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news
Prince Charles (licenced on Flickr by Dan Marsh under CC BY-SA 2.0)Get on your bike for your own sake and the planet's, says Prince Charles
Prince Charles says people should walk and cycle more to help preserve their own health, as well that of the planet – and in an attack on climate change deniers, pointed out that organisations such as the UN and the health profession would be unlikely to be behind a "half-baked conspiracy."
The heir to the throne, speaking at the Royal Society in London, cautioned governments not to heed those who underplay the impact of climate change, and to act now to combat its effects, reports the website Responding to Climate Change.
He said: “The gravity and immediacy of the threat it poses to us and our children and grandchildren is accepted by constituencies that can scarcely be accused of being part of some half-baked conspiracy dreamt up by extreme environmentalists intent on undermining capitalism.
“These constituencies include the UN, the World Bank; The Pentagon and the UK Ministry of Defence, the CIA, NSA. … and, I’m happy to say, nurses and doctors.
“The Intergovernmental COP21 climate change negotiations that will take place in December provide perhaps our last opportunity to set targets that will keep the world to below two degrees of warming,” he went on.
“Should we miss this moment the chances of success are, I fear, vanishingly small. We must ensure that there is a real willingness to act and that such actions are meaningful in quality and scale.”
He urged people to get around on two legs, or two wheels, for their own health, as well as for the wellbeing of the planet.
“Actions which are good for the planet are also good for human health,” he said. “Taking a more active approach to transport by walking and cycling and adopting healthy diets reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but also reduce rates of obesity, heart disease, cancer and more – saving lives and money.
“Reductions in air pollution also result – with separate and additional benefits to human health. A healthy planet and healthy people are two sides of the same coin.”
Last year, Bloomberg reported that a monitoring station on London’s Marylebone Road had the highest levels of nitrogen dioxide – generated by emissions from diesel vehicles – anywhere in Europe, running at more than twice the permitted EU level.
Public Health England said last April that more than 3,000 Londoners died in 2010 alone as a result of particles called particles called PM2.5s which also come from diesel vehicles.
Green Party Leader Natalie Bennett told Bloomberg last year: “Fifty-six percent of journeys we make in Britain are less than 5 miles. If you turn a significant percentage of those into walking and cycling journeys, then you’ve made huge progress.”
Governments of EU member states were required to reduce air pollution to “safe levels” by 2010, with some countries granted a five-year extension to 2015 if they could show they could comply by then.
The UK is unlikely to meet its target for reduction of emissions from diesels for another decade, and faces fines of some £300 million a year from the European Commission as a result.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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25 comments
It doesn't matter what we do in Britain anymore. The biggest C02 producers are China, USA, India in that order. We are about 10th. There is little left for us to save.
broken clock tells the right time twice per day
with you Ian !
I take no lessons nor any notice of self appointed people who did not get somewhere because of merit.
Maybe if we actually saw these people in lycra on an Halfords look like a bike we could take them seriously
It always turns my stomach to hear the Royals chiming in on Climate Change. Is his best mate not the new King of Saudi Arabia? Hang on, was his last best mate not the recently dececed King of Saudi Arabia.
Basically, we're doomed. The elite of the world are too tightly woven into the fabric of the fossil fuel industry for action on climate change to mean anything more than a tabacco health waring to a 20-a-dayer.
If he's saying we should cycle everywhere, which the readers of his site do, maybe he should take Climate Change up with his pals in the House of Saud.
Not that Road.cc is a hotbed of republican sentiment, but I say f**k the lot of them.
No, not at all. What an odd thing to say. His best mate is generally considered to be Sir Jonathon Porritt or Nicholas Soames.
If he authorised building of a BMX park at the front of Buck House for the summer, or allowed folks to do some MBK in the back garden for a day or two - that would be better message than this hypocritical jabbering.
He could even start up an annual Royal Park City Race. All ideas that would grab the imagination of the public and lighten up the Royal Family a bit.
None of that will happen of course, just more ramblings and lectures from his comfy chair.
I'd rather he just said nothing at all about anything, like his mum. Both because of his position, and also becase I don't think he's an asset to the 'cause', given how easily one could make accusations of hypocrisy ("the environment" really does get saddled with some embarrassing supporters, e.g. Trudie Styler flying her private jet hither-and-thither to discuss global warming).
But, as other posters point out, perhaps it gives an opening for someone to have a word with him about how his own parks don't seem to have gotten the memo?
Be no harm in someone with a profile drawing attention to this inconsistency, if it helps put more pressure on the Royal Park authorities.
I have a feeling he might permit cycling in the Royal Parks once he takes over from HMQ...
You first Charlie!
He should get Bentley to make him a bike, it'd be a pretty plush ride I imagine.
Land Rover could make him a decent tourer/winter bike too.
should have to remember who picks up the tab for this
This is the same Charles who would fly from Aberystwyth university to a friend of his near St davids by Helicopter. Perhaps he could start by cycling around a bit more, like the Dutch royal family.
Yep. This is the same Charles who chartered a private jet to fly himself and his entourage to Jamaica ... to pick up an environmentalist award.
Yep. This is the same Charles who chartered a private jet to fly himself and his entourage to Jamaica ... to pick up an environmentalist award.
Nah thats not for us plebs and subjects eh ?
Just don't cycle in a Royal Park though
Is he going to support segregated cycle lanes past Buckingham Palace?
Who is going to change their habits because he said this?
No-one.
Does he follow his own recommendations?
No.
And this is the president of WWF-UK, who asks us to save endangered animals while at the same time going shooting and hunting himself and making money out of it. A bigger hypocrite you would struggle to find.
He won't go anywhere near a bike but he might get one of his sons to dress up in lycra.
I wish he'd have a word to his mum and straighten her out:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/theroyalfamily/10802001/The-Queen...
Thanks for posting that. Reminds me of the cranky old lady who said my bike light was too bright.
"Hey, you kids, get off my lawn"
Is this the same self appointed busybody who gets driven everywhere in his 4L jag or whatever ....
Would you rather he be espousing the idea of our dear friend, John Nash? http://road.cc/content/blog/143651-video-cyclists-are-their-own-worst-en...
I would rather people who get to positions not because of merit but patronage and birth right would actually stop telling us plebs what is best and do what they say.
He claims to be Green and wants people to ride bikes, then show it.
I agree with him but I also think it's better if no-one has a clue what the monarch's political views are on anything. And one day he may be the monarch. So despite agreeing with him I think he should get on with opening hospitals and the like.
And if you think I am wrong. Imagine what you'd say if he came up with some Clarkson style comment about cyclists working harder so they can afford a Bentley like his.