MEDIA ADVISORY
Friends of the Earth International
ADVANCE NOTICE: Friday 13 February 2004
TONY BLAIR'S TOP SCIENTIST EXPECTED TO
CALL FOR US ACTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE
London (UK) / Washington (US) - The UK
Government's chief scientific adviser, Sir
David King, is expected to warn President
Bush that he must take action on climate
change when he speaks at a prestigious
scientific conference in the United States on
Friday (13 February) [1].
Sir David King is addressing the annual
conference of the American Association for
the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Seattle
on Friday, where he will speak on "Global
Warming: the Imperatives for Action from the
Science of Climate Change."
Last month Sir David wrote in the journal
Science that climate change was a greater
threat to the world than international
terrorism, and criticised the Bush
administration saying that "The US government
is failing to take up the challenge of global
warming". Earlier this month Mr Blair said
that he thought that climate change is the
biggest long term threat the planet faces
[2].
The United States is the world's biggest
polluter of carbon dioxide, the main cause of
climate change, but has so far refused to
take international action to tackle the
problem. Earlier this month a new report by
leading scientists, published in the journal
Nature, warned that climate change will
threaten extinction for a quarter of the
world's terrestrial animal and plant species
by 2050.
Friends of the Earth International
Vice-Chair Tony Juniper said:
"The climate change alarm bells are
ringing loud and clear. It's about time
George Bush woke up to the terrible threat of
global warming and took serious action to
reduce US emissions of carbon dioxide. Unless
the United States joins the rest of the world
in the war on climate change, our environment
and the lives and livelihoods of millions of
people across the world will be at risk."
Friends of the Earth US President Brent
Blackwelder said:
"There is a major credibility gap between
President Bush's rhetoric about 'clear skies'
and his continued support for billions of
dollars of giveaways in the energy and
transportation legislation that will
dramatically exacerbate climate change. The
Bush administration's credibility gap has the
proportions of the Grand Canyon."
Last month Friends of the Earth published
a report revealing that US oil giant Exxon
had caused around five per cent of global,
man-made, climate changing carbon dioxide
emissions over the last 120 years [3]
For more information contact Friends of
the Earth:
In the UK:
Roger Higman + 44 (0)207 566 1650/ + 44
(0)7780 661 807 (m)
London press office: +44-20-7566 1649 (Fax
+44-20-7490 0881)
Email: press@foe.co.uk
In the US:
David Waskow, International Policy Analyst,
+1 202 222-0716
NOTES TO EDITORS:
[1] Sir David king is speaking between
6:30PM and 7.30Pm local (Seattle) time. See:
http://www.aaas.org/meetings/MPE_01_PlenLec.shtml
[2] House of Commons: Minutes of evidence
taken before the Liason Committee with Tony
Blair (Tuesday 3 February 2004). Question
83:
Mr Ainsworth: I still want to look at the
process here rather than the policies because
I was very struck, and you would have
presumably seen this, by the remarks made by
your Chief Scientific Adviser shortly after
Christmas in which he said that "climate
change is the most severe problem that we are
facing today, more serious than the threat of
terrorism." Do you agree with that?
Mr Blair: Looking very long term, if I
look at when my children are my age, yes, I
think it is the key issue that faces us. In
the short term, frankly, terrorism and the
issues we have been talking about earlier are
of critical urgency. I think you can get into
a rather cerebral debate about which is more
important than the other, but I certainly
agree, I think that sustainable development
and the issue of climate change is of
fundamental importance to the long term
security and stability of the world.
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200304/cmselect/cmliaisn/uc
310-i/uc31002.htm
[3]
http://www.foei.org/publications/pdfs/exxons_climate_footprint.pdf
|
