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Politics : Rat's Nest - Chronicles of Collapse -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Wharf Rat who wrote (318)	6/13/2005 6:33:38 AM
From: Wharf Rat	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 24210

Climate change is costing us, says BT boss Richard Wachman, city editor Sunday June 12, 2005 The Observer The chief executive of BT has become the first boss of a British company to admit that climate change is already affecting his company, and that environmental damage could threaten the stability of the world's financial system. Talking exclusively to The Observer, BT boss Ben Verwaayen reveals that extreme weather in the form of flooding and high winds has hit BT's British operations, and he fears that this is just the beginning. He says: 'Since the beginning of the year, the media has been showing us images of Greenland glaciers crashing into the sea, Mount Kilimanjaro devoid of its ice cap and Scotland reeling from floods and gales. All down to natural weather cycles? I think not. 'The gales last winter followed Scotland's wettest summer on record. This meant we experienced numerous cable faults, overhead cables down and a whole car park full of vehicles ruined by floods.' Verwaayen added: 'There's no quick fix for climate change. However, we cannot afford to sit around waiting for it to really kick in before we act. By then it will be too late for many vulnerable people around the world and it could destabilise the world economy.' Last week, the world's most eminent scientific institutions - including the UK Royal Society and the US National Academy of Sciences - said unequivocally that significant global warming is real and there is little doubt that human activities are behind it. Carbon dioxide levels are now higher than they have been for the last 420,000 years and have risen by 34 per cent since 1750, they reckon. At a meeting with Tony Blair last week, BT joined forces with leaders from more than 20 other multinational businesses including BP, HP, Ford, HSBC, Toyota and Cisco to call on G8 governments to take action on climate change. Verwaayen said: 'We are not calling for knee-jerk reactions, but for a planned approach to tackling the issue. This is a long-term problem needing a long-term solution.' BT is a big user of electricity. But it has recently announced plans to obtain much of its energy requirements from renewables such as wind and solar energy. observer.guardian.co.uk