Worcestershire County Council – ACT NOW on the Climate Emergency!

The climate and ecological emergency is the biggest threat we face. Worcestershire County Council (WCC) is not recognising the emergency and does not have a plan to tackle it.

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What you can do

• For more information about the climate and ecological emergency follow this link: Emergency on Planet Earth.
• To stay in touch with Extinction Rebellion you can join the Worcestershire Welcome Chat on Telegram so that we can organise an intro session for you and connect you to a local group. Click this link to join: https://t.me/joinchat/PcfsAFMjys5puT5BVQEY-Q. You can also find details of your local group on our Home Page.
• To contact your local Worcestershire County Councillor and ask them to act now, you can find their details here: https://worcestershire.moderngov.co.uk/mgMemberIndex.aspx?bcr=1

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What do we want the County Council to do?

We want the WCC to fully recognise the climate and ecological emergency and to lead now on carbon reduction for the whole of Worcestershire, including transport emissions, waste and buildings, so that as a county we can quickly transition to be zero carbon. Typically, WCC considers only ‘direct’ services such as street lighting, but we need it to take the lead across all emissions in Worcestershire. As our Local Authority, it is in the most powerful position to give a strategic lead to ALL other authorities, businesses and institutions operating within the county, not to mention we individual residents.

The Covid-19 pandemic has shown how the British public can change the ways we live, work and play if the reasons and urgency are clearly explained. The Climate Emergency is no different (except that its impact will be far greater if we do not act now). We sense that a majority of the public is ready to respond to effective leadership on this crucial issue. Will WCC be bold and creative in leading Worcestershire’s residents towards a genuinely sustainable and carbon neutral future?

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We want WCC to accept three challenges :
1) Will WCC launch and maintain, a hard hitting publicity campaign to inform and educate Worcestershire’s residents and businesses about the Climate crisis and the transformative action required to address it;
2) Will our Council not restrict itself to those areas only of its direct responsibilities but instead give a strategic lead to all authorities, institutions, businesses and individuals;
3) Will our Council be bold, creative and urgent in leading all to a net zero future.

Some steps to address the Climate Emergency are:
• Achieving rapid carbon reduction for all of Worcestershire, not just council buildings and direct services.
• A radical cycling infrastructure plan aiming for 25% of commuting journeys to be done by cycles or e-cycles.
• Zero carbon homes – new and existing
• Waste reduction
• Divestment from fossil fuel based funds
• Electric public transport – as well as car sharing and trams to link major centres in Worcestershire
• Encourage low carbon food such as plant-based and locally grown

For the ecological emergency we want Worcestershire to lead the way in
• Bio-diverse farms providing good nutritious food close to urban centres
• A ban on pesticides and herbicides in public spaces
• Rewilding
• Soil as a carbon sink

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