Dear Chamber of Commerce members
We are inviting you to attend a talk on the truth about climate change, extinction rates and the predicted impacts of this (full details below).
The talk titled ‘Heading for Extinction (and what to do about it)’ will take place on 11th June 2019, at the Chesham Town Hall Council Chambers from 7.30-9.30pm.
The speakers will be Dr Emily Spry and Professor Kate Jeffrey from the group Extinction Rebellion.
The talk includes:
- The facts on current warming and extinction rates based on scientific data
- The predicted impacts of these nationally and internationally within 10 years
- Why Extinction Rebellion have adopted non violent civil disobedience as a method of lobbying government
- A process to determine and decide solutions within a local context to mitigate the impacts
This issue affects us all. We hope to see you there. Thank you.
Yours faithfully,
Vicki Mistry CEng MICE and Dr Lyn Jenkins
Questions can also be directed to cheshamxr@protonmail.com
Climate change will undoubtedly impact businesses as well as individuals and whilst this talk isn’t focused specifically on business impacts or solutions, it does present the facts around climate change, based on scientific data, and makes a compelling case for immediate action. We believe it is crucial that businesses understand the impacts of climate change and use their voices in lobbying national and local government to support and encourage solutions that minimise negative impacts.
We know that over seventy councils in the UK have already declared a climate emergency (1) and are committed to act on this declaration. Many councils, including Oxford, have set ambitious (but necessary) targets around becoming carbon neutral and are investigating citizens assemblies to guide this process. Ireland has recently completed a citizens assembly process to discuss what to do about the impacts of climate change and the results can be found online (2). We expect the number of councils declaring a binding climate emergency (i.e. one that leads to action) to grow as pressure from communities increases.
We want to encourage Chesham to be proactive in dealing with climate change and not wait until there is a need to react. Chesham has always been at the forefront of making positive social changes and supporting initiatives resulting in a better quality of life for its citizens.
Whilst the issues are global, many solutions can be at a local level and we are keen to encourage businesses to be part of this conversation. The IPCC and UN have stated we have 11 years before climate catastrophe (3) (which includes food shortages here in the UK) and we have until 2020 to change course, so we need to act now.
References:
1 –https://climateemergencydeclaration.org/climate-emergency-declarations-cover-15-million-citizens/
2 –https://www.citizensassembly.ie/en/How-the-State-can-make-Ireland-a-leader-in-tackling-climate-change/
3 –https://www.un.org/en/sections/issues-depth/climate-change/
