Earth Day 2021
Earth Day 2021
April 22nd is the 51st Earth Day - an annual event designed to drive action on the environment and climate crisis around the world.
This year's theme is "Restore Our Earth", with all of us urged to focus not only on how we can reduce our impact on the planet - but also on how we might actively repair the world's ecosystems.
Liberal Democrats locally and nationally have a strong track record on environmental initiatives. Derbyshire Climate Coalition has created a pledge for County Council candidates to sign up to and Derbyshire Dales Liberal Democrat Candidates are delighted to endorse it;
'If elected, I pledge to ensure that our council works with the community to rapidly implement a Climate Action Plan which strives to cut carbon emissions drastically by 2030, and that the climate and ecological emergency is a central consideration in all council actions.'
Whilst it is of course the case that the detail of every individual initiative needs to be looked at and assessed on its own merits, based on the impact on specific communities, we wholly support the pledge's guiding framework.
The facts speak for themselves - levels of planet-heating greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere continue to rise despite country-wide lockdowns put in place during the pandemic, and the Government's plans for a green recovery seem more aspirational than actual.
Derbyshire Dales Liberal Democrats are committed to working with others to develop workable green alternatives wherever possible and will hold Local Councils to their promise to achieve net zero by 2030.
One of the success stories of green electricity generation has been offshore wind. This was due to the vision in 2012 of the then Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Sir Ed Davey, now leader of the Liberal Democrats. Other green initiatives actioned by the Lib Dems in government have been systematically dismantled by the Tories since 2015, for example the Green Investment Bank, sold off by George Osbourne.
If you would like to send a message yourself to our MP and councillors, you may wish to be included in the Statement of Climate Concern that a local group from Wellspring Church in Wirksworth have put together and will be sending to our MP and councillors later on this year. You can find the statement and details of how to participate here.