When Thatcher led international debate on the environment

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A word of uninvited advice for the Conservatives: listen to Margaret Thatcher on the climate crisis, not Kemi Badenoch.

Here, thanks to a 2013 Guardian article by the late John Vidal, are some of the Iron Lady's words of wisdom on the environment.

Here is an extract from a speech she made to the Royal Society on 27 September 1988:

For generations, we have assumed that the efforts of mankind would leave the fundamental equilibrium of the world's systems and atmosphere stable. But it is possible that with all these enormous changes (population, agricultural, use of fossil fuels) concentrated into such a short period of time, we have unwittingly begun a massive experiment with the system of this planet itself.

And here is one from her speech to the United Nations general assembly in November 1989:

What we are now doing to the world … is new in the experience of the Earth. It is mankind and his activities that are changing the environment of our planet in damaging and dangerous ways. 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. 

The environmental challenge that confronts the whole world demands an equivalent response from the whole world. Every country will be affected and no one can opt out. Those countries who are industrialised must contribute more to help those who are not.

As Vidal says, her enthusiasm soon waned. But he also quotes the words of Jonathon Porritt:

Thatcher … did more than anyone in the last 60 years to put green issues on the national agenda. From 1987-88 when [she] started to talk about the ozone layer and acid rain and climate change, a lot of people who had said these issues were for the tree-hugging weirdos thought, "ooh, it's Mrs Thatcher saying that, it must be serious". She played a big part in the rise of green ideas by making it more accessible to large numbers of people.

Mrs Thatcher was many things: one of them was a scientist.

Later. It's not in John Vidal's article, but here is another Thatcher quote from this era - her speech to the Conservative Party Conference in October 1988:

It's we Conservatives who are not merely friends of the Earth—we are its guardians and trustees for generations to come. [Clapping]. 

The core of Tory philosophy and for the case for protecting the environment are the same. No generation has a freehold on this earth. All we have is a life tenancy - with a full repairing lease. This Government intends to meet the terms of that lease in full. [Clapping].

I wonder if today's Tories would clap those points?