For the 100th day of the new government being in power, Birmingham Friends of the Earth organised a day of action centred around campaigning for the Climate and Nature (CAN) Bill.
Whilst we have supported the Bill for a while, I wanted to ramp up what we were doing to help with the campaign at this critical time.
As people that care about the climate and think that we need systematic change, the CAN Bill is something I and Birmingham Friends of the Earth can really get behind. It enshrines our existing and vital international commitments into law, whilst improving the way that emissions are counted by including those we are responsible for overseas. Climate change doesn’t care if we can fudge the numbers of our individual carbon accounting, it will still happen.
As opposed to the current laws, this Bill is written by climate experts on the basis of updated climate science. We have the know-how, we just haven’t seen it translated into law properly yet. But this Bill has the chance to do just that: it has cross-party support and now is a crucial time to get it put into law. If we are to get things done by 2030, the Government needs to act now.
We wanted to find a way to support the Bill, and the Climate Coalition’s Common Grounds Day of Action on the 12th October provided the ideal opportunity. This nationwide day of action was promoted as an opportunity to “advocate for an ambitious and fair climate plan that slashes emissions and benefits people.” The CAN Bill is the best climate plan we have with fair emissions limits, that is so close to becoming actual law.
So to organise it we needed people power: everyone brought everyone and anyone along. Amongst my group of friends I was a bit nervous to invite some people, but organised it as a social event: a chance for us all to get together and do something fun, and we went for curry afterwards. I know many people care about the climate crisis but feel powerless to change our current system. Supporting this Bill is an accessible way to do just that. Coming along to events like this or contacting your MP asking them to support the Bill is free and with the support and info on the Zero Hour website, anyone can do it. I have had many people ask me, “what can I really do?” and whilst there are many personal actions, this is really effective as it’s so easy and can create real system change.
It was great fun getting together with a large group of likeminded people to campaign for the Bill. We got some lovely weather for the photos of our group in front of our favourite iconic Brummie landmarks.
Earlier that day I also met with my MP to chat to him about supporting the Bill. He mentioned that someone else had also spoken to him about it that day, which is great news, as it seemed to be impressing him that there are numerous people supporting the Bill, and it raises his perception of its importance. During our chat he committed to reading the Bill. He was positive about what he had heard about it and indicated that it was something he could get behind, as long as he doesn’t see any way in which it interferes with his other aims. Talking to my MP I know that my issue is heard with more weight than one that his constituents don’t come to speak to him about.
All in all it was a great day of action, and I felt really empowered, as it was my first time going to speak to my MP to bring up an issue, and my first time doing a photo campaign action. I have spent a long time frustrated at the lack of necessary action by the government to tackle the climate crisis, and this is actually fighting for it to get better, rather than resigning to accepting being let down by the system.
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