My Enemy's Face

 

There's an understated malevolence to these guys. They say the right things. They know what dangers loom. Then they lapse into cognitive dissonance.

Alok Sharma could be their poster boy. He's the UK minister in charge of this November's COP26 climate summit in Glasgow. His first message is, if we're not already screwed we're damn close to climate Armageddon. In the next breath, Sharma is pimping for new gas and oil development.

The world will soon face “catastrophe” from climate breakdown if urgent action is not taken, the British president of vital UN climate talks has warned.

Alok Sharma, the UK minister in charge of the Cop26 talks to be held in Glasgow this November, told the Observer that the consequences of failure would be “catastrophic”: “I don’t think there’s any other word for it. You’re seeing on a daily basis what is happening across the world. Last year was the hottest on record, the last decade the hottest decade on record.”

But Sharma also insisted the UK could carry on with fossil-fuel projects, in the face of mounting criticism of plans to license new oil and gas fields.

For years I've written about this "not just yet" crowd. Guys, like our own Justin Trudeau who are outspoken champions of climate change mitigation and adaptation right until they transform into champions of the very fossil fuels that may doom us.  Cognitive dissonance? Hell yeah. I just wish so many lives, today and for generations to come, didn't hang in the balance.


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