WHAT ON EARTH SPRING 2022
PAGE 7 Photo: istockphoto.com
Making local change for real climate impact By Malachy Clarke, Public Affairs Manager In May, Scotland will once again go to the polls – this time to elect our local councillors. Despite not holding all the powers needed to tackle the climate crisis, local authorities can play a crucial role and so these elections are going to be significant. The councillors elected will be in their position for five of the remaining eight years of this vital decade for urgent and transformative action needed to avert climate breakdown. Since the last local authority elections in 2017, we have seen the effects of climate change already ravaging the world.
We have also seen the world come together in Glasgow to attempt to deal with this emergency. Unfortunately the outcomes of COP26 were nowhere near enough to address the reality of the crisis, but that can’t stop change from happening. Many of the actions needed to respond to the climate emergency are in the hands of national and local governments. Friends of the Earth Scotland does not endorse any political party. It is incumbent on all of us, and all politicians, to do everything in our power to address this urgent and drastic crisis, so we want to see all parties improve their positions across a range of environmental issues.
