The recent economic downturn has been the trigger for the first wave of stories prophesying the end of the environmental agenda, according to the Green Alliance.
We have been hearing about hauliers protests and new petitions by motorists calling for scrapping the fuel duty and cancelling the increases in VED.
According to the Green Alliance, "the media analysis of these issues has been based on flimsy evidence. The public is not in denial, and doesn't want leaders to ignore these issues. MORI polling backs this up, showing that concern for environmental issues is actually still remarkably high."
They continue: "People are anxious about the economy and the impact of rising fuel, energy, and food prices."
"The challenge for politicians and the environmental community is to develop a positive policy agenda that addresses public anxieties, and reminds us all that the current economic turbulence is only a tremor by comparison to the disruptions that we face if we fail to prevent climate change."
"As Peter Ainsworth, shadow environment secretary, said recently in the Financial Times: “The idea that green issues evaporate at the first touch of economic hardship betrays a misunderstanding of the environmental agenda. The necessity to build a sustainable economy is not just a ‘green issue’. It is just as much an economic one; business as usual is clearly unsustainable in the long term.”
