‘Climate solutions will bring down bills and restore nature’: green issues and May elections
The defining issue of Thursday’s local elections, feedback from doorsteps suggests, will be the UK’s soaring cost of living,But voters should be told about the links between inflation and the effects of fossil fuels and the climate crisis – or the remedies they choose – may make the situation worse, green campaigners have warned,Ami McCarthy, the head of politics at Greenpeace UK, said: “With people’s bills and prices soaring from yet another fossil fuel crisis, these local elections have a global context – driven by the Iran war,“Getting the UK out of the fossil fuel doom loop and on to renewables would secure a stable and affordable supply of energy,Voters face a choice between parties that want to keep us hooked on expensive, imported oil and gas, and those that offer a way out of this cycle of insecurity.
”The Reform party, led by Nigel Farage, is expected to do well among the roughly 5,000 council seats up for grabs in England, and to a lesser extent in the Scottish and Welsh elections.The party takes an anti-climate stance, and has vowed to encourage fracking, impose punitive taxes on renewable energy generation, and block solar and windfarms.The Conservatives have also embraced more drilling in the North Sea and played down the climate crisis, without explicitly denying it.Yet the world’s leading energy economist and the head of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol, said new oil and gasfields would do little to improve the UK’s energy security or ease high prices.Instead, opting to boost renewable energy generation offers a better way out of the crisis, as solar and wind energy are cheaper than oil, more secure, and are not subject to stranglehold by hostile forces, argued Mike Childs, the head of science, policy and research at Friends of the Earth.
“Most people in Britain back strong climate action.When the same solutions will bring down bills, restore nature, boost the economy and make our local areas nicer places to live, voters deserve candidates who will act in their interests – not on behalf of polluters or the super-rich.”Energy is not the only issue.“The need for cheaper bills, better quality housing, access to green space and more frequent bus services are among the top concerns voters care about,” said Childs, after listening exercises carried out by Friends of the Earth groups around the UK.Water and air pollution were also big concerns, said Ed Matthew, the UK director for the E3G thinktank.
“Local people want the pollution blighting their lives to end.”Tactical voting could play a significant part in the outcomes, according to the VoteClimate initiative, which tracks seats and voting intentions.The group has identified about 1,800 seats where the Green party has a chance of winning, though many of these could be wins from Labour, which also has strong policies on boosting renewable energy and green solutions to ease the cost of living crisis.About 240 seats across England are “supermarginals”, where the difference between defeat and victory for Green party and Liberal Democrat candidates could come down to about 50 votes.Of these, about 114 are seats where the Greens and Reform are likely to be within about 50 votes of one another.
These include seats in Hounslow, Croydon and Oxford, with others scattered across the country.Ben Horton, the director of VoteClimate, said most people in the UK wanted strong climate action, but the issue was often ignored.“The climate emergency is accelerating and it’s time our politicians acted like it,” he said.In rural seats, according to the National Farmers’ Union, leading issues are likely to be planning, rural crime, including the scourge of flytipping, continuing poor internet and mobile phone connections, and food procurement – farmers want at least 50% of food bought by councils, for schools and hospitals and other public purposes, to be locally sourced.Tom Bradshaw, the NFU’s president, said: “Confidence in the [farming] sector remains severely low.
Farm businesses are under extreme cost pressures for feed, fuel and fertiliser, exacerbated by geopolitical tensions, starting with the invasion of Ukraine and most recently war in the Middle East, coupled with unpredictable climate and extreme weather, all impacting on our ability to produce food.”The answer, suggested McCarthy, will not be more fossil fuels, but taxing those that have contributed most to the cost of living crisis.“People and businesses need support through this turbulent time,” they said.“What better way to raise funds than by properly taxing the eyewatering and meritless profits of oil and gas companies?”
New Mexico proposes $3.7bn fine for Meta and sweeping changes to its social platforms
Meta has returned to court in the US this week for the second phase of a lawsuit brought by Raúl Torrez, New Mexico’s attorney general, following a March verdict that found the company liable for child safety failures and imposed a $375m fine. On Monday, the state petitioned for a legal sanction against the company, a monetary penalty 10 times the original amount, and a sweeping, drastic overhaul of Meta’s child safety protocols.In the second part of the landmark case, known as the remedies phase, the state is asking for Meta to be declared a public nuisance and for the judge to order the company to pay $3.7bn in an abatement plan. The money would fund programs for law enforcement, mental health services and educators
US and tech firms strike deal to review AI models for national security before public release
The US government has struck deals with Google DeepMind, Microsoft and xAI to review early versions of their new AI models before they are released to the public.The Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CAISI), part of the US Department of Commerce, announced the agreements on Tuesday, saying the review process would be key to understanding the capabilities of new and powerful AI models as well as to protecting US national security. These collaborations will help the federal government “scale (its) work in the public interest at a critical moment”, the agency said in a press release.“Independent, rigorous measurement science is essential to understanding frontier AI and its national security implications,” said Chris Fall, CAISI director.CAISI is an agency meant to facilitate collaboration between the tech industry and the federal government in developing standards and assessing risks for commercial AI systems
OpenAI president’s ‘deeply personal’ diary becomes focus in Musk’s case against Altman
As Elon Musk’s case against OpenAI entered its second week, focus shifted to the company’s president, Greg Brockman. Over the course of several hours on Monday and Tuesday, Brockman faced questions about his emails, texts and one piece of evidence that has become central to the trial: his personal diary.Musk’s lawsuit revolves around his allegation that Brockman, OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, violated the founding agreement of the artificial intelligence firm by turning it into a for-profit entity. Musk argues that Altman and Brockman also unjustly enriched themselves in the process, essentially taking Musk’s money while deceiving him about their true intent for the business. He is seeking Altman and Brockman’s removal, the undoing of the for-profit restructuring and $134bn, which Musk wants distributed to OpenAI’s non-profit
Ken Eason obituary
My friend and former colleague Ken Eason, who has died aged 83, was an eminent academic. He specialised in the study of how the introduction of computer technology affects managers and employees in organisations, often with unexpected consequences.Much of his work took place at Loughborough University, where he was involved in the formation in 1970 of the university’s Human Sciences and Advanced Technology (HUSAT) Institute, which carried out some of the earliest research on human-computer interaction.He was the institute’s deputy director until succeeding its founder, Brian Shackel, as its director in 1992, holding that position until Husat was disbanded in 1996. Thereafter he was professor of cognitive ergonomics at Loughborough until his retirement in 2002
Richard Dawkins concludes AI is conscious, even if it doesn’t know it
When Richard Dawkins met Claudia it was like a whirlwind romance. Over three days last week, a conversation bounced between the evolutionary biologist and the AI bot he called Claudia. “She” wrote poems for him in the manner of Keats and Betjeman and laughed at his “delightful” jokes. Dawkins gently admonished Claudia to avoid showing off. Together, they reflected on the sadness of the AI’s possible “death”
GameStop shares fall 10% after CEO skirts questions over eBay acquisition details
GameStop’s shares fell more than 10% on Monday as questions emerged about how the company would finance its surprise $55.5bn bid for eBay.In an interview with CNBC, Ryan Cohen, GameStop’s CEO, skirted repeated inquiries about how the video games retailer could afford the deal, saying he didn’t understand the questions.A letter published on GameStop’s website outlines a half-cash, half-stock proposal to acquire eBay at $125 a share, using about $9.4bn in “cash on hand”, and a $20bn in potential debt financing from TD Securities
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