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Environmentalist Duncan Stewart may run for election in Europe

Environmental campaigner Duncan Stewart has described getting elected to the European Parliament ...
Newstalk
Newstalk

09.55 7 Apr 2014


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Environmentalist Duncan Stewar...

Environmentalist Duncan Stewart may run for election in Europe

Newstalk
Newstalk

09.55 7 Apr 2014


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Environmental campaigner Duncan Stewart has described getting elected to the European Parliament as 'a simple matter'.

The TV presenter is to decide in the next couple of days if he will run in next month's elections.

If he does, it will be as an Independent candidate.

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This morning, he told Newstalk Breakfast that he wouldn't run a conventional campaign:

During the interview, Mr. Stewart threatened to walk out of the Newstalk Breakfast studio unless he was given more time to speak about environmental issues. You can listen to the full interview, including the exchange between Duncan Stewart and presenter Shane Coleman here:

He told Newstalk there is a ‘false debate’ around climate change and global warming ‘deniers’ are keeping the public in doubt on the issue.

“First of all everybody seems to avoid climate change because it’s not popular, it doesn’t bring in ratings. It’s not good for advertising...”

“We need to present people with the facts and the fact is that we are facing the biggest issue for human beings, which is climate change.”

“The Intern-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report is out there for everyone in the media to become informed about.”

Why is there a need for balance in the climate change debate?

Stewart went on to make the raise the question over why there is a need for balance in the debate on climate change when science has proved that it is fact.

“If there was a programme here about the holocaust, would we give equal time, would we give what’s called balance, what is interpreted by the media as balance to holocaust deniers?...Then why are we doing it with climate change which has been proven for years? Is it that everybody wants to dodge climate change? We want to hide from it.”

“The science says it. It’s not about opinion and it’s not about belief. This is fact."

Effects of climate change on farming:

“I was out with farmers last winter and I saw how they were suffering with the huge problem of feedstock. There is a whole problem with farmers realising that the inclement weather that’s out there – the extreme, unpredictable weather – is affecting farming. Now farming is the backbone of our economy and every farmer out there knows that weather has changed.”

Mr Stewart discussed the coverage of climate change in the media, as well as the possibility of his standing in the upcoming European elections.


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