I can’t recall a more depressing read of a newspaper than this morning’s Guardian. I applaud the paper’s devotion of many prime pages to the latest news on global climate change but learning that greenhouse gas emissions have increased significantly and the chief economist at the International Energy Agency has labelled it “the worst news” is galling stuff.

The failures of Copenhagen and Cancun are laid bare in the reports but no blame is apportioned because if global warming is everybody’s problem then it is also nobody’s problem. Governments can sit back individually and say ‘we’ve done our bit’ but if the planet as a whole continues to warm then someone has to take the rap or, better still, stand up and take a lead. It’s all very well branding yourself ‘the greenest Government ever’ but if the overriding objective is not met then it doesn’t count for very much.

I do often wonder if many in this world, with a seemingly burgeoning collective self destructive mindset, are not wilfully willing climate change onwards just to see what’ll happen. We go to see these ‘fin del mundo’ films in the cinema so just think how entertaining the real live show will be, assuming Sky News offices aren’t by a coastline. Except there’ll be no chisel-jawed Jake Gyllenhal ready to save the day with moments to spare as was the case in The Day After Tomorrow. That may be sooner than the decade after next but mass flooding and melted ice caps in the 2030s doesn’t sound like fun to me.

I even despaired at Chris Huhne’s short comment on the matter, an Environment Secretary that I am sure ‘gets it’ and one that Cameron will find very difficult to replace if Chris does have to finally resign over alleged speeding-related transgressions. He said “this is clearly an incremental process but the steps forward at Cancun show that the UN framework convention on climate change is capable of progress”. The urgency of the matter seems to be frustratingly downplayed while the timid, turgid progress at Cancun is cynically talked up.

There is action that the UK as a whole can take now and like so much radical change it is down to individuals to take responsibility. We are releasing too much CO2 into the environment with potentially devastating consequences and yet there is no urgent drive to reduce power consumption from what I can see. Every tv/shop window’s dispay/office computer network left on overnight, every light bulb switched on in an empty house to deter burglars(!) and every unnecessary drive to the shops just down the road comes with a little bubble of coal/oil burning above it and we need to reassess our actions 24/7 if we’re going to beat this threat.

Even a simple calculation from the Government based on how much power our 60m number ‘should’ be using compared to what we ‘are’ using would be welcome in order to concentrate minds. That calculation may be easier with a 5m population so perhaps that’s something for Richard Lochhead to consider perhaps.

Scotland may well have a greater claim to sitting back satisfied with its contribution given the ongoing development of a clean renewable power mix and the welcomely ambitious pledges of reducing carbon emissions by 42% and boasting 100% renewables by 2020. However, placing increased drilling for oil in the North Sea and road expansion in the context of today’s disturbing climate change news is something that the Government should be pressed on, and should be seen to be happy to be pressed on. More progress on reduced car use and increased insulation are also important in order to reduce power use now.

It won’t be enough though, and we all know it. Scotland and the UK can continue down the green path better than most but how does Salmond or Cameron go about reeling China, US, Brazil and India in? It can’t, not without the significant rebalancing of the world economy called for in this excellent article (in The Guardian, of course)

So are we at the stage where really drastic action has to be taken? Power quotas? A global two child limit? A truly eye-watering, behaviour changing carbon tax? For me that is the only way to reverse the seemingly irreversible, the business as usual, Capitalism-fuelled increase in carbon emissions that won’t slow let alone halt without the most radical of action.

We’ve got to try, it’s only the single biggest threat to humanity after all and it’s surely better than waiting for Jake Gyllenhal to turn up to save the world from burning with his smouldering good looks. Even if the latter is admittedly a little more appealing, epecially in 3D.