Even Google has gone green today. They must have heard about Jeremy Leggett and Tony Juniper’s visit to Cambridge yesterday.

Jeremy sits on the government’s renewables advisory board. But he says nobody listens to him and he is in angry and frustrated at their lack of support.

Tony is executive director of Friends of the Earth and insists he will force through a Private Members’ Bill this year dealing with climate change unless the government gets a grip and does so.

They were speaking on The Global Energy Crisis and despair was deeply etched over their faces.

They both welcomed David Cameron’s thrusting views on environemtal issues, which is putting the urgent issue on the front pages of our newspapers.

It seems this is the lifeline they have been waiting for – and one that we all need to kickstart some belated action into plan.

When asked by me for his views on the government’s tackling of climate change, Jeremy did not hold back:

“I’m probably going to get fired for this. I am fed up to the back teeth with a culture of suppression in the DTI. There is so much which they could do, so much to do, I am sick of it, having worked with them for three years.”

Jeremy, a geologist, is very well qualified to speak about this subject. He was a former oil company employee and jumped ship to become chief scientist at Greenpeace UK. He later launched his own renewable energy company Solar Century.

He firmly believes it is possible to replace oil, gas and coal completely with a plentiful supply of renewable energy – and faster than most people think. We just need a government that believes in it. We need a government that will lead by example, which includes using cars driven by biofuels, along the same lines as in San Francisco.

But Jeremy said he had been unable to convince his advisory committee about this, he has been banging his head against a brick wall. I’m not sure of the reasons why, whether he has been dogmatic and inflexible, refusing to listen to others and compromise, but he genuinely feels his expert views have been ignored.

“There is a massive, massive problem to overcome. We have to think outside the box. In Whitehall, most of the officials I meet don’t believe this kind of thing is happening.”

His latest book Half Gone warns of the economic and environemtnal catastophe that lies ahead if global warming is not taken seriously; it reminds us that even the government’s Chief Scientific Adviser Sir David King and Sir John Houghton, the former head of the Meteorological Office, have both said that global warming is now a bigger threat than weapons of mass destruction.

Love her or hate her, that is exactly what Margaret Thatcher said back in the late 1980s. As a scientist, she could see the writing on the wall. I guess until push comes to shove, there are always seemingly more important priorities. It has been percieved as the silent, unseen threat.

But that moment of push has come now. Tony is determined to make something happen. He has been working with leading cross-party environmental politicians and plans to bring in a Climate Change Bill later this year. This will require government to cut emissions by 3% every year until 2050.

Tony insists that time is running out, that they must act now. So far 360 MPs have backed his proposed bill. When it reaches 400, he says it becomes something the government can’t oppose. He is determined and confident that he will succeed.

I asked Tony his views about David Cameron’s green leanings, will Friends of the Earth be looking towards Conservatives to introduce “green” legislation?

He replied: “We are delighted to see there is finally some opposition on this. The Conservatives could be the way forward to lead on green issues, and that it is happening I think is remarkable.”

Jeremy finds he is very confused about which political party he now supports.

“The Conservatives are doing a good job on this. It is very confusing for someone like me. I was brought up in an era when Labour were the good guys and Conservatives were bad. But now it is very confusing.

“I think I had better resign before they fire me.”

I’m not sure how serious Jeremy is about this. That’s taking the easy way out and the political momentum is now building up.

As far as political colours are concerned, blue has turned to green, and now green has a few shades of blue, so it seems inevitable that we will end up with a delicious shade of turquoise.

P.S. The visit was part of a literary festival in Cambridge which attracted many leading authors. Well done Cambridge Wordfest. Jeremy was invited to plug his book.