Climate Impacts Day is drawing close and it’s not just brilliant organisers on the ground who are connecting the dots between climate change and extreme weather events.
This week Caroline Lucas, Green Party Leader and Member of Parliament for Brighton and Hove, UK showed her support for Connect the Dots by holding her own ‘dot’ in front of the Houses of Parliament. The message bold and simple: ‘Political action for a safe climate’. Her support couldn’t be more timely as we are left with empty words and commitments on climate change both here in the UK and internationally — when we know the impacts are getting worryingly worse.
Despite pledging to be ‘the greenest government ever’ when taking office, Prime Minister David Cameron’s recent speech at the Clean Energy Ministerial failed to meet that promise, let alone work towards 350ppm. From keynote speech to a speech of unremarkable remarks, Caroline says this could have been “an ideal chance to show real ambition for the UK’s trailblazing renewables sector and champion the potential for building a resilient economy through investment in tackling climate change, as well as addressing fuel poverty.” His inaction seems to be miserably reflected in international politics as we still wait for a global deal on climate change to follow the Kyoto Protocol ending this year.
Therefore, messages connecting the dots like this from politicians like Caroline are able to give us hope. We need all parts of the puzzle – the media; communities; politicians; business; and scientists – to come together to solve the global climate crisis and to limit the impacts which are sending us warning signals of what is yet to come. With no exceptions.
Thank you Caroline for all of your support and Londoners, you can join her call to action by joining the Occupy London’s action this Saturday at St Paul’s Cathedral.