COP 26

[kylie122]

What do you think will change

I heard all in person medical appointments in Glasgow have been cancelled due to the conference, is this true?

@tttigress

I heard all in person medical appointments in Glasgow have been cancelled due to the conference, is this true?

No.

But we're being asked to leave extra time to travel, especially if your appointment is at the QEUH.

Even scheduled things like community blood donor sessions are going ahead this week.

@2020isnotbehaving

Lots promises and little action. It’s COP 26 they had 25 previous COPS with everyone to make changes. It’s going take a lot more flooding and fires before the public make it clear they have take action via the ballet box. We can all recycle till cows come home but it make tiny difference compared to companies and power industries.

2020isnotbehaving

Fully feel your frustration! You are right, although behaviour change is important - it drives systematic change over the years - what we really need is policy change because we're running out of time.

@plinkplinkfizzer

I too am worried about rising Covid numbers in Glasgow/Scotland . Oh and also Americans mispronouncing Glas gow .😆

plinkplinkfizzer

Both are valid concerns. Every possible precautionary measure is being taken with regards to covid.

If all these leaders believed in climate change they wouldn’t be adding to it by using private jets all the time.

@mibbelucieachwell

Hmm time will tell.

I think it's a good thing that so many leaders are meeting. To be fair to the politicians, though I can hardly believe I'm saying that - I loath our current government and don't rate the Scottish government either - if they implemented measures to protect the environment that inconvenience and cost the electorate I'd put money on them not being voted in again. We need a global effort - even if Britain achieved nett zero the global impact would be minimal and would presumably put us at a competitive disadvantage.

Sometimes I feel hopeful as there's so much more awareness of the problems now, but then I think of the covid vaccines and how the rich countries are hogging them and feel depressed again.

mibbelucieachwell

Understand 100%. It's such a lot, isn't it.

In terms of Britain, because our historic emissions since the industrial revolution, as well as our invisible footprint (all that we import from China for example), we really do owe a great deal. Even though we are a small country we've done a great deal of damage over the last century since colonosing half the world.

And you're right that being net zero may well not make a huge impact, but we need to set a good example so that others are more likely to follow it.

@MrsSkylerWhite

Pollution in Glasgow will temporarily increase as leaders and their staff, who are flying in presumably, are ferried around by car.

Not just Glasgow...

Two local hotels are booked out with police at the gates and fleets of cars have seen filling up at the petrol station... I live near Edinburgh so they’re driving halfway across the country and back every day, clearly.

@kylie122

What do you think will change

@kylie122

Impossible to know at this stage. We need to slam the breaks on - and fast - but there are a lot of obstacles in the way. We are going to try our best to represent ordinary mums and dads who just want the best for their kids.

@ShinyHappyPoster

I'm not unsympathetic to the issues. We recycle, watch our carbon footprint, etc. But this was the perfect opportunity to show that they didn't all need to fly into the one place from around the world. The environmental cost of this and the health cost during a pandemic is impossible to justify. Add on the public sector workers strikes, the duty solicitor's strike, the fact that traffic is going to be stagnant for hours greatly increasing pollution in Glasgow ... it doesn't make any sense.

This. It seems obscene, and let's face it, nothing will really get done.

I don't know, but at least the Women's Rights demo in George Square looked like fun.

I'm still laughing at the idea of some German-speaking conference delegate stumbling into a bunch of Scottish feminists/witches

So apparently Boris Johnson is so worried about the environment he's flying back to London when it's over. The plane uses bio fuel or something . Blah blah indeed Greta

Tabulahrasa

“Not just Glasgow...

Two local hotels are booked out with police at the gates and fleets of cars have seen filling up at the petrol station... I live near Edinburgh hmm so they’re driving halfway across the country and back every day, clearly.“

Just gets better, doesn’t it? This on the back of Joe Biden’s security flying an 85 (😳) vehicle convoy from the US to Rome for his clearly absolutely essential audience with the Pope.
Presumably, they were all then flown on to Glasgow?
Just ridiculous.

These accounts by some who went to the conference speak volumes about the hypocrisy:
hansard.parliament.uk/Lords/2021-11-18/debates/AC16DD27-BF22-437F-8992-31950380B547/ClimateChangeCOP26

EXTRACT

"1 spent the whole of last week in Glasgow, where I went between events in the official zones and events in the fringe. The blue zone was a very ugly place; it is hard to imagine an entrance that was more unwelcoming. There was so much metal and wire and, while I appreciate the need for security, there are other ways of doing it. Once inside, you found yourself walking through narrow corridors in between the stands. All of them reflected the relevant financial might of each country; hence Saudi Arabia had an enormous stand and young women were standing around that were contracted for the job from the model agencies in Glasgow—we could have been at a car fair. Next door was Qatar, with models of beautiful net-zero buildings; but Qatar’s buildings are constructed by slave labour and it shows no signs of weaning itself off fossil fuels. The small countries had almost no space and no flashy rolling films or brochures. Are we meant to assume that their presence mattered less?"

"Gender-wise, it was appalling: there was one woman for every six men registered for the blue zone. And, for the record, the largest group of delegates was the oil industry, with 503 of them. The meat industry also put in a jolly good showing with 300 delegates. Of course, for the oil industry the investment paid off, as there Toggle showing location ofColumn 429was a downgrading on future restrictions on the speed of phasing out fossil fuels. President Biden is still handing out licences. Some two dozen projects—pipelines to new terminals—are under way in the US, which will cause emissions equal to 404 coal-fired power stations. Between 2020 and 2022, Shell will put in 21 new major oil and gas projects. As we have seen in these last two weeks, lobbying pays off."