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Those hoping to replicate the International Extinction Rebellion protests in Guernsey have sent a letter to all deputies urging them to join the UK in declaring a climate and ecological emergency.
The letter not only asks deputies to agree to declare this emergency, but also to take "appropriate action.
On Wednesday, 1 May, the UK Parliament gave in to ongoing protests across London and declared a climate emergency, making it the first full country to do so. More than 400 local authorities across the globe have already declared a similar emergency, just on a smaller scale.
Yesterday it was reported nationally that the country had declared a state of emergency when it came to the climate. BBC News.
The letter which is hoping to replicate that result in Guernsey was sent out to all deputies towards the end of this week.
It read: "Generations of politicians have failed to act on climate change and ecological degradation despite the science being well known and well publicised for decades. Their failure to act threatens our way of life and our civilisation, as well as the incredible biodiversity of planet earth. For every year of inaction, the solutions become harder to achieve.
"Responsibility cannot be left to the individual. The government creates the environment in which we live and that environment can help, fail to help or even hinder individual efforts to lower climate impact. We demand that the States of Guernsey acts to do its part to save life on earth from extinction.
"The States has previously committed to take account of long-term impacts on the wellbeing of current and future generations when formulating policy. We know that the impacts of climate change on future generations will be severe unless we do something about it now. It would be irresponsible to refuse to acknowledge the climate emergency we face, and take urgent action.
"Today, we ask all the Deputies in The States of Guernsey to declare a climate and ecological emergency, and to take urgent action accordingly."
Sebastian Smillie in London for the Extinction Rebellion Protests.
Two Guernsey residents recently travelled to London to partake in the Extinction Rebellion protests on Waterloo Bridge and in Parliament Square. To read more about that, click here. It has been a peaceful protest, but participants have disrupted traffic across the city with dozens of police officers being drafted in to help the Met cope.
Police have been trying to confine the protests to one site in London, at Marble Arch, but they have ignored the threat of arrest and continued to block other sites throughout the last weeks of April.
Also in the UK, nearly 300 arts and cultural institutions and individuals have joined nearly 70 local authorities in doing so, they include: Bristol, Bath, Plymouth, Somerset County and Councils in Manchester, London and Edinburgh.
The letter's references are as follows:
NASA Climate Change Evidence - https://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/
IPCC 1.5 Degree Report - https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/
WWF Living Planet Report 2018 - http://awsassets.panda.org/downloads/lpr2018_technical_supplement_for_lpi.pdf
THE STATES OF DELIBERATION of the ISLAND OF GUERNSEY, 27th June, 2017 Proposition No. P2017/53 - https://gov.gg/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=108289&p=0
Climate Emergency Declaration - https://climateemergencydeclaration.org/climate-emergency-declarations-cover-15-million-citizens/
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