Cool Down, Cut the Carbon
07.12.2007
South Tyneside Green Party is calling on the UK government to stop paying lip-service to combating climate change and take real action.
The group is joining in a Global Day of Action Against Climate Change, on Saturday 8th December, which will see demonstrations all around the world demanding urgent action by world leaders.
Shirley Ford, Green Party parliamentary candidate for South Shields, said:
“I will be out campaigning in South Shields on Saturday, whatever the weather, because when my grandchildren ask me ‘What did YOU do about climate change?’ I will be able to tell them that I cared and acted.”
When South Shields MP David Miliband was Environment Secretary he talked about radical measures such as carbon rationing. But emissions are rising and the government’s recently announced climate change bill should be stronger and more ambitious.
In a report last week, the United Nations slammed the UK for its weak emissions policies and for its lack of progress in encouraging renewable energy.
The West is responsible for 80% of the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere already. So we in the rich world must be the first to act on climate change.
The UK must take the lead at the UN conference on climate change in Bali, which started this week, and it is vital that Environment Secretary Hilary Benn makes some bold commitments.
Shirley continued:
"Global heating will hit the poorest countries first and hardest, and the recent terrible floods in Bangladesh are an example of what’s in store. If we allow temperatures to go on rising, billions of people will suffer from droughts, which will impact on world food supplies, and will in turn affect international security through conflict over dwindling resources.
"This is a matter of social justice and human rights for the world’s poorest people. As Foreign Secretary, David Miliband should do all he can to make sure his government takes action now to stop this injustice.
"But it is also now a matter of our own self-interest – our own livelihoods are at stake unless we take action now. We have to cut out carbon addiction – for ourselves and our children, and for all the peoples of the world."