I had an epiphany this week. When suggesting a vegan diet to someone to reverse heart disease they responded by saying my vegan diet is more to do with animal rights than cholesterol, therefore, it’s not relevant to them. However, my motives are irrelevant especially since I don’t have heart disease. It’s like refusing morphine after major surgery because drug addicts use it to get high; or coeliacs avoiding a gluten-free diet because some fitness addicts follow it for other reasons and they don’t agree with those reasons.
But that’s not my epiphany. The epiphany is why climate change deniers are almost always right-wing. Not all people who are right-wing are climate change deniers but almost every climate change denier is right-wing. Why? Because they despise the green party and the policies needed to address climate change were originally green party policies. They need to take those policies and make them their own and this is, thankfully, happening in Europe. The Conservative party chancellor in the UK has an opinion piece in the Huffington Post today saying, “The strongest economies of the future will be those stepping up to climate change”. Just because someone you despise or whose motives you disagree with makes a suggestion it doesn’t automatically make the suggestion a bad one.
The British government has just banned fracking which is great news although I’m a bit surprised by the reason. I assumed it would be climate change-related but it’s because of earthquake fears. There was a magnitude 2.9 earthquake in Lancashire in August caused, apparently, by the nearby shale gas site. Having lived through the Christchurch earthquakes I can’t really get worried by a 2.9 earthquake which is so tiny most people wouldn’t have even felt it. The ban is probably more to do with the upcoming election than anything else.
Regarding the election, I haven’t yet decided who I will vote for. It’s always so hard to choose but I’m leaning towards SNP because I don’t think the UK should leave the EU and the SNP and Lib Dems are the main parties objecting to this. On Scottish independence, I’m also unsure but leaning more and more in favour. It’s kind of ironic that the UK wants to leave the EU to gain back “sovereignty” which is exactly the reason Scotland wants to leave the UK.
rachel.blog 
I would also suggest that many Conservatives refuse to accept climate change science because so many of them receive money from petroleum and coal companies. They might even own stock in those industries, for all we know.
Here in the US, it’s no secret that both Democratic and Republican candidates for Congress and other representative offices receive campaign donations from oil and coal companies, as well as the automotive industry. These companies also try to skew voter sentiment with advertising, ‘fake news’ sites and “think tanks” that deny human-driven climate change. As long as carbon-based energy is profitable, I’m sure their presence in the elections next year will be felt, though my hope is that Millennial voters, the biggest percentage of the electorate in the US, will fight for the earth.
Yes, you’re right. As long as people are getting money from fossil fuel companies they have a vested interest in the status quo and avoiding addressing climate change. Pretty much everyone has money invested in fossil fuel companies through their superannuation/pension. It’s practically impossible to find a fund that is fully divested as I have discovered.
Great post 😊
A fellow Christchurch earthquake survivor here 🙂 Although, I will admit that compared to some, I got off lightly. However, one doesn’t forget those earthquakes, eh? Did you leave because of them?
Yes, we left because of the earthquakes. We went to Auckland first but it was too big for us so we moved to Scotland. Scotland reminds me a lot of New Zealand – the climate and the landscapes. Culturally they’re quite similar too.