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The climate chasm at the heart of British politics
Major cities underwater, a billion climate refugees — many scientists now expect societal collapse due to climate change. Yet from the political elite here in Britain, we have nothing even approaching acknowledgement, writes IAN SINCLAIR
roups including Friends of the Earth Scotland, Stop Climate Chaos Scotland and Global Justice Now, protest outside Bute House in Edinburgh, after the Scottish government announced it was ditching its target of reducing emissions by 75% by 2030, April 23, 2024

WHILE there are significant gaps between reality and the policies of the British governing elite on many issues, arguably none is wider and more terrifying than the ongoing climate chasm.

The frightening reality of the worsening climate crisis should be clear to anyone paying attention. So while the Guardian recently published the headline “Deal to keep 1.5°C hopes alive is within reach, says Cop28 president,” in 2021 the top climate scientist Dr James Hansen had already noted: “There is now no chance whatever of keeping global warming below 1.5°C.”

As he argued earlier this year: “We are not moving into a 1.5°C world, we are briefly passing through it in 2024. We will pass through the 2°C world in the 2030s unless we take purposeful actions to affect the planet’s energy balance.”

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