Most politicians, of all parties, are certainly signed up to the idea we should do radical things to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The Climate Change Act - which could easily require (PDF) cutting the size of our economy by over 75% in 2050 to meet the 80% target - was passed with overwhelming support despite unseasonable October snows that evening. The environmentalists aren't doing quite as well at convincing ordinary people.
Recently the IPPR did some focus group research (PDF) into how to design "climate-change communications" and encourage people to make choices that will cut emissions. Their very first point? "Don't focus on climate change". Apparently, the best way to convince people is to tell them they'll save money. Even if you can do that though, they'll just spend the money on a foreign holiday or - according to one quote - an Audi TT.
Public opinion on policy is also far from encouraging for the environmentalists. YouGov found (PDF) that the public were against increased taxes on petrol, increased airline fares and increased taxes to subsidise wind and solar energy. Only greater use of nuclear power was supported on balance.
The democratic response to this would be to try and convince ordinary people. Green groups pay lip service to attempting to convince ordinary people, and churn out plenty of press releases of varying quality, but their real focus is still on the richest and most powerful. A government press release tells me that the ridiculously named global 'tck tck tck' campaign is trying to sign up Britain's top 100 business leaders and top 100 media personalities.
Eight of the UK's leading environmental groups, most of whom receive government funding, are calling for the parties to take a co-operative approach on green issues, sidelining the public entirely. That's the green movement's answer to popular opposition, ignore it. Hide the cost in prices, 14% of the average household electricity bill is now the result of climate change policies for example, and put it all in place through the European Union where there is never much democratic scrutiny.
That's actually the difference between the US and Europe. As the YouGov poll above shows, the British and American public have pretty similar views on global warming policies. But, their politicians can't ignore what the public think to the same extent. Democracy is the real stumbling block in the way of the greens.
