, threatening even their very existence. Hence the need for the target. It’s dishonest to pretend it doesn’t matter, let alone describe it as “lunacy”.
There’s more detailed information on Climate Change in Wikipedia, readily available on the internet.
John Tippler
Spalding
