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The
Environment:
The Most Important Issue That We Face
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This
was Tony Blair's view on climate change and the environment
last year - but it has barely figured in the election campaign.
Here's why it should:
10 of
the hottest years in the world on record have occurred since
1990
3.5C
predicted rise in average UK temperature by 2080. For every
one degree rise, Spring advances six days
1.5 per
cent rise in UK carbon dioxide emissions in 2004
In its
2001 manifesto, Labour reaffirmed its pledge to cut greenhouse
emissions by 20 per cent from 1990 levels, by 2010. They are
currently 12.6 per cent lower than in 1990
8.6 months
is the estimated reduction in lifespan of average European due
to pollution
434,000,000
tons of waste is produced in Britain each year - enough to fill
the Albert Hall every two hours
50cm
average distance between pieces of litter on UK beaches. Levels
of rubbish on beaches have increased 82 per cent in a decade
Rubbish
is dumped illegally in UK every 35 secs
22m tons
of rubbish from British homes sent to landfill sites every year
10 species
of wild flower are believed to be disappearing from each county
in Britain each decade
21 native
flowering plants have disappeared from Britain in the past 150
years
50 per
cent fall in the population of birds living in agricultural
fields since 1970 (with tree sparrows down by 87 per cent )
95 per
cent of our important, wildlife-rich lowland peat bogs have
been destroyed in the past half century
97 per
cent of our flower-rich lowland grasslands have disappeared
since 1930
17 per
cent of household waste was recycled last year. The target is
35 per cent by 2015
19 per
cent of municipal waste recycled last year
50 per
cent of household and municipal waste is recycled in Austria,
Germany and the Netherlands
97m passengers
flew between the UK and the rest of Europe in 2003 - almost
double the 51m in 1993
32.26m
vehicles were on Britain's roads last year, a rise of 3.2 per
cent on 2003
100 tons
of CO2 will be released by each of the main party's helicopters
during the campaign, say the Greens
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