The movie release of "The Iron Lady" starring Meryl Streep has sparked a renewed interest in the controversial political career of former British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher. It is now apparent that she was a strong supporter of action against climate change and had a good understanding of the potential impacts of further global warming.

Margaret Thatcher's interest in global warming dates back to earlier in her prime ministership. Unlike most politicians, she had some professional acquaintance with the area, graduating in chemistry from Oxford University and working for a period as a research scientist.

In 1988, she said in a speech to the Royal Society, Britain's national science academy, that three changes in atmospheric chemistry -- greenhouse gases, the ozone hole and acid rain -- warranted government action. "The danger of global warming is as yet unseen but real enough for us to make changes and sacrifices, so that we do not live at the expense of future generations," she said.

Addressing the UN General Assembly on environmental degradation in 1989 she said: "The result is that change in future is likely to be more fundamental and more widespread than anything we have known hitherto. Change to the sea around us, change to the atmosphere above, leading in turn to change in the world's climate, which could alter the way we live in the most fundamental way of all.

She argued there was a clear case for precautionary international action, action that would be sensible in any event if it improved energy efficiency, developed alternative and sustainable sources of energy and replanted forests.

She did more than talk about climate change: she set up the Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research, now with a worldwide reputation for its work. She committed to bringing carbon dioxide emissions back to 1990 levels by 2005. She provided funding for reafforestation in Britain and overseas.

 

Sources:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/thatcher-saw-climate-threat/story-e6frg7ax-

http://www.rtcc.org/policy/margaret-thatcher-the-green-lady/1111119033099