Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
CORBYN ECO CRISIS VOTE
JEREMY Corbyn will demand the UK declares a climate emergency this week after being inspired by teen activist Greta Thunberg.
The Labour leader will use this week’s Opposition day in Parliament to force a vote by MPs, pushing the environment to the top of the agenda.
Mr Corbyn was moved to act after meeting Swedish school campaigner Greta, 16, in London this week.
It would make Britain the first country in the world to declare an environmental emergency.
Describing the ongoing Extinction Rebellion protests in the capital as “inspiring”, he insisted they were “a massive and necessary wake-up call for rapid and dramatic action”.
Mr Corbyn said: “Only concerted government intervention through a
Greta wins Jezza climate support
green industrial revolution can deliver this scale of change. For young people, the climate emergency is the cause of their generation. Older generations must face up to this seriously.”
Calling for a “much more focused and serious approach towards climate change” he promised: “On Wednesday the UK Parliament will have the chance to be the first in the world to declare an environment and climate emergency, which we hope will trigger a wave of action around the world.”
Climate activist Greta, who gained world recognition for her school strikes, backed Labour’s stance.
She said: “It’s very hopeful that a major European political party has woken up to propose a declaration of a national climate emergency. We cannot solve an emergency without treating it like an emergency.”
The party wants emissions almost halved within 10 years to keep the rise in global temperature below 1.5°C.
Studies suggest tens of millions will have died by then as a result of climate change if no action is taken.
CLIMATE change is the biggest threat to the future of our world. Failing to halt it will cost millions of lives.
Which is why Jeremy Corbyn is right to demand that Parliament declares a climatechange emergency.
Mr Corbyn, 69, was inspired to do so by 16-year-old Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg, whose generation will be more affected by global warming than his own.
The UK already takes climate change seriously. The problem is we do not take it seriously enough. Emissions must be halved within the next 10 years to keep the rise in global temperatures below the crucial 1.5ºC. And pressure must be put on major pollutors China and America to follow suit.
Only a green industrial revolution will achieve the target. And only by recognising that climate change is an emergency will it give that revolution the kickstart it needs.