homehome Home chatchat Notifications


'Shocking,' 'Plain Stupid': New British Prime Minister shuts down Climate Change Office

The UK seems hell bent on making unfortunate decissions.

Mihai Andrei
July 20, 2016 @ 7:40 pm

share Share

In a world struggling to preserve its sustainability and tackle on global warming, one major country seems uninterested: after announcing its intention to leave the European Union and electing a new Prime Minister, the UK has all but dissolved the public climate change office, a move which has been catalogued as “shocking” by many environmental agencies.

Theresa May has been appointed as the new British PM.

Theresa May has been elected as the UK’s prime minister in a rather undemocratic way: after the previous PM David Cameron resigned following the Brexit vote, the members of the ruling party (Conservative) elected a new leader, and the leader automatically became PM. Nevertheless, she is quite popular and is generally regarded as strong enough to manage the difficult times ahead. But at least on one point, she’s already failing dramatically, and that’s environmental. Less than a day after becoming the U.K.’s unelected leader, Prime Minister Theresa May closed the government’s climate change office, moving the responsibility over to the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy. That’s basically like telling a sheep to work in a wolf’s den.

“This is shocking news. Less than a day into the job and it appears that the new prime minister has already downgraded action to tackle climate change, one of the biggest threats we face,” said Craig Bennett, CEO of the environmental group Friends of the Earth.

“This week the government’s own advisors warned of ever growing risks to our businesses, homes and food if we don’t do more to cut fossil fuel pollution.”

Greenpeace executive director John Sauven joined him and said that there is a need for climate leadership, not for steps backwards.

“If we are to continue to have a key global role in environmental action, we need urgent reassurance from the new government that the hard won progress on climate and renewables targets, air pollution, and the protection of wildlife will not be sidelined or abandoned in the Brexit negotiations,” Sauven said.

At the moment, it’s unclear what impact this will have on respecting the Paris agreement.

share Share

Mexico Will Give U.S. More Water to Avert More Tariffs

Droughts due to climate change are making Mexico increasingly water indebted to the USA.

Chinese Student Got Rescued from Mount Fuji—Then Went Back for His Phone and Needed Saving Again

A student was saved two times in four days after ignoring warnings to stay off Mount Fuji.

The perfect pub crawl: mathematicians solve most efficient way to visit all 81,998 bars in South Korea

This is the longest pub crawl ever solved by scientists.

This Film Shaped Like Shark Skin Makes Planes More Aerodynamic and Saves Billions in Fuel

Mimicking shark skin may help aviation shed fuel—and carbon

China Just Made the World's Fastest Transistor and It Is Not Made of Silicon

The new transistor runs 40% faster and uses less power.

Ice Age Humans in Ukraine Were Masterful Fire Benders, New Study Shows

Ice Age humans mastered fire with astonishing precision.

The "Bone Collector" Caterpillar Disguises Itself With the Bodies of Its Victims and Lives in Spider Webs

This insect doesn't play with its food. It just wears it.

University of Zurich Researchers Secretly Deployed AI Bots on Reddit in Unauthorized Study

The revelation has sparked outrage across the internet.

Giant Brain Study Took Seven Years to Test the Two Biggest Theories of Consciousness. Here's What Scientists Found

Both came up short but the search for human consciousness continues.

The Cybertruck is all tricks and no truck, a musky Tesla fail

Tesla’s baking sheet on wheels rides fast in the recall lane toward a dead end where dysfunctional men gather.