Rishi Sunak's green light for new oil and gas licences shames UK: Bird Lovegod

First of all, it sends a clear message to the rest of the World that the UK Government does not care one iota about climate change.

It proves that, beyond all reasonable doubt, our Government has no interest in the local environment, nor the global situation. This in turn gives every other country and corporation a green light to do the same; after all, if the UK isn’t bothered, why should they be?

And indeed, if our government isn’t bothered, and other countries are not bothered, and the corporations causing the problem are not bothered, why on earth should anyone else be bothered? And honestly, perhaps they’re right.

There’s no point in being bothered, because being bothered won’t change a single thing. If the individuals and entities with the power to create systemic change are unwilling to do so, the people without power should just forget about it.

Enjoy the view, enjoy the ride, watch the cities get deluged, watch the TV reports whilst they’re still shown, of the impact of uncontrolled climate change on the planet.

Our Government has decided to go with the flow, of oil that is.

This will, in their fantasy, be offset by carbon capture, a thing that does not exist yet in any meaningful way, other than by trees, and there is no profit in those, unless you cut them down, make them into wood chips pellets, and export them as ‘sustainable’ biofuel to be burned to generate power.

Humanity is seemingly committed to the path of zero change of themselves, zero change of power structures, and the outcomes will be detrimental to all except the oil and gas companies, who will continue to make ever increasing profits and wield ever increasing power over the people and the actual biosphere itself.

It’s pretty much insane, deliberately continuing down a path known and proven to be already disastrous and which can only become ever more so.

This decision of Rishi’s is profound. It’s a decision to support the fossil fuel industry regardless of literally anything. Unconditional support.

It’s a prioritisation of that industry over and above any and all other considerations. If you were to ask our PM, what’s more important, the power and profits of the oil industry, or the wellbeing of all humanity, the answer is what he has done. No matter what he says, his actions are the truth.

But people can always find justification to do what they want to do, and use that justification to protect their conscience. One of the many impacts of this recent decision is that the UK has Net Zero credibility across the world on matters of climate change. Zero.

We cannot even meet the eye of other countries and suggest to them anything at all in this matter. Rishi has silenced the UK on the global stage.

The smallest squeak from us about other countries' activity is to be ignored as the blatant hypocrisy it is. As a country we now have Net Zero credibility, and as a result, Net Zero influence.

Well. Done. Rishi.

Bird Lovegod is MD of Ethical Much