Category: Other issues

Death with dignity

Published on by jonesjb

Natalie and Jenny wrote for Green World

Yesterday outside parliament there was a large, silent, dignified crowd. Among the placards were those reading “choice, compassion, dignity”, some bearing the pictures of loved ones who’d inspired its members to campaign.

They were sending a message to 126 peers debating the second reading of the Assisted Dying Bill, a private member’s bill put forward by crossbench peer Baroness Meacher, who put her case for the Bill on the Today programme yesterday  morning. The Bill would enable adults of sound mind, with six months or less to live, to be provided with life-ending medication with the approval of two doctors and a High Court judge. A public consultation on a similar Bill began in Scotland last month. Continue reading “Death with dignity” →

Working to ‘climate proof’ Parliament’s pension fund

Published on by greenlordsmedia

I recently chaired an online seminar of Parliamentarians to discuss whether the pension fund for MPs and Ministers should dump all its remaining holdings in fossil fuels. If you have a pension then it is worth asking the same kind of questions about how your money is being used.

To contain global heating to 1.5°C as outlined by the Paris Agreement, the International Panel on Climate Change have specified that global greenhouse emissions levels must be halved by 2030, followed by continued marked reductions to reach ‘net zero’ global emissions by the middle of the century.

Much of the debate within the pension industry has been about using shareholder power to nudge the fossil fuel producers towards investment in renewables. My job as chair was to nudge the discussion towards dumping all pension fund investments in fossil fuels and to influence the industries that still use fossil fuels to switch urgently to alternatives.

The UN states that for a 1.5°C-consistent pathway, the world will need to decrease fossil fuel production by roughly 6% per year between 2020 and 2030. Indeed, if we are to have any hope of avoiding ecological tipping points then we must reduce production, with half of the world’s largest listed oil and gas companies facing cuts of 50% or more by the 2030’s.

Big reductions in oil and gas are going to hit share prices, so it is far safer to get out of them now and focus investments in those industries that will prosper as part of a new green deal. 

Lake Windermere, Sewage and Pollution

Published on by greenlordsmedia

I have asked the government:

“What discussions has the Environment Agency had with water companies regarding the ending of sewage being dumped into the Lake District, World Heritage Site and how far off are they from achieving high quality water in accordance with the water framework directive?”

Continue reading “Lake Windermere, Sewage and Pollution” →

Incinerators are bad for climate change, health and recycling

Published on by greenlordsmedia

There is no logical reason why you would want to replace the Edmonton Incinerator in North London, nor build any of the other 50 new waste incinerators that are in the planning pipeline at the moment.

Continue reading “Incinerators are bad for climate change, health and recycling” →

Pregnant prisoners shouldn’t be treated this way

Published on by greenlordsmedia

The government is failing to increase the number of Mother and Baby Units, despite a planned increase of 500 places in women’s prisons. In answer to my written question I discovered that they keep no records of how many women and trans men are pregnant in Britain’s jails, nor do they have any idea of how many pregnant prisoners in individual facilities.

Continue reading “Pregnant prisoners shouldn’t be treated this way” →

Second Reading of the Refugees (Family Reunion) Bill

Published on by jonesjb

Our Government’s “hostile environment” can take most of the blame for the fact that we have left people behind in Afghanistan. I do not understand why we have an asylum regime that deliberately erects barriers and unnecessary bureaucracy every step of the way. Even before the fall of Kabul, the number of refugees who had been waiting more than a year had grown to more than 50,000.

I do not understand why we have not had the time or resources to answer the multiple cries for help from people stranded behind the Taliban roadblocks. I think it is because we have put up our own roadblocks behind the desks in Whitehall; it seems that civil servants pick through details and create blocks that are not what the majority of British people would want.

Continue reading “Second Reading of the Refugees (Family Reunion) Bill” →

Green success in Lords, now lobby your MP

Published on by greenlordsmedia

Did you see all the progress we made with the Environment Bill this week? Eight government defeats with eight great amendments covering everything targets to principles; and from soil health to air pollution and human health. There is more to come next week with Natalie’s attempt to create UK support for the offence of Ecocide.

Continue reading “Green success in Lords, now lobby your MP” →