Environmental Logic Spins Out of Control

The UK likes to be an oddity. Its electricity price is 30% higher than in neighbouring EU countries and it has some of the worst insulated homes on that continent. UK politicians always seem surprised, however, that the 'cost of living crisis' cuts deepest here. New EU laws aim to double the annual rate of building renovation, helping to reduce energy consumption by 39% before 2030. The UK, with its new 'freedoms', ignores such developments. It's falling further behind EU countries in its performance and policies on both home insulation and energy efficiency (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/dec/18/uk-lagging-way-behind-eu-on-warmer-homes-policy). This seems to retrospectively exonerate the direct actions of Environmentalist groups such as Insulate Britain, Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebelion (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/dec/17/insulate-britain-on-what-happened-next-energy-crisis). These highly-interrelated groups were trying to get the UK government to counter climate change by insulating building and banning new oil/gas exploration etc. It was reasoned that the only non-violent way they could get their message across, was by blocking major roads used by the general public and refineries. They commonly glued themselves in lines across the road surfaces of motorways (like London's M25). It was appreciated that sections of the public would fume at the inconvenience. These activists reasoned, however, they had to be prepared (like suffragettes), to be arrested and to go to prison for their beliefs. Government obliged them by changing the law, making it more likely they would receive long custodial sentences. This was done, without meaningful actions on home insulation. New exploration licences were also granted to petrochemical companies working in the North Sea. The environmental activist's, logical 'demands' to counter climate change were consequently ignored and the protesters 'punished' for protesting. One might think that this 'boneheaded' display of resistance to 'green' issues, by an unpopular government, would appeal to Brexiteers. Not so. There has been a defection of former government supporters to the latest reincarnation of a populist, right-wing party (https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/dec/18/anger-brexit-tories-red-wall-conservatives-reform-uk-party-immigration). Some defectors appear to regard the current government as too 'socialist'. This is worrying, as neither cutting taxes nor reducing the power of the state to support environmental issues, are going to counter climate change. A rapidly warming world, will inevitably drive up immigration, another thing the populists hate. Joined up thinking, in the UK, seems to be rarely in evidence.