Redland Conservatives are running a Film Night on 18 October 2007 at the Conservative Club, 5 Westfield Park, Clifton, Bristol.
The film? Mine your Own Business – The Dark Side of Environmentalism
I fear Vowles the Green is going to be admitted to the BRI suffering from an advanced case of apoplexy. . .
Ironic, then, that it was Margaret Thatcher who was one of the early promoters of the theory of climate change to the mass consciousness: http://www.margaretthatcher.org/speeches/displaydocument.asp?docid=107346
I’ll do my best to stay calm and not rant on at great length about Tories merely talking green when it suits them, to get votes…(not that its working for them at the moment). Or in fact rant on about how there’s a lot more to being green than environmentalism. Mind you my ‘mate’ Dave Cameron does wear a green tie a lot….
Interesting choice of film those ‘green’ Tories have chosen to show, to say the least!!
Read the Newsweek article Blogger linked to with interest – not a bad piece really.
SHOCK! Mrs Thatcher and I do have something in common – no we are not both greens – we are both chemistry graduates. She did understand and did pick up on climate change as an issue before quite a few other political figures, as far as I can gather. Despite having the scientific knowledge Thatcher cared not one jot about the environment though and took us not one iota in the direction of laying the foundations of a sustainable society – quite the opposite in fact. As an ardent capitalist she was even further from being green than being an environmentalist. Suffice to say I’m not about to ‘do a Gordon Brown’ and invite her for a photo opportunity outside my house wearing a suitably coloured dress – not that I’d want to or that she’d be the slightest bit interested!!!
There are certainly earlier, better and more lasting contributions to the climate debate from politicians, not least former Norwegian PM Gro Harlem Brundtland, a key figure, active still, in the highly influential report ‘Our Common Future’ http://www.un-documents.net/ocf-07.htm#II.1 – which is 20yrs old this yr, something which seems to have gone relatively unmarked! See http://www.jonathonporritt.com/pages/2007/09/our_common_future.html
It strikes me that its much more likely that transnational mining companies will keep the poor down than environmentalists.
You may be interested to know the scale of gold mining’s environmental impacts…
As well as apallingly dangerous working conditions and pittance pay: to make a single gold wedding ring takes 5-6 tonness of rock, leaving huge holes, tunnels, eroding canyons; traces of cynanide allowing miners to extract as little as half a gram of mercury from a tonne of rock; mercury used in extraction bioaccumulating in humans and the environment; huge piles of tailings laced with toxic substances; acid mine drainage polluting waterways….
Don’t forget the supporting feature (19:00):
http://www.stealthisfilm.com/
Main feature starts at 19:30. All welcome.