Press Releases for 2004
PETROL PRICES UP, PUBLIC TRANSPORT DOWN?
13th May 2004Green Party European Candidate, Hazel Dawe, is campaigning for the Government to renew its commitment to stopping climate change. Oil prices, now at nearly $40 barrel, threaten the UK with the return of recession. As petrol and diesel prices rise, bus services are actually being cut back and rail services in Kent are threatened by the Strategic Rail Authority's desire to cut village services. This is a recipe for long-term serious environmental problems. Hazel Dawe comments:
"Thirty years ago, this country was in the grip of a recession caused by the first oil crisis. Opportunities to gain employment from energy conservation and to introduce renewable energy sources have not been taken up effectively enough since then. We are now at risk of an avoidable recession because Governments did not take climate change or air pollution seriously. The present Government has allowed greenhouse gas emissions to rise in the UK in 3 out of the last 4 years. Public transport cutbacks threaten to push more people into car use in Kent. Rising populations would seem to justify better public transport not reductions in services. "If a combined effort is made by local councils throughout Kent to promote energy conservation, renewable energy, public transport, re-use and recycling, then we will all gain environmentally. These sectors can all generate new employment throughout Kent, hopefully improving quality of life by cutting down the numbers of Kent residents forced to commute for work. Since the South East is the UK region most at risk from climate change, as a recent report by Green Party MEP Caroline Lucas revealed, we all have interests in achieving greener policies in Kent." ENDS c279 words
FURTHER INFORMATION: Hazel Dawe, Green Party candidate in the European Elections, on 01233 645167 or 07960 956272. Contact address: 10 Hillbrow Road, Ashford, Kent TN23 4QH. Local website: www.eastkent-greenparty.org.uk Hazel Dawe is a Senior Lecturer in European and Contract Law at London Metropolitan University. She is one of 10 candidates on the Green Party's South East regional list. Other information on these elections can be found at www.greenparty.org.uk/southeast/ and on the South East's Green MEP's website: www.carolinelucasmep.org.uk Published and promoted by Susan Miles, on behalf of the South East Confederation of Green Parties, both at 3 Copse Cottages, Shillingford Road, Wallingford, Oxfordshire OX10 8LQ. Notes: 1. See www.carolinelucasmep.org.uk for Global Warming, local warning.
| Site design and management by  |
providers of |
designed for |
using Computers |
and VALID |
Updated by Philip 27th March 2005 |