Why 500 wellies were lined up outside Parliament.
I recently joined friends at Greenpeace to hand in our joint flooding petition.
The petition – calling on David Cameron to invest more in flood defences, put in place a National Climate Resilience Plan, and cut the climate-changing carbon emissions that are driving up flooding – had garnered nearly 100,000 signatures.
The stunt was an echo of an action Friends of the Earth undertook 2 years back when we dumped wellingtons outside the offices of the then Environment Secretary Owen Paterson, calling on him to be “given the boot”.
Thankfully, Paterson was given the boot later that year – and we now have a new Environment Secretary, Liz Truss, who fully accepts that global warming is increasing flooding in the UK.
But there’s much more that still needs to change.
The government isn’t investing enough in flood defences; its climate modelling is out of date. And it’s cut money for solar while supporting fracking, when we desperately need more clean energy, not more fossil fuels.
That’s why it’s great that so many people signed our joint petition calling on the government to take action.
Over the coming weeks and months, we’ll continue to press ministers and MPs to take climate change more seriously.
And we’ll continue to work with the communities that have been affected by the floods – like Glenridding in Cumbria, flooded an appalling 4 times over the winter.
You can help too:
- Read how floodstruck Glenridding in Cumbria is coping after the floods.
- Read our briefing on flooding and climate change.
- Watch and share Greenpeace’s video from the action outside Parliament.
Sign our latest climate petition
Post written by Guy Shrubsole, 3rd February 2016