|
Artwork by XR Jamaica
Climate Update
As we know, the Committee on Climate Change (the body that advises the government on environmental issues) released their annual report last month. They made five recommendations:
- Low-carbon retrofits and buildings that are fit for the future
- Tree planting, peatland restoration, and green infrastructure
- Energy networks must be strengthened
- Infrastructure to make it easy for people to walk, cycle, and work remotely
- Moving towards a circular economy.
Let’s see if this report leads to any action at all. XR already anticipates that the UK government will continue to treat the environment as an afterthought, with no consideration of the urgency of our situation. This is why they are calling for a huge protest action in September.
Local XR groups will kick off the Rebellion with a spicy bank holiday weekend of action from 28-31 August. From 1 September, they will come together to peacefully rebel in London, Cardiff and Manchester until Parliament promises to debate their three demands in the Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill and set up a Citizens’ Assembly.
Across the channel France has set up a Citizen’s Assembly to tackle climate change. “They are part of France’s latest democratic experiment: a randomly selected citizens’ assembly that has been promised more power than any other – the ability to set Emmanuel Macron’s policy on cutting carbon emissions, as he faces harsh criticism that he is not doing enough to tackle the climate emergency.”
According to the XR Newsletter the Citizen’s Assembly has submitted 149 proposals to Macron, including: measures addressing transport, energy, agriculture, and construction; constitutional amendments to prioritise biodiversity; the creation of a new body responsible for enforcing planetary limits; and a strong call to make ecocide a crime by national referendum.
|
Following on from 
