#GoingBackwards
on Climate Change
Backwards march down Whitehall on 8th May Assemble Nelson's Column, Trafalgar Square at noon
“Instead
of making excuses tomorrow to our children and grandchildren, we should be
taking action against climate change today.” said David
Cameron at the Paris climate summit.
On Sunday
8th May the Campaign against Climate Change will be joined in London
by Vivienne Westwood’s Climate Revolution, families and many others to
challenge Cameron to explain to their children and grandchildren why his
government has spent its first year in office going backwards on climate
change, including dramatic cuts to funding for clean energy and warm homes. The
message will be brought home in an original protest style: a backwards march
down Whitehall exactly one year after the Conservative government took office.
Other ‘Going
Backwards’ protests will be taking place the same weekend in cities including
Bristol, Leicester, Leeds, Nottingham and Manchester.
Protestors
in London will be assembling at Nelson’s Column, Trafalgar Square from 12pm.
“Record-breaking
temperatures and a melting Arctic might seem a long way away from the UK but
the impacts of climate change are here now, and we’re running out of time to
act” said Suzanne Jeffery of the Campaign against Climate
Change. “People hit by ‘once
in a generation’ winter floods in Somerset, York, Cumbria, and other vulnerable
parts of the UK are all too aware that things are changing.”
The
action will link together the different ways the government has backtracked on
climate action, and the harmful impacts these policies are having today.
Colourful performances, staging and poetry, will bring the issues to life and
challenge Cameron and Osborne to live up to past promises.
Esther McWatters from Bishops Stortford said “Having children motivated me to
start campaigning on climate change, for example helping local schools put
solar on their roofs. To find out that George Osborne has just cut over a
billion from solar energy and given the same amount in tax cuts to oil and gas
companies is shocking.”
Campaigners
will highlight the government’s short-sighted infrastructure policy, including
spending a planned £15 billion on new roads, while bus services are cut. “Air
pollution is now a public health crisis across our country with 40,000 people
dying prematurely and children and the elderly the most affected by breathing
toxic and illegal air,” explained
James Thornton from ClientEarth. “ClientEarth will take the government back to
court because of its failure to clean up the air we breathe and we are going to
show them people want action.”
The
threat of a new runway at Heathrow is a key issue for London. This is expected
to breach the UK’s climate limits, producing the same carbon emissions as the
whole of Kenya, as well as bringing noise and air pollution to the local area.
Another
health concern for both families and older people is the impact of cold and
damp homes. The UK’s houses are some of the worst insulated in Europe but
funding cuts for energy-saving measures mean the rate of improvement is just a
fifth of what it used to be.
“Homes
that leak heat are bad news for our fuel bills, damaging to our health - last
winter 15,000 people died from living in cold homes - and also very bad news
for the climate” said Becky Methven from Fuel Poverty Action. “The cuts to public funding really
are terrifying.”
Frack Off
London, Talk Fracking and Vivienne Westwood – backed by a spirited
anti-fracking choir – will address the latest fracking information and
underscore the very serious mistakes being made by our government trying to
push through fracking in the UK.
“As the
government blocks the cheapest forms of clean energy – onshore wind and solar,
other countries are benefiting from new technologies. Green jobs are lost while
money is wasted on subsidising dirty fossil fuels. Ultimately this means that
as the planet heats up we are missing that vital window to act on climate
change” said Claire James from the Campaign against Climate
Change.
The
protest is supported by organisations including Greenpeace, Biofuelwatch, War
on Want, Campaign against Climate Change, Campaign for Better Transport,
ClientEarth, Climate Revolution, Fuel Poverty Action, Global Justice Now,
HACAN, Plane Stupid, Frack Off London, Reclaim the Power, the Solar Trade
Association, Talk Fracking, Time to Cycle.
Speakers will include Asad Rehman,
Friends of the Earth, Suzanne Jeffery, Campaign against Climate Change, Barry
Gardiner, Shadow Minister for Energy and Climate Change and Green Party leader,
Natalie Bennett.
