'Climate catastrophe' a reality

The Government should stop talking about "global warming" and start using the term "climate catastrophe", a scientific leader has urged.

Richard Pike, chief executive of the Royal Society of Chemistry, also called for a commitment to deliver large-scale use of renewables and nuclear power, rather than encouraging "trivial solutions" such as washing clothes at low temperatures.

Dr Pike said global warming conjured up a gradual, gentle process in which the real problems will be dealt with decades into the future.

But teenagers need to be taught that without action on climate change there will be food and water shortages, floods, mass migration and possibly a billion deaths within their working lifetime, he said.

"We live in a country where much of the population regards the sun and heat as welcome, so why should predictions of global warming immediately strike people as nasty and something to be avoided?" he asked.

He said that to bring about change, there needs to be dissatisfaction with the current situation, a vision for the future and clarity on proposed short-term steps to achieve it - and that the Government had failed on all three counts.

Dr Pike also said tough decisions were needed on carbon capture and storage, massive deployment of renewables and prioritisation of science and funding to more than halve the global dependence on fossil fuels.

"There has to be a picture where hydrocarbon use is globally constrained, unless coupled with carbon dioxide sequestration, and energy provision draws massively on sustainable renewables and nuclear power stations," he urged.

"If that is the way ahead, there has to be the commitment to deliver all that this involves. Instead, there continues to be undue emphasis on trivial solutions at the energy user end, and few initiatives at the provider end.

He added that the recent G8 meeting in Japan showed the UK was not alone in "dithering" on climate change, but said a change in language on the issue would help sharpen the minds of those who were going to have to deal with the problems it would throw up in the near future.