It is a time of change with many different messages coming from politicians, scientists, social media pundits and industry. Who can you trust when there seem to be so many conflicting views on the impact of our changing climate, biodiversity, health implications and how to balance this with the increasing cost of living / job insecurity?
The rise of populist leaders in USA and here in the UK seem to suggest people believe their mantra of ‘drill, baby, drill’ and ‘net-zero hoax’. We know these leaders are funded by the fossil fuel industry – remember the gift of a $400m luxury jet from Qatar and Reform’s £2.3 m from lobby groups, climate deniers and other fossil fuel businesses.
We have looked at these changes from afar until now, but now it is real, here in Staffordshire. Reform have taken control of our County Council and have already implemented changes including the scrapping of the Cabinet role for Environment and Climate Change. Across the border in Derbyshire, the entire Climate Change, Biodiversity and Carbon Reduction committee has been scrapped, with the new leader of the County council telling the BBC that ‘net zero is not a priority.. the net zero agenda is costing every single person in this country a lot of money. Why do we need to burden the people?"
Over recent years, we have developed a closer relationship with our County Council at both councillor and officer level. We are currently working with officers on schemes that include bringing back unwanted bikes into use for vulnerable members of our community via our Repair Café volunteers, joint working on projects for the Climate Commission and on water quality.
We and many other groups in Staffordshire and the wider community are concerned that our County Council may stall in their essential work to protect our environment, or worse still, abandon the essential work across so many areas including flood prevention, reducing emissions, education, food security, renewable energy and active travel.
We must be prepared to challenge any threat to progress in these areas. We will of course look to engage with our new county councillors, but we must be ready to take whatever action is necessary to prevent political sound bites turning into damaging policy.
We will be looking to work with other Climate Action groups in Staffordshire, and in the wider Friends of the Earth network, to monitor the actions of the new Councils and ensure they do not put back progress on the work to date.
If you are not already a member of Moorlands Climate Action, I urge you to consider joining now. Together we are stronger. We are up against the £ millions that Reform can throw at TikTok, mailshots and GB News, but truth is on our side and we must not let their misinformation become the truth in many peoples’ minds.
Join MCA here - https://membermojo.co.uk/mca
Mike