Start
The Fightback
To Save Our Planet
By Frank Field
05 June, 2007
The
Independent
Churchill's
Churchill's strategy to win the Second World War was to prioritise those
actions that had to be taken that day. Today we fight an equally important
war - the war against global warming. Cool Earth, the charity that today
opens its doors for business, offers individuals a chance to begin the
fight-back for our planet.
The idea is disarmingly simple.
Cool Earth, working with bodies like Fauna and Flora, who are already
active on the ground, aims to allow individuals the chance to help build
up a protective arm around the world's rainforests. But why rainforests?
Rainforests are the great carbon stores of the world. Last year forests
the size of Britain were cut down and the CO2 released from burning
these trees equalled the total CO2 emissions of the US. Some of this
logging was legal. But much of it was illegally undertaken by people
who have no other way of earning a living. So how can the rainforest
be protected in a way that also provides local employment?
The idea is that stakeholders
in this country will become stewards of the part of the forest which
their contribution has secured. The ownership of the forest will be
held in trust with local people who also farm the forest for its natural
produce. Rubber tappers will also have similar access.
Cool Earth's efforts will
not end here. The aim is to use some of the stakeholders' money to allow
local governments and NGOs to build up schools and health services.
Supporting Cool Earth will therefore be a new way of directing overseas
aid. Individual stakeholders will decide how much to contribute and
all of that stakeholding will be directed immediately to where it matters;
saving the forest, increasing job opportunities, and raising health
and education standards.
Stakeholders' support is
not limited to trees. Rainforests are full of life. For each acre a
stakeholder will also know that they are protecting a magnificent variety
of mammals and insects as well as a rich biodiversity springing from
the forests' flora and fauna. Orangutans, sloths and tree frogs are
just a few of the species threatened with extinction as rainforests
are plundered.
Today's launch has been backed
by an impressive phalanx of individuals from right across the political
domain. Sir David Attenborough - who is vice-president of Fauna and
Flora - emphasises just how crucial saving the rainforests are. They
are not only one of the great means of storing carbon, but they help
mediate the planet's weather as well as producing 20 per cent of the
world's fresh water.
During the Second World War
war William Beveridge published a groundbreaking report on how Britain
could move beyond the "hungry thirties". A similar note of
urgency is sounded in Sir Nicholas Stern's recent report on climate
change. Sir Nicholas, a supporter of Cool Earth, stresses that protecting
the rainforests offers the world one last breathing space while it learns
to kick its dirty polluting habits.
I couldn't agree more with
Sir Nicholas's emphasis here. But even as an MP I felt powerless in
being able to do something to help prevent catastrophe. That's why,
when I read news reports that the businessman Johan Eliasch had secured
huge chunks of rainforest, I emailed him. I explained that few of us
could make a contribution as big as his, but there were probably millions
of us who would like to make a small but immediate contribution to safeguard
the rainforest. From that point onward we sought a way of giving birth
to Cool Earth.
As single individuals we
have very little power, but together we may be able to wield enormous
influence. We would therefore like our members to be as active as possible
here in Britain. We will be producing a pack so that members have some
idea how to lobby their suppliers - the big supermarkets, the provider
of services and the like - both to become more aware about the size
of the firm's carbon footprint and to protect the rainforests.
It is quite clear that, late
in the day, governments are becoming aware how short the time is to
save our planet. A further aim of Cool Earth is to build up a membership
which helps the debate leapfrog the current agenda being drawn up so
painfully by governments. They will therefore see Cool Earth not just
as an ally but also a crucial spur to greater action.
The Prime Minister, as he
set out for the crucial G8 Summit, sounded his most sombre self. If
action is not taken in the very near future, rising temperatures may
be irreversible. To prevent such an Armageddon, Cool Earth today offers
the opportunity to prioritise action against what might otherwise become
irreversible global warming.
Donations via www.coolearth.co.uk
or to Cool Earth at Cool Earth, 71 South Audley Street,
London W1K 1JA. Frank Field, Labour MP for Birkenhead, is co-founder
of Cool Earth
© 2007 Independent News
and Media Limited
Leave
A Comment
&
Share Your Insights
Comment
Policy
Digg
it! And spread the word!
Here is a unique chance to help this article to be read by thousands
of people more. You just Digg it, and it will appear in the home page
of Digg.com and thousands more will read it. Digg is nothing but an
vote, the article with most votes will go to the top of the page. So,
as you read just give a digg and help thousands more to read this article.