I struggle to understand why environmental politics are traditionally regarded as left-wing.  They are not.  The environment is the only place that we have.  The place where we live matters to us; in our local communities and in the wider world.  It is all about respect and stewardship.

Disputes about the science of manmade climate change may be rife, but they are entirely irrelevant.  I happen to think that only a brave or very foolish person (or a publicity-seeker) would take issue with the consensual opinion of the world’s leading scientists – but my opinion is irrelevant too.

My point is this.  Waste of any kind is a bad thing, so let’s stop wasting energy, food and material resources.  Fossil fuels are finite, so let’s find ways of being less dependent upon them and sooner rather than later.  Natural resources are limited, not limitless as we in the West have implicitly regarded them for two-hundred years, so let’s start trying to obey the laws of Nature.  If Nature goes bust, there will be no bail out.

Conservative-minded people can embrace our current environmental challenges wholeheartedly, passionately and with every confidence in a right of centre political inheritance and vision.

Why?  Because first of all, we believe in the merits of order and security: two benefits of civilisation, which are threatened by environmental disruption and the pressure of global population growth.

Second, we recognise the responsibility of stewardship.  As Margaret Thatcher said: “Mankind has no freehold on the Earth, only a full repairing lease.”  We respect the past, and hold the present in trust for future generations.  We need to look after the place where we, and all other creatures, live; not just for ourselves but for those who will come after us.

Third, we understand the need for global action and diplomacy in order to ensure advantages at home and around the world.  In approaching world affairs we are pragmatic rather than ideological.

Fourth, we believe that local actions, in our own communitites, rather than Big Government initiatives, can help make changes for the better.  The environment is both local and global, and a passion for local solutions can help us feel better about our communities.

Finally, we understand that whilst politicians have a vitally important role in shaping the framework for action on green issues, only the market can deliver the results.   The paradox is inescapable; it was the power of the market which, through powering unsustainable growth, created the problems that we face in the first place. But it offers the only sure way out of them.

Meeting the various challenges presented by environmental pressures is already creating huge market opportunities for those with the vision, technology and access to capital to seize them. According to HSBC, global turnover in low carbon goods and services last year overtook the value of the defence and aerospace industries. This is no cottage industry.

We are used to being lectured on the need for “behaviour change”, I am not sure that is very helpful. Of course I applaud those who have made changes in the way that they live in order to reduce their impact on natural resources; people who, for example, have determined to drive less, recycle more, buy ethically sourced products, install micro-renewable energy systems, or switch off the lights when leaving a room. I have tried most of these things myself; but we are part of a small minority which has, by and large, made a deliberate political or social choice.

Human behaviour will only naturally change on the massive scale required when change is cheaper or more convenient than sticking with the status quo. Most people don’t want to make deliberate political or social choices; and why should they? It’s what they elect politicians to do. If heroes are to emerge from the battle to manage and defeat environmental damage they will not be eco-warriors, but engineers, physicists, designers, inventors and entrepreneurs. The true friends of the Earth are gradually emerging, and they are not those who spend their time screaming at the capitalist system; they are those who embrace capitalism as the most powerful tool for change on the planet.