Speak-Up week of action

People from Salisbury Christian Aid have invited Loretta Minghella (CEO of Christian Aid), Nicholas Holtam (Bishop of Salisbury and Church of England lead Bishop on Environmental affairs) and Gary Mantle (CEO of Wiltshire Wildlife Trust) to join them on 13 October to urge the Government to take action on climate change.

Salisbury people will ask for progress on tackling climate change in the name of the things they love that could be affected by climate change at the event that starts at 12noon at St. Thomas’s Church Salisbury.

The group will be highlighting the challenge of Climate Change that threatens what they care about.

They will ask for the UK government to ratify the Paris climate agreement [2], and deliver an ambitious low carbon investment plan [3], due to be published at the end of the year.

The event is part of the Speak Up week of action, which will see thousands of local people meeting their MPs across the country in the week of 8-16th October. From WI nature walks to church tea parties, community energy visits to school activities, people from all walks of life will  make sure their politicians see how much their constituents care about what we could lose to climate change.

The Speak Up week of action is organised by The Climate Coalition – a group of over 100 organisations including Christian Aid, RSPB, WWF, Islamic Relief, CAFOD, WI as well as local groups. It is part of an ongoing effort to encourage our government to shift to 100% clean energy within a generation to protect the people, places and life we love from climate change.

Bishop Nicholas said: "There is an urgency about environmental issues. They press hard on all of us, but the poorest of the earth are the most vulnerable."

Gary Mantle, Chief Executive of Wiltshire Wildlife Trust said: “The Trust is committed to tackling climate change. That is why we were early signatories of the Wiltshire Declaration on Climate Change. Now we want more businesses in Wiltshire and Swindon to do the same.  Action on climate change needs to happen at all levels.  As well as a global legally binding agreement in Paris, we need concerted effort by national and local government and by the business community.  In short, we all have a role to play.”

Dr Elizabeth Perry said: “The science is clear and the world has agreed – we have to get carbon emissions under control if we are to avoid catastrophic climate change. But words now have to be turned into action. The UK government needs both to urgently ratify the Paris agreement and deliver an ambitious low carbon investment plan, to help create the environment necessary for transitioning to net zero carbon emissions by the middle of the century”.

FURTHER INFORMATION:

[1] Apart from Christian Aid local members of the Climate Coalition include the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust, RSPB, Arocha, Oxfam, Church of England, Methodist Church, Baptist Union, United Reformed Church, Salvation Army & Salisbury Transition City.

[2] In 2015, 195 countries signed a landmark climate agreement in Paris which endeavours to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C.  

[3] The UK Government has targets to tackle climate change, outlined in the UK Climate Change Act. Now the Government has promised us a ‘low carbon investment plan’ by the end of the year, which will set out the policies to drive down emissions over the next decade.