The environment is at the heart of the Liberal Democrat election campaign.
I, personally, am passionate about the environment.
For me politics is not just about helping people to improve their lives now, it is also about taking responsibility for future generations.
If this generation fails to act on the environment, our children will reap the consequences.
That is why action on the environment runs as a green thread through our manifesto.
It should underpin everything that government does.
It is central to Liberal Democrat thinking.
Did you know that in this country, over the last few years, our greenhouse gas emissions are actually going up not down?
Did you know that damage to the environment costs the British economy £67bn a year - roughly the same as the entire NHS budget last year?
Government in Britain needs to rededicate itself to tackling the degradation in our environment.
On the economy, education, health, transport or foreign affairs, we show how our green policies would work to protect and improve the environment.
We will put in place a system of environmental incentives to encourage people to save energy, pollute less and live more sustainable lives.
We will reduce traffic pollution with tax breaks to encourage people to drive low-emission cars.
We will tackle the pollution from aircraft. We will scrap air passenger duty, which is a tax on people. Instead, we would lay the charge on the plane itself so that each aircraft pays the environmental cost.
We will make our schools greener so that children can see first hand how we can live sustainably.
We will enforce environmental rules so that the polluters pay when they damage the environment.
I want British business to lead the world in environmental technology.
I want Britain to lead the world in improving the efficiency of cars, developing alternative fuels and making zero emission vehicles a reality.
Ours is a real commitment to put Britain at the forefront of the international struggle to limit climate change.
We as a country cannot do this alone we need to draw the United States, and China, India and Russia into the consensus.
Time is not on our side.
The reality of climate change is with us here and now.
If Tony Blair had devoted even a tenth of the political energy, wealth and resources that have been expended over Iraq, to convincing George Bush of the urgency of the environmental threat, imagine where we could be by now.
Before this General Election, I wanted to forge cross-party agreement on the action required if Britain is to live up to its responsibilities to the rest of the world.
It will take long-term and sustained action to meet Britain's Kyoto targets and to go beyond them.
So I wrote to Tony Blair and Michael Howard urging them to sign up to a statement of both principle and action on issues like boosting renewable energy, eradicating fuel poverty, reducing energy consumption and traffic growth.
I received no reply from either of them.
Where is the commitment in their key pledges to tackle what has been described as the greatest threat to our planet?
Of the three main parties, the Liberal Democrats are the only party to take the environment seriously.
On the environment, the Liberal Democrats are not just the real alternative. If you want to improve the environment we are the only choice.
ENDS
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