There are many democractic actions you could take to tackle climate change (CCL believes that democracy is the only way to combat climate change ie the way to achieve consensus on the fairest and most efficient way our society can help reduce global emissions).
And taking part in democracy means building a relationship with your MP.
Here’s what you can do:-
1. If you haven’t done so already, write to your MP about climate income.
2. Then meet or, if that’s not possible, write to them about the proposed rise in fuel duty. Although making fossil fuels more expensive is necessary, charging more at the pump, directly to the consumer (a downstream charge), will penalise too many people, especially those with poor public transport (such as rural areas). This will turn the UK off any price rise in fossil fuels. And we need a price rise, because it is the most effective way to bring down greenhouse gas emissions and tackle climate change. The way to raise the cost of fossil fuels – and, crucially, to win over the people – is to make most of the population better off by charging the companies that import or extract fossil fuels (an upstream charge) and – the important bit – returning the revenue back to the people ie a climate income.
3. Join our task force on COP26 – the annual UN convention on climate change taking place in November in Glasgow – email Louisa.
4. If you are a member of a political party, write and ask them to put forward climate income as a motion on the agenda of the 2020 party political conference, to be adopted as a policy. We are investigating the process of doing this for each party – if you know more, please get in touch with Louisa. So far we know the Lib Dem Greens and Welsh Greens are pushing for it. The Green Party already has climate income (aka carbon fee and dividend) but it is at risk of being reduced in effect or unadopted.
5. Take a local action – give a talk or take a stand at a local event, organise an event, and/or write to your local media, talk about it on social media on discussion forums, talk to your friends, family and colleagues, etc. Contact Gina for tips,resources and help
6. Talk to a charity, NGO, company, organisation at a national or regional level or a celebrity or expert about climate income, or write to the national media as a letter to editor or pitch a piece of editorial.
Image: how much the world has warmed in heat stripes.