(Small) Video: 'Yes You Can' at the G20

Posted by christian - 2 April 2009 at 12:33pm - 5 Comments

Yes you can

As the assembled G20 world leaders take a break from negotiations at the ExCel centre today - maybe have a few drinks, regard the lovely vistas of the Thames, and wonder to themselves how they can be as cool as Barack Obama - perhaps the words "Yes You Can" fluttering by at 45 mph will remind them that sorting out the global financial system to make it more equitable and sustainable is not some impossible dream, it's the only thing that's going to actually work.

That's because it's not only the economy which is in trouble, the climate is facing its own ecological-credit crunch. There's not much point fixing the finance system if we're going to ignore the climate crunch that threatens much bigger problems for the world.

The economy has faltered because of the rather 'lax' approach world leaders have taken to regulating the global financial system (combined with a hefty dose of corporate greed), and we're in danger of making the same mistake with the climate. 

Low quality, but let us off, we shot it on a phone...

A good start would be the government putting up the money to shift the UK to an economy which isn't so so dependent on fossil fuels. But as the report we recently commissioned from the New Economics Foundation shows, there's a long way to go - Britain is currently only planning to spend 0.008 per cent of our GDP on green measures. That's a hundred times less than that advocated by Lord Stern in his authoritative assessment of the economics of climate change.

Meanwhile, the government press ahead with plans for a third runway at Heathrow, and toy with a new generation of coal fired power stations, starting with Kingsnorth in Kent. Lord Stern himself hit out at the plans for Kingsnorth and expressed reservations about the decision on Heathrow.

So "Yes You Can" should remind the world leaders that sometimes incredible things are possible (here's the inspiration for the message), but it's going to require a bit more ambition and courage. But then, isn't that what being a real leader usually means?

Article tagged as: climate change, G20, green new deal, videos, yes you can
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did any one say that the protesters could have cost the tax payer many millions of pounds. The government wasting money on expensive wind turbines is not really a good idea when we are quite clearly going into a recession, so why don't environmental groups stop encouraging the government to do this, and instead encourage them to invest in a cheap, non greamhouse gas emmiting energy source like nuclear.

By AquariumNerd - 10 April 2009 at 6:13pm

I love your logic - wind power is 'expensive' precisely because government investment in it has been so low. Nuclear has had over 50 times the level of investment that's been put into renewables over the past few decades (around £70 billion, believe it or not) and it still isn't,cost effective - and, thanks to the insanely expensive cost of safely disposing of spent fuel, it never will be.

Plus the fact that it can only be used for producing electricity, and gov't plans for new nuclear plants will only replace the existing reactors - all in all a pointless excecise. What is needed is for us to get our act together on using energy much more effectively. This means putting the vast amount of energy that is wasted in conventional centralised power plants (which operate at less than 60% efficiency) to practical use - through decentralised energy and and combined heat and power plants that operate at over 85% efficiency.

You can search for those terms on this site if you're vaguely interested in finding out about this stuff. You should, because that's where a good part of the answer to our problems lie - nuclear is a red herring...

By slowdazzle - 14 April 2009 at 11:49am

I remember living in London and protests and queues everywhere.
In costa rica, they have so called protests too. the gather around, with one or two signs, eat and hang out. if you passed it you'd think it was a party. as you can imagine, not much gets accomplished!

Submited by Peso

By nicoduca - 16 June 2009 at 12:13am

did any one say that the protesters could have cost the tax payer many millions of pounds. The government wasting money on expensive wind turbines is not really a good idea when we are quite clearly going into a recession, so why don't environmental groups stop encouraging the government to do this, and instead encourage them to invest in a cheap, non greamhouse gas emmiting energy source like nuclear.

By AquariumNerd - 10 April 2009 at 6:13pm

I remember living in London and protests and queues everywhere. In costa rica, they have so called protests too. the gather around, with one or two signs, eat and hang out. if you passed it you'd think it was a party. as you can imagine, not much gets accomplished! Submited by Peso

By nicoduca - 16 June 2009 at 12:13am

GP online