Climate/energy crisis: Time for immediate ... discussion?

Is it just us, or is every new report on energy or climate starting to sound a lot like dialogue from Monty Python’s “Life of Brian”?

Judith: “They’ve arrested Brian!!”

People’s Front of Judea: “What?”

Judith: “They’ve dragged him off. They’re going to crucify him.”

Reg: “Right. This calls for immediate discussion!”

Yes, the consensus lately seems to be that, we’ve talked enough already — time to start actually doing something.

“Progress on sustainable development, at the national level, has been slow,” says Jonathon Porritt, chair of the Sustainable Development Commission. “We’ve been talking about it for long enough. What we’ve got to do now is make it happen.”

“For the sake of future generations we cannot afford to wait until our climate is changed dramatically or the oil runs out before we end our dependency on fossil fuels,” said John Shepherd, lead author of a new energy report from the Royal Society. “If the UK wants to provide global leadership it has to convert talk into action.”

It seems we’ve all set lots of well-intended, ambitious goals to improve the UK’s energy and climate situation, but will the necessary actions ever really follow? Or is this story set to end much like “The Life of Brian,” with the doomed singing and tapping away as they wait for the end?

Your thoughts? We’d love to know!

Judith: “Reg, for God’s sake. It’s perfectly simple. All you’ve got to do is to go out of that door now, and try to stop the Romans nailing him up. It’s happening, Reg! Something’s actually HAPPENING, Reg! Can’t you understand? Yaaargh! [Rushes out in a rage.]”