Yesterday, the Office of National Statistics held an event to discuss the social impact on climate change. Lib Dem Peer Shas Sheehan spoke at the event, comparing the Extinction Rebellion protesters to the Suffragettes.
She spoke about how the impact of climate change would be felt most acutely by the most marginalised. Here is her speech in full:
In 1989 I cut short my career in advertising to do a masters in Environmental Technology, at Imperial College.
I wanted to get back to my science roots and study for myself the evidence for environmental degradation. Climate change wasn’t a big thing then. What was exercising environmentalists then included depletion of the ozone layer, acid rain, species loss and of course the radioactive cloud that was the legacy of Chernobyl.
Governments took action on the ozone layer and acid rain, because the evidence that both were caused by man was there before our eyes.
We could see the ozone hole from space, we could see the dying forests and the lakes devoid of life.
Visuals that are quantifiable are important when it comes to carrying public opinion.
So, the cover of the Economist a few weeks ago will have a powerful and lasting effect.
It shows a stripey red, white and blue flag, which colour codes the average temperature for each year starting from the mid 1800s to the present day, as measured against the average temperature from 1971 to 2000. Colours range from darkest blue to deep crimson.
It is, quite frankly, frightening to see the cumulative effect. Since the 2000s we have been in red territory. And two out of the last three years have been deep crimson.
No wonder people have taken to the streets. They, like the suffragettes a century ago, have right on their side.
Back in 1989 Gro Harlem Brundtland’s Report, “Our Common Future” was a sort of bible for everyone who wanted to make the world a better place.