Opinion: This Is a Stark Climate Emergency, So Where’s the Radical Action?

Published on: 31 Aug, 2019
Updated on: 3 Sep, 2019

By Hugh Coakley

a member of Extinction Rebellion

Can anyone now deny climate change? The evidence is before our eyes; extreme weather conditions, animal species becoming extinct and huge falls in the numbers of insects, all due to human actions.

The politicians have declared it a climate emergency but words are cheap. Where is the emergency action? The G7 group granted just €20m, a tiny sum from the richest nations in the world, to help to put out the fires in the Amazon.

Are they serious? It’s the equivalent of a bucket of water on the huge jungle fires, a publicity exercise. It’s certainly not the action of desperate people in an emergency.

After protests by Extinction Rebellion this year, our parliament admitted there was a climate emergency. Since then, the government has committed the UK to cut greenhouse gas to almost zero by 2050. But that will be 20 years too late. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has said that we have only until 2030 to keep global warming below a 1.5 degree C increase.

This is a real emergency.

MPs have announced that they will set up a citizens’ assembly, a representative group of ordinary people to decide on the best solutions to turn around climate change. But it will be advisory only.

Roger Hallam founder of Extinction Rebellion. Photo Wikimedia Commons

As Roger Hallam, a founder of Extinction Rebellion, said: ”We have a citizens’ assembly that will give recommendations. Everyone knows what that means, which is it will come out with some ideas and get ignored, as the people have been ignored for the past 30 years.”

Local authorities, including Surrey County Council and our own Guildford Borough Council, bowed to pressure and followed the government lead by also declaring a climate emergency. Both will be consulting on what they will need to do.

They adopted the motions weeks ago. But this is an emergency. We need action now.

I am, in general, an admirer of politicians. They work for the public good and make decisions we find difficult to make for ourselves.

The problem is that the government and local authorities don’t seem to have the will, despite what they say, to drive climate change. It requires radical solutions and they are always diverted by so many other priorities, the present major distraction being Brexit.

They need to be pushed to make adequate and effective plans to deal with the emergency and pushed again to make sure those are fulfilled.

We cannot accept half-measures. As Greta Thunberg, the young climate change activist, said: “You can’t be a little bit sustainable. Either you are sustainable or you’re not.”

It was Extinction Rebellion in April this year that pushed the issue up the agenda with their non-violent protest and civil disobedience tactics. People were willing to be arrested and to give up their liberty. It gave me hope that the government could be forced into radical action.

The potential consequences are so severe that to not act now is irrational. Surely we can’t take the risk that all the climate scientists are wrong?

“Oh dear we didn’t think it would really be this bad” will be a woeful cry in 10 years, and an indictment of our generation if even some of the predictions, such as mass starvation and extinction of insects and animals, are right.

Extinction Rebellion has three demands:

First: Tell the truth. Well, that seems to be happening to some degree. An emergency has been declared. But it is easy to say.

Second: Act now to halt biodiversity loss and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by 2025. That is much harder and not yet happening.

Third: A citizens’ assembly to take the decisions out of the politicians’ hands. This has worked in Ireland on the difficult issue of abortion, so it is a practical way to break a deadlock and help the political process.

We have been hearing about environmental and ecological disaster for at least 30 years. Our system is failing us as the situation has worsened.

Extinction Rebellion seems to be talking sense and I support them.

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