EMERGENCY: “a serious, unexpected, and often dangerous situation requiring immediate action”.

Just imagine you’re flying back from your holidays, high above the clouds and the crew make a sudden announcement that there’s an emergency onboard your aircraft. There’s an initial horrible feeling in the pit of your stomach, then, in the absence of more announcements, confusion starts to spread.

Strangely, the crew still seem to be decanting fizz for folk in first class. Then something catches your attention. There’s a small amount of smoke coming from one of the engines. You try to get the crew’s attention, but you overhear them saying to another passenger that everything is under control. You hear the distant cordial offer of ‘more champagne?’ in the background. Is it still an emergency?

OK, they MUST know what they’re doing.

You look out the window beyond the wing and notice a big city in the distance. You’ve flown this route many times. You know the city has a big airport. Ahhh, relief. You know we’ll start to turn soon and the announcement will come. You also know there’s a large mountain range ahead.

The aircraft doesn’t alter course. You must have misheard. But, wait other people are also looking confused and concerned, and, that smoke isn’t going away.

The city you saw in your three o’clock is now moving past your four o’clock. Another puff of smoke. The city is now in your five o’clock and you’re having to strain your neck to still be able to see it behind you.

What is going on?!

It is now two years since our First Minister declared a climate emergency. Their climate bill received royal assent in October 2019. The Scottish Green Party criticised the Climate Bill for not going far enough and put forward a 10-point plan for Scotland to transform our environment in order to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

So given this “emergency” folks, what’s changed when you look out your window? Is there a rapid change of course, or does it look like business as usual? The “fizz” still seems to be flowing – into the gut of our “saviours” – the big landowners, the big property developers. Perhaps something will be done once we attend to their needs?

Thing is, if our politicians REALLY believed we are in a climate emergency – and we are – we would start to see much more radical change. That airport off the wing represents independence. It was there in full view, so close we could almost touch it in January 2020, yet our crew chose then to continue towards the mountains. There was never any big contingency plan in the event of Brexit.

Scotland cannot and will not be able to mitigate and adapt to climate change whilst we are part of the UK, under a Westminster government who don’t really believe in climate change at all. Strangely enough, the Scottish Green Party’s 10-point plan doesn’t mention independence, which makes it almost as credible as the SNP’s 11-point political “snakes and ladders” approach which will likely see us in the same position come the next Scottish elections in 2025. In any case, the SNP Growth Commission’s proposals bear little resemblance to independence, tethering our currency and banking system to London.

We don’t have another five years to dither, plead with London, then go to court to attempt to prove our sovereignty. London can play that game indefinitely with its central bank – Holyrood can’t. Neither can we wait until Covid is no longer with us because it is likely to become an ongoing part of our lives – the effects most likely worsened by Westminster rule. Every year we remain in the UK makes it harder and harder to deal with pandemics and save our economy and environment. The Tories will have no scruples about harvesting hydrocarbons till “a’ the seas gang dry”.

The truth is, none of our politicians really believe we are in an emergency situation. If they did, it would (pardon the pun) trump everything else. Weak as our devolved powers may be, the SNP would have been dishing out ultimatums to big landowners – not cash. As for the May elections, parties would be breaking off our current path to oblivion, putting differences aside and focusing on a pro-independence supermajority. Yes for some, it might be a case of holding their nose as they vote – God knows I have for the past couple of elections. The prize, however, would be a General Election in an independent state where our vote could make a real and lasting difference to the environment.

Political virtue signalling is all well and good, but you only get to use the term “emergency” once. If immediate action doesn’t follow, people stop believing you. Anyway, back to the crossword. Mountains look nice today...

Scott Egner

Aberdour