Environment & Nature
Environment and Nature
We are blessed to live in such wonderful natural surroundings, but we cannot deny that the climate is changing, and that human activity is speeding it up and causing chaos around the world. The Government was rightly lauded for making a legal commitment to achieve Net Zero by 2050, but time and again they have reneged on their plans and undermined our chances of stopping the temperature soaring and restoring nature.
We are running out of time to prevent irreversible damage and the loss of species and special habitats.
It is not just critical worldwide habitats like the Great Barrier Reef or glaciers that will hold back sea level rise, but local crises like the loss of bees and pollinators and the impact of wetter weather on the crops that we need to feed our population here in the UK.
Nowhere is the lack of action on the environment so obvious as the Governments failure to deal with sewage in our rivers and the pollution of our harbours and shores whilst allowing water bosses to take huge bonuses.
To address climate change we must think global and act local by:
- Speeding up grid improvements so that renewable energy can replace fossil fuels and homes can be zero carbon.
- Strengthening the Office for Environmental Protection and increasing funding to Environment Agency and Natural England
- Ending sewage discharges by transforming water companies into public benefit and replacing OFWAT
- Campaigning for changes to procurement so councils can spend more money in the local supply chain.
- Increasing the farming budget by £1 billion p.a. to support nature-friendly farming and bring down food prices.
- Providing free retrofits for low-income homes and generous tax incentives for other households
- Requiring all new homes to be built with solar panels, low energy fittings and rainwater harvesting.
- Planting at least 60 million trees a year to help reach net zero and restore woodland and peatland habitats.
- Working with landowners to develop nature-based flood defences.