| ACTION NEEDED ON CLIMATE CHANGE |
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April 2005 Liberal Democrat spokeswoman for Mitcham & Morden, Jo Christie-Smith argues that more must be done to combat global warming, and explains what you can do to help. "Climate change is a major threat to our planet, traffic pollution is harming not just the quality of our lives but the health of our children - urgent action is needed. "Liberal Democrats will press other nations to ratify the Kyoto protocol and lead by example by ensuring that Britain achieves its targets well before the deadline. We will tackle traffic pollution by getting more people onto public transport. We will ensure that much more of the UK's electricity comes from safe and renewable sources. "Scientists believe that carbon dioxide - released through industry, agriculture and the burning of fossil fuels - is exacerbating natural climate change. Although, the UK is on target to meet Kyoto targets, Tony Blair has admitted that the Government is missing it's own targets on cutting greenhouse gases. It will miss its target of reducing 1990 carbon dioxide emission levels by 20% by 2010. "Since Labour came to power under Tony Blair in 1997 - • Overall consumption of energy in Britain has gone up nearly 7% • Carbon Dioxide emissions are up by 2.1% • Carbon Dioxide emissions from Power Stations are up by 9% • road traffic, which they pledge to cut, has gone up by nearly 8% "There are many things that we can do to combat these rises and climate change, from reducing the demand for energy, to giving incentives to reducing carbon emissions and reforming planning. However one of the things that is most interesting and relevant to those of us who live in the car-packed streets of south London is how to manage the effects of transport on the environment. Liberal Democrats would reward motorists who drive less-polluting vehicles by reducing car tax on more environmentally friendly cars, funding this by increasing the tax charged on the most polluting vehicles such as 4x4s. "Most critically, we would introduce an more environmentally effective system of tax on air travel. We would scrap airport departure taxes, and replace them with a duty to be paid for by airlines, and so tax the actual polluters. In the meantime, if you want to make sure your travel is carbon neutral and you don't contribute to climate change by flying visit this great website www.futureforests.com, where you can calculate how many trees need to grow to neutralise the airplane carbon emissions and pay for them to planted."
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