Councillors vow to get up and atom Bid to tackle effects of climate change
Summer outings fromclub
Hamilton Natural History Society are heading off on their third summer outing this weekend.
Members will be going to Greenock on Saturday, July 13.
They will begin with a visit to the esplanade, a broad boulevard next to the Clyde where, depending on the tide, there is the possibility of seeing seals, cormorants and black guillemots. This will be followed by an exploration of the Victorian-era areas in the town.
After lunch in the town centre, members will then visit Greenock Cemetery, which is one of the largest in Europe and now acts as a nature reserve with walks and heritage guide books.
The outing concludes with a walk round Cowdenknowes Reservoir and Town Reservoir which date from 1842 and 1845 respectively. These reservoirs are frequented by waterbirds such as swans and coots.
Go online to www. hamiltonnaturalhistory. org.uk for more details on the society and the rest of their summer programme.
A doom-laden council meeting was warned that climate change is doing as much damage as 500,000 atomic explosions going off every day.
Councillors were told that the polar ice caps are melting at a rate of 10,000 tonnes every second amid ominous talk of an “existential threat” and “extinction”.
And after hearing the claims, they agreed a motion to declare a climate emergency in North Lanarkshire.
North Lanarkshire Council is also now seeking to bring forward plans to reduce its carbon emissions to zero by 2030.
A motion from SNP councillors Jordan Linden and Junaid Ashraf which was tabled at full council on Thursday, June 20, was opposed by amendments from the Conservative group and independent councillors.
The original motion called on the council to recognise it has an important role to play in tackling climate change and that action needs to be taken locally to help deliver towards ambitious targets across Scotland. It also read that the council should agree to join calls for declaring a climate emergency across Scotland, and beyond.
The declaration would instruct council officers to report to committees on strategic actions to tackle climate change locally, and provide updates to the council on its response to climate change.
The Conservatives, however, felt that although the council faced many challenges in relation to climate change, the UK Government was already at the forefront of the fight against climate change. They agreed that local action was also required and called for a report to be brought to relevant committees to highlight the council’s strategic approach.
Independent councillors Paddy Hogg and Alan Beveridge tabled the final amendment, which warned that global warming driven by fossil fuel was now an “existential threat” which justified climate emergency declarations at local, national and international levels.
Cllr Hogg said: “Due to the growing risk of spontaneous forest and moorland wild fires, flash flooding and catastrophic weather events, a new climate risk strategy of preparedness needs to be funded by central government.
“In addition to the green policies already in place, the level of resilience planning and preparedness with partners, including Police Scotland and the Scottish Fire Service, needs to be boosted.”
And Cllr Hogg told the council “climate change has reached the effect of 500,000 Hiroshima bombs every day” and that the polar ice caps were melting at a rate of 10,000 tonnes every second.
“We are now in the sixth extinction phase,” he added.
Many scientists say the Holocene extinction, or the mass extinction, human activity.
The Labour group chose to back the independents’ motion and it was therefore passed by 35 votes to 27 against the SNP’S motion. The Conservative motion got six votes in an earlier round of voting.
To ensure it can “protect and maintain the quality of life of its planet’s sixth is a result of residents” the council is seeking “realistic policy updates” from both the Scottish and British governments, supported by extra funding resources.
Councillor Michael Mcpake, convener of environment and transportation, added “We need the resources and finances to be prepared for emergency climate events as they unfold.”