The Environment minister Phil Woolas has said that a feasibility study is due to report within weeks into a £20 billion project to build a second barrier to protect London from flooding. This new barrier will enhance the protection provided by the existing Thames barrier, built in 1983. The government is scheduled to make a final decision early next year. Mr Woolas said: "This is no longer an academic debate. We have seen the floods in England and the extreme weather across the world. People accept that it is a real threat but they don't realise the imminence of it. Hopefully if there is any good that comes out of the floods it will be that recognition." Is it me or, does this appear to be an admission by the government that there is no hope of controlling the rise in global temperatures?
carbon emissions and those of the rest of the world, we would not need to spend £20 billion on London’s flood defences. The fact that they are giving serious consideration to this project seems to indicate that they have resigned themselves to rising global temperatures and increasingly devastating weather patterns.
From: BEST OF 2008: Eco-friendy and sustainable shoes