If you are a politician then the issue of climate change is something that needs to be discussed.
If you are a climate sientist, then you are probably thinking about where to move to help yourself and your family survive the longest.
If you are the leader of the Green Party then I would expect you to be somewhere between these two positions.
The Green Party face a decision over their new leader as Natalie Bennett steps down. They also face a decision about whether they are a party of the environment.
Their still leader Natalie Bennett appeared in an interview on Channel 4 news (16.05.2016) after a segment describing the warmest April on record.
in the interview she describes the record breaking temperatures as “a wake up call”. This is the LEADER of the GREEN PARTY in 2016. Then she avoids calling the current situation a “climate emergency”, before spending the last minute of the interview talking about herself.
The accusation is made in the interview that the Green Party did not promote a climate change / environmental agenda at the 2015 General Election.
This can be examined by searching for “Green Party”, or, “Natalie Bennett” and a series of search terms relating to policy areas for the three months (7 Feb – 7 May) prior to the general election using the Google “news” filter.
This yields the following results for the Green Party as a whole,
And for Natalie Bennett herself
This may not be the most scientific analysis. It may be that within those articles the Green Party was, for example discussing green modes of transport or green economic policies, but it does give a general indication of priority and it appears that the Green Party were as interested in Crime, the Economy and Europe, just as much as the environment.
Add to this the fact that Natalie Bennett is not an environmentalist. The Green Party elected as their leader a person whose passion is feminism.
The conclusion is that the Green Party is a party, that talks generally about political issues, with a minor slant towards environmentalism.
It is also noted that the Green Party targeted 3 seats. Brighton Pavillion (which it already held), Norwich South and Bristol West. With a further 10-12 seats identified.
The Green Party failed to add a single seat. Ed Milliband resigned. Nick Clegg resigned. Nigel Farage resigned (temporarily). Natalie Bennett did not resign.
The conclusion here is that it is not a perticularly good party, withh low ambitions.
The Green party has a decision to make now, to select a new leader.
But it also has another decision to make. Will it be a party of the environment? (And not a terrible one?)