In 2019, the UK became the first country to declare a climate emergency renewing a sense of urgency to tackle climate change. However, despite this emergency, not much has happened since.

This is why the Climate & Ecological Emergency Bill is needed if we are to fight climate change.

What is the Climate & Ecological Emergency Bill?

The Climate & Ecological Emergency Bill (CEE Bill) is a bill drafted by experts; scientists, ecological economists, legal experts and environmentalists. Individuals who know what they are talking about in terms of climate emergency and aren’t interested in scoring political points – unlike politicians.

This Climate & Ecological Emergency Bill is designed to get the UK government do more to reduce the greenhouse gases we produce, which is fueling climate change, create a Citizen’s Assembly, restore and protect biodiversity.

This Bill is sponsored by Caroline Lucas MP of the Green Party and has already achieved cross-party backing. You see if your MP is one of its supporters.

At the time of writing this, my MP, Damian Green, is not listed as a supporter of the Bill and neither is my local council, Ashford Borough Council.

Here’s a video by one of the contributors of the Bill Dr Charlie Gardner, conservation scientist and expert.

We are in a climate emergency, and the scientists are the ONLY ones I will listen to.

Where is the Bill now?

This bill, a private members bill, had its first reading on 2nd September 2020 and has been re-introduced by Caroline Lucas MP last month.

What can you do?

You can sign up to the campaign, where you will get updates on the Bill, and how to lobby your MP and local council to show their support. My local council nor my local MP are listed on the supporters page, so this is something I’m interested in changing.

There is a wealth of resources on how you can lobby your MP, visual tools including social media graphics and posters. There’s even a FAQ. One of my favourite parts in the resources is the ability to check whether you’ve received a standard response from your MP. Whoever came up with that is a genius!

The key to achieving great things with this Bill is to gather as much support as possible so it passes with an overwhelming majority.

We can all be part of the solution to make change and these big changes can only happen in Parliament.

You can find more information about the bill here and if reading the bill is your thing, you can do so here.