Extinction Rebellion climate change campaigners in Dingwall say inaction puts millions of lives on line
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CLIMATE campaigners in Ross-shire today repeated calls for a "just and green recovery plan that puts people and planet first".
It came amid stinging criticism for the Committee for Climate Change annual report to the UK Government which campaigning group Extinction Rebellion says shows Westminster to be "failing in its responsibilities to keep people safe".
Highland campaigners joined groups across Britain delivering letters to MPs and MSPs urging them to speak out in parliament and in their constituencies to highlight the urgent need for a green Covid-19 recovery.
Highland spokeswoman Kate MacLachlan said:"We believe there is a very small window for intervention
"The UK Government’s delay locking-down is now widely believed to have caused thousands of unnecessary deaths. Failure to react adequately to the climate and ecological emergency is already causing deaths and continued failure will cause millions more."
She said climate scientists have made clear there is no time to lose and that delay will only create additional costs – from disaster relief and mass migration to reduced labour capacity.
Mark Carney, now Special Envoy to the UN on Climate Action and Finance, has urged investors “not to back the status quo".
The group says governments here "must set a gold standard now by funding renewable energy, green travel and infrastructure and by halting biodiversity loss. International as well as national action is pivotal to success".
Dr. Chris Newman, co-founder of Doctors for Extinction Rebellion, said: “Our government’s short termism is alarming. Their inaction is equivalent to a doctor refusing to treat a patient’s chronic illness because it won’t kill them in the next 4 years. They have set a target of net zero which will give the patient, in this case our families, a 50:50 chance of safety, and even then they have failed to meet their own dangerously ambiguous targets in every sector of government.
“If the government were a doctor, they would be struck off for negligence.”
Related article: Protestors make climate point on Kessock Bridge
