Os políticos británicos xa aceptan que xa temos enriba Teito do petróleo

Dentro do seguimento que na nosa asociación estamos a facer dos movementos que hai no Reino Unido nestes últimos días en forma de contactos entre políticos e administracións por unha banda e activistas que pretenden sensibilizalos sobre os riscos do Teito ou Cénit do petróleo, chamounos moito a atención o seguinte comentario publicado por David Lyons (de Transition Thames) como resposta ao artigo no que Rob Hopkins daba conta do falado no Instituto da Enerxía británico:

Thanks Rob – I am very pleased that you were invited – I am sure you will have made some very good connections. The acceptance by government of peak reflects my own recent experience:

On Wednesday 17 March I attended a hustings on future rail policy in Westminster. Party reps were as follows:

Conservatives Stephen Hammond, MP;
Liberal Democrats Norman Baker, MP;
Green Party Alan Francis; and
Labour Party Chris Mole, MP).

I opened the questions to a packed room of rail executives asking that given that we are at peak oil and there is no miracle cheap energy source, is it wise to build a new high energy high speed line (HS2) when we are struggling to develop our existing lines and reopen much needed routes such as Oxford – Bletchley.

The Conservative just talked about the need for extra capacity…not recognising the looming energy crisis and said they would still support other schemes, and objected to the route of HS2.

The Labour rep acknowledged but did not address peak oil and pointed out to the growth in passenger numbers and capacity as driving the requirement for HS2

The Lib-Dem stressed how the new line would reduce carbon emissions etc but did not address peak oil… and attacked the Conservative for rubbishing the announced route before it had been debated and that they were detracting from the intention.

Disappointingly the Green did not acknowledge the energy crisis and it’s impact on construction and the economy but did say that while they were supportive in principle, higher priority would be given to enhancing the existing network and that the new line would not need to be so fast..which made the routing inflexible (curves etc).

Overall during the debate the Lib-Dem had a very good focus on carbon reduction and a good grasp of the facts and figures. My support went to the green whose underlying policies will adjust the playing field which currently favours high carbon against low carbon transport and will release the much needed funds from wasteful projects to more sustainable public transport. At the end of the debate over the question, Christian Wolmar advised that case was not proven that the project would save a lot of carbon and some views say it will increase it:- ‘not a great alternative’.

What impressed me about the evening was that the fact that we are at Peak Oil was acknowledged and accepted as ‘main stream’ with no dissent. I have the impression that even as recently as 6 months ago the concept of Peak Oil would have been dismissed – or have I been pessimistic?

Traducimos o parágrafo final desta narración dos seus contactos cos diversos grupos políticos británicos pola súa trascendencia:

O que me deixou impresionado daquela xornada foi que o feito de que xa nos atopamos no Teito do petróleo era xa asumido e aceptado como a opinión maioritaria sen ningunha opinión contraria. Teño a impresión de que tan só hai 6 meses a simple idea do Teito tería sido desbotada: ou estou a ser pesimista?

É dicir: todos os grupos políticos británicos recoñecen nas xuntanzas cos activistas do movemento Transition Towns non soamente que o Teito ou Pico do petróleo é unha realidade senón que a humanidade chegou xa a ese punto de non retorno, da máxima extracción do recurso insubstituíble que move a economía mundial e as sociedades industrializadas.