guildford
CCC REPORT - OPEN LETTER
The new report by the Committee On Climate Change is released today. It details the government's failure on every CCC recommendation to tackle the climate crisis. And remember, these are failures to meet a 2050 target - already woefully inadequate and a certain death sentence for millions of people across the planet.
MASS LOBBY
As it's difficult to get out and protest this abject failure, there is a co-ordinated action across the country today, with concerned constituents writing to their MPs demanding action on the escalating climate and ecological crises. Newly released studies this week have ratcheted the situation to yet more horrifying levels, with the Tindall Institute suggesting we are now on track for 5°C warming above pre-industrial levels. To ram it home, temperatures between 38-45°C were recorded in the Arctic Circle this week. That is 18°C higher than the average maximum June temperature!!
As Boris Johnson talks about 'coming out of hibernation', the real slumber we need to wake from is the government's refusal to face the climate crisis head on. It's incredibly easy to despair when we keep getting information like this. But the best cure for despair is action.
JOIN THE LOBBY
There is a template letter available below, but you can tweak it if you like, change the sign off, or start from scratch. The important thing is to get an email out to Angela Richardson, Guildford's MP (if you don't live in Guildford, go to writetothem.com for contact details of your MP). Send it to: angela.richardson.mp@parliament.uk, and don't forget to include your name and address or it won't be read!
xr guildford - open letter to angela richardson mp
Dear Angela Richardson MP,
As your constituents, we are urging you to publicly speak out on the climate and ecological emergencies. The world is heating and the breakdown of our climate has begun. Extreme weather events are having devastating impacts on agriculture, destroying homes, and leaving millions of people in need of humanitarian aid. Soaring temperatures, rising sea levels and droughts will render vast tracts of land uninhabitable through flooding and desertification, putting food supplies at risk and pushing communities and nations towards war.
These impacts can no longer be ignored as ‘things which happen elsewhere’. We know that the worst crises will disproportionately impact the world’s poorest, predominantly people of colour. However, the UK is already seeing the effects of climate change, from increased incidence of extreme weather events to massive species loss.
Our county’s relative wealth cannot protect us for long. Surrey has already seen at least 626 species become extinct, with over half of all wildlife in rapid decline, including species we rely on like bees. By 2050, average summer temperatures could be more than 6C higher than now, causing massive droughts and more enormous wildfires as suffered recently at Thursley Common. Hundreds of vulnerable and elderly residents in our town and villages alone will die during regular heatwaves. Conversely, the destruction of natural flood defences, rising sea levels and inconsistent rain patterns will make flooding more severe and more frequent. The worst is yet to come if we do not take the urgent action required now.
You must make it clear to your constituents that government inaction will lead to the death of millions. The 2050 net zero target laid out in the Committee on Climate Change's report is already hopelessly late. Academics at Guildford’s own University of Surrey, including Prof. Tim Jackson of the Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity, are telling us that even a linear decline in carbon emissions to net zero by 2030 is no longer enough – we must make around 85% of cuts by 2025 to have a chance of meeting our climate goals.
New calculations by academics from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research have shown that for us to have just a 2 in 3 chance of stabilising warming below the internationally-agreed limit of 2C, the total amount of carbon the UK can emit is only half that currently budgeted in government policy. If we want to hold temperatures to 1.5C, generally agreed by most climate researchers as the safest limit to avoid catastrophic climate feedback loops, the amount we can emit is smaller still.
It’s time to Tell The Truth – the science shows we must phase out carbon emissions much sooner than 2050 if the UK is to do its fair share to ensure the planet remains habitable for all but a fraction of its current population. Yet today’s findings confirm the Government isn’t even sticking to its own dismal targets.
Today’s report from the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) highlights that the government's actions fall way short of meeting its own legally binding yet woefully inadequate target. Last year, the CCC reported that only one of their 25 recommended headline policy actions had been delivered in full.
We are standing at an intersection of crises where government inaction is criminal, and an existential threat to civilisation. All are symptoms of a toxic system dependent on infinite growth, extreme inequality and oppression. All are symptoms of a government which fails to act on the science and to do what is right to protect people and the planet.
We have a very small window of opportunity during the recovery from the current pandemic to make the necessary changes to secure our future. We implore you to show leadership, to act decisively, to listen to expert advice and not let the lessons learned from the current COVID-19 crisis go to waste. There are myriad resources available to help you make the right choices for the environment, wildlife and your constituents, and we would be happy to engage with you on this.
We need you to Tell The Truth by publicly calling out the government’s failings, admitting to your constituents that the current 2050 net zero target is too late, and voting for action in line with the climate science.
We call on you now to do your duty and take action on behalf of life.
Extinction Rebellion Guildford