1,000 signatures reached
To: Southampton City Council
Southampton City Council - Officially Declare a Climate Emergency
We are asking Southampton City Council to join dozens of other local authorities across the country by declaring a ‘Climate Emergency’ and pledging to make Southampton carbon neutral by 2025.
We request that they report back to full council within six months with a plan of action to address this emergency and also call on Westminster, and other governments, to provide the powers and resources to make this 2025 target possible and implement best practice methods to limit Global Warming to less than 1.5°C.
We request that they report back to full council within six months with a plan of action to address this emergency and also call on Westminster, and other governments, to provide the powers and resources to make this 2025 target possible and implement best practice methods to limit Global Warming to less than 1.5°C.
Why is this important?
We are asking Southampton City Council to join dozens of other local authorities across the country including cities as diverse as Bristol, Manchester and Leicester to declare a 'Climate Emergency'. By doing this, and crucially backing it up with action, it sends a message to Southampton's citizens, the country and the world, that our councillors acknowledge the scale of the threat of climate change and are going to do everything in their powers to mitigate against it.
On 15 February 2019, at the YouthStrike4Climate in Central Southampton, Councillor Hammond told the children of our city, 'No ifs, no buts, we face a climate emergency'.
Recently, council members told members of local environmental groups that detailing the specifics of climate change may be too scary to put into public language. We don't feel this is good enough and ask that they tell the truth.
The time has come to put the importance of the environment as our home, and the need for its protection for our survival, before anything else. Not doing so, fails the population of our city.
The council have set out a blueprint for a green charter for the city which commits to carbon neutrality by 2030. We applaud this commitment but the scope of carbon emissions to be reduced needs further definition as per our second point and we suggest 2025 would be better to aim for as 2030 is the ultimate deadline to prevent a global temperature rise of more than 1.5°C. The IPCC’s recent Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C, describes the enormous harm that a 2°C rise is likely to cause compared to a 1.5°C rise, and told us that limiting Global Warming to 1.5°C may still be possible with ambitious action from national and sub-national authorities, civil society, the private sector, indigenous peoples and local communities.
If you would like to live in a greener, healthier and more sustainable city - and if you want Councillors to make decisions that support our health, protect our livelihoods, homes and children's future - then please sign this petition.
If you would like peace of mind knowing that the next generation - and all generations to come - have a bright and safe future without the threat of climate change then please sign this petition.
We can still avoid the climate catastrophe if those at the top, our City Council, change how they make decisions for our city.
Supportive Resources:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_QmTg-SXD8dc9PfaxEWIe-PiJgnOZLK1p6UMBh8X0AA/edit?usp=sharing
On 15 February 2019, at the YouthStrike4Climate in Central Southampton, Councillor Hammond told the children of our city, 'No ifs, no buts, we face a climate emergency'.
Recently, council members told members of local environmental groups that detailing the specifics of climate change may be too scary to put into public language. We don't feel this is good enough and ask that they tell the truth.
The time has come to put the importance of the environment as our home, and the need for its protection for our survival, before anything else. Not doing so, fails the population of our city.
The council have set out a blueprint for a green charter for the city which commits to carbon neutrality by 2030. We applaud this commitment but the scope of carbon emissions to be reduced needs further definition as per our second point and we suggest 2025 would be better to aim for as 2030 is the ultimate deadline to prevent a global temperature rise of more than 1.5°C. The IPCC’s recent Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C, describes the enormous harm that a 2°C rise is likely to cause compared to a 1.5°C rise, and told us that limiting Global Warming to 1.5°C may still be possible with ambitious action from national and sub-national authorities, civil society, the private sector, indigenous peoples and local communities.
If you would like to live in a greener, healthier and more sustainable city - and if you want Councillors to make decisions that support our health, protect our livelihoods, homes and children's future - then please sign this petition.
If you would like peace of mind knowing that the next generation - and all generations to come - have a bright and safe future without the threat of climate change then please sign this petition.
We can still avoid the climate catastrophe if those at the top, our City Council, change how they make decisions for our city.
Supportive Resources:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_QmTg-SXD8dc9PfaxEWIe-PiJgnOZLK1p6UMBh8X0AA/edit?usp=sharing
How it will be delivered
We intend to make a deputation to full council in July and present this petition. We have also asked individual councillors whether they'd be prepared to propose or second a climate emergency motion. Please consider writing to your local councillor(s) asking them to back this. You can find your councillor(s) here; https://www.southampton.gov.uk/whereilive/addresslookup.aspx
