As the latest headlines about missed Government targets regarding climate change appear on TV, as I wait in vain for the local council to sort out domestic plastic recycling, it becomes clear that inaction on tackling climate change demonstrates a clear lack of visionary thinking and leadership.

The ice-caps are melting at a faster rate than feared. One in three species could be extinct by 2050. The insurance industry estimates that climate change damage will equal the world's GNP by about 2065.

The Kyoto target to cut greenhouse gas emissions is just the beginning.

We need drastic action to cut global greenhouse gas emissions by up to 80 or 90 per cent by 2050.

While individuals and also businesses can take some responsibility for their energy consumption, they cannot act alone.

The Government must create a framework for doing business in which the price of goods and services reflects their true environmental and social costs.

Public transport is still very weak and cars are a major source of greenhouse gases.

We need to remove public subsidies from the airline industry, we need to force car manufacturers to stop holding back on environmentally-designed engines (why should only Hollywood stars have "clean" cars?) and redirect funds into integrated public transport, plus better provisions for pedestrians and cyclists.

We need a green Industrial Revolution to revitalise our local economies and we need zero waste. This alone would immediately create thousands of local and UK jobs.

More than ever now, we need a new political direction with green policies that put environmental safeguards at the top.