As we suffer in the heatwave and Greece burns, the Tories are signing off a fracking bill that is laughable

Health warnings have been issued. Hosepipe bans are imminent. Yet pumping millions upon millions of gallons of water and chemicals down into earth remains the government’s priority

In Greece, the death count may reach triple figures. Wildfires have melted cars, wiped villages off the map and decimated families.

In Japan, a natural disaster has been declared as scores have died and over 22,000 hospitalised amid a crippling heatwave. Sweden has seen its hottest July in over 260 years, and has issued an appeal for international aid as wildfires annihilate swathes of forest above the Arctic Circle.

A few days ago, Africa recorded its highest ever recorded temperature – a toasty 51.3C in Algeria. In Canada, the heatwave had claimed more than 30 lives near the beginning of the month, and the end of the blistering weather is not yet in sight. And in the UK, the ever expanding mercury could throb its way up to an unprecedented 39C this week.

Things are not normal.

Health warnings have been issued. Hosepipe bans are imminent. From the forecourts of sweltering petrol stations tabloid papers are capslock screaming our nation’s almost literal cremation.

In this humbling and terrifying moment, we, the humans of the northern hemisphere, are truly at nature’s mercy.

Is there anything we can do to help? What could our governments do to alleviate the carnage?

What about some fracking?

What about pumping millions upon millions of gallons of water and chemicals down into earth to break rocks to release gas which we can then burn?

It seems there is never enough fire and brimstone for the British government. This week, on the last day of parliament, energy minister Claire Perry took the opportunity to give the thumbs-up for fracking to begin in Lancashire.

Let there be no mistake – this is an orgy of idiocy, cowardice and wanton destruction.

It surely does not need spelling out that the heatwave rampaging around the top half of the globe is partly related to centuries of humans burning ever larger quantities of fossil fuels.

This isn’t an opinion. The world’s very best scientists have been repeating this, and accumulating supporting evidence for decades.

But the British government has responded only by batting away the smoke, closing its eyes, putting its hands over its ears, and mumbling something about building a third runway and ending support for wind power.

And all the while, the UK remains a signatory of the Paris climate agreement, which specifically aims to limit greenhouse gas emissions. The cognitive dissonance required to square this circle are on a science fiction interdimensional level.

So what is the argument for fracking?

The government believes the UK can replicate the US’s “success” with the procedure.

The Conservative 2017 manifesto reads: “The discovery and extraction of shale gas in the United States has been a revolution. Gas prices have fallen, driving growth in the American economy and pushing down prices for consumers.”

It adds: “The US has become less reliant on imported foreign energy and is more secure as a result. We will therefore develop the shale industry in Britain.”

This is quite ludicrous. For the UK to reduce its imports of gas by just 50 per cent between 2021 and 2035, an incredible 6,100 fracking wells would have to be built, a study by Cardiff Business School found earlier this year.

This many wells would require more than 1,000 separate well pads for drilling equipment, each covering 8.6 acres and requiring access roads, mobile cabins for offices, fencing, security. Locals can look forward to the prospect of earthquakes, and an endless sea of drilling platforms sprinkled across the landscape.

The Conservatives are the only major party backing fracking. The practice has been either banned or suspended in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. So, they are pushing it in the last remaining country available, and of course, it’s not in the populous south, but Lancashire, where local opponents are scattered, and where the non-local ones must travel far to protest.

Worst of all, it is absolutely needless.

Just five years ago, renewable energy accounted for just 12 per cent of the UK’s total energy mix. Now, renewables account for 30 per cent, and that will continue to rise as the price of technology falls.

Perry’s decision to give fracking the go-ahead makes a mockery of the recommendations of independent government advisers, the National Infrastructure Commission, which this month warned in a major report that “the UK cannot achieve its emissions targets while relying on natural gas”, and called on ministers to seize a “golden opportunity” to move towards greener energy without increasing consumer bills.

But what do they know?

Let’s stick with Perry’s fracking plan – at least with global warming we truly are all in it together, as Tom Lehrer eloquently pointed out in 1959:

Oh we will all fry together when we fry
We'll be French-fried potatoes by-and-by
There will be no more misery
When the world is our rotisserie
Yes, we all will fry together when we fry