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"Net Zero Is Being Turned By A Handful of Extremists And Fanatics Into The Only Cause That Matters, And Is 
Now Turning Into A Clear Threat To Public Safety."

Turning Off Street Lamps To Cut Emissions Is Insanity. But With Ed Militant As Energy Secretary, We Can 
Expect Many More Such Measures

Matthew Lynn
28 August 2024 1:08pm

They would make the streets safer from crime. They would reduce road accidents. And they would boost economic 
growth by making it easier for shops to display their goods, as well as extending the hours when people could 
trade. Street lights have been around since Greek and Roman times, but as they were introduced widely in 
cities such as London and Paris in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries they were sold as a way of making 
life better. And they delivered. 

Yet now, we are turning them off even when there are clear risks. In reality, our obsession with Net Zero is 
now turning into a clear threat to public health and safety - and it is only going to get worse. 

If you happen to be driving through what has now dubbed itself "Net Zero Norfolk", be careful along the B1145 
outside King's Lynn. The council is planning to remove the lights along the road, even though it is notorious 
for car crashes, with two serious nighttime accidents in the last six months alone, and several deaths over 
the last few years. Why? It is taking down 1,000 of its 50,000 street lights to save 76 tonnes of carbon 
emissions a year. The road will become even more hazardous. But, heck, never mind. At least you will be 
saving the planet as your Nissan veers into a ditch. 

It is hardly an isolated example. Both central and local governments are now pursuing Net Zero targets with a 
Maoist fanaticism that allows one single goal to trump every other consideration. Elderly people will be left 
to freeze in their homes, especially now Labour are scrapping the universal Winter Fuel Payment, because 
energy prices have been pushed so much higher than they otherwise would be. Small businesses could go bust 
because low emission zone charges mean their customers can't easily get to them anymore, and children will be 
at risk if they have to walk to school because their parents can no longer drive them. Food prices are going 
up because of restrictions placed on agriculture, reducing nutritional levels. The list goes on and on. 

It will get worse over the next few years, especially as the Green Commissars around Ed Miliband, the Energy 
Security and Net Zero Secretary, become more confident. Street lights will soon be turned off in cities as 
well, even if it means they are no longer safe for women to walk down and burglary rates rise. Police cars 
may well have speed limits placed on them to reduce carbon emissions. Electric ambulances may sound like a 
noble idea until you consider what happens when the battery runs low during an emergency call out.

What next? Schools closing during the winter, because the heating contributes to global warming? Perhaps 
social workers will stop making home visits because driving to them threatens the planet. We may need to 
empty out the few remaining prisons to save on fuel. Lights could be turned off on airport runways, and of 
course the lighthouses along the sea lanes as well, because they are wasteful. Once you make hitting Net Zero 
the only thing that matters, there is almost no measure that can't be imposed so long as it saves a tiny 
amount of power. 

This is crazy. Everyone agrees that we need to steadily reduce carbon emissions, even if the UK accounts for 
such a tiny fraction of the global total that it doesn't make much sense to aspire to global leadership. But 
we need to do that in a way that balances out different priorities, in the way that any sensible government 
would do. Sure, climate change is a serious threat to the health of the British public - although hardly 
immediate - and yet public goods such as street lights were also built to protect us. 

To put it bluntly, global warming does not make much difference if you have already died in a car crash, or 
been stabbed on a dark street. With rising amounts of wind and solar power, and of course new nuclear 
generators, it should be perfectly possible to steadily reduce the country's carbon emissions while 
maintaining the basic lighting and other services that keep public space functioning. Instead, Net Zero is 
being turned by a handful of extremists and fanatics into the only cause that matters, and is now turning 
into a clear threat to public safety. 

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August:

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Foot Of Snow Closes Going-To-The-Sun Road

Rare August Snow Clips Montana's Peaks

Earth's Oceans Are Cooling Fast, And Scientists Have Yet To Come Up With A Party-Approved Reason Why

Snow In Wyoming And Colorado

August Snow Has U.S. Resorts Planning For Winter

Rare Snow And Century-Old Cold Records Fall In California

Rare August Chill Breaks Decades-Old Records

Rare August Snow For The Sierra Nevada

The Atlantic's Rapid Cooling

Heavy Snow Hits New Zealand's South Island

Record Summer Chills Sweep The Great Lakes, Northeast, and Southern Canada

Where Are The Hurricanes? Another Crushing Defeat For Team Climate Change

Antarctica Registers -75.5C (-103.9F), Sea Ice Surges

Winter Far From Over In New Zealand

Historical "Heatwave Days" Show No Trend

Researchers Pumped Extra CO2 Into A Forest, And Biodiversity Thrived

Low Temperature Records Fall In U.S.

Frosts Persist In South America, Impacting Coffee Prices

Island Nations Like Tuvalu: Growing, Not Sinking

Record Cold Sweeps Brazil

Antarctica Back Below -70C (-94F)

Summer Snowfall at Khardungla Pass

Polar Bear And Arctic Sea Ice Lies Persist

Polar Fronts To Hit South America

Antarctic Sea Ice Extent Gains 1 Million Km2 In A Week

Frigid Winter Forecast For NH

Vast Cold Wave About To Sweep The U.S.
Greek Study Challenges CO2-Temperature Causality
Arctic Shipping Season Is Shortening
Rapid Antarctic Sea Ice Growth
Heavy Snow Hits New Zealand
Too Many Polar Bears In Greenland
British Farmers Paid To NOT Produce Food
Record July Cold Hits Scotland
Summer To Quit Early This Year
Remarkable Summer Gains On The Greenland Ice Sheet
Arctic Sea Ice Extent: No Cause For Alarm
$78 Trillion To Fight The Hoax of 'Climate Crisis'