CLIMATE CHANGE provides space for lengthy pieces which elaborate IMAGINATIVE ACTION
SUMMER 2020
Dear Readers,
We are changing the focus of this page from TALES to CLIMATE CHANGE.
Whilst important and loved as are the longer stories in Tales, the urgent priority is getting ALL our heads around NOW ACTION.
So, each month we’ll jot down examples of ‘The Imagination Acts’ belief ….that, you and me can DO something when we leap with the parachute of our IMAGINATIONS on our backs.
******************************************************
Greta Thunberg: Climate change ‘as urgent’ as coronavirus –
Interview – with
Greta Thunberg says the world needs to learn the lessons of coronavirus and treat climate change with similar urgency.
That means the world acting “with necessary force”, the Swedish climate activist says in an exclusive interview with BBC News.
She doesn’t think any “green recovery plan” will solve the crisis alone.
And she says the world is now passing a “social tipping point” on climate and issues such as Black Lives Matter.
“People are starting to realise that we cannot keep looking away from these things”, says Ms Thunberg, “we cannot keep sweeping these injustices under the carpet”.
She says lockdown has given her time to relax and reflect away from the public gaze.
Ms Thunberg has shared with the BBC the text of a deeply personal programme she has made for Swedish Radio.
******************************************************
Greta Thunberg’s speech at UN Climate Change COP24 Conference (December 2018)
15 year old activist Greta Thunberg speaks truth to power at the UN COP24 climate talks:
******************************************************
UK arts’ leading figures join call for green recovery from coronavirus crisis
The chiefs of scores of the UK’s foremost arts and culture organisations have joined the call for a green recovery from the coronavirus crisis, even as their own sector faces the biggest threat to its existence in modern times.
Sir Mark Rylance, Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys, Brian Eno and the leaders of the Tate and National Youth Theatre are among those signing a letter asking the government to adopt green and carbon-cutting targets alongside its economic rescue plans. Close to 400 arts leaders and prominent individuals have now signed the letter, which will be presented to the culture secretary, Oliver Dowden, this week.
“What we decide now will create the sustainable foundations for the future; we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to build a resilient recovery plan that is fair and tackles the climate and ecological crisis with urgency. We cannot let this opportunity pass us by,” they wrote.
But many want the government to go further, and commit to an economic recovery that would prioritise green jobs and ensure that climate goals are taken into account in government spending. They want to avoid the rebound in carbon emissions that a return to business as usual would entail.
“Things are very grim for the culture sector, and these are really catastrophic circumstances – that people are gathering round the call for a green recovery says a lot about the sector,” said Alison Tickell, founder of Julie’s Bicycle, a non-profit company helping the arts sector become more environmentally sustainable, and organiser of the letter. “Arts people feel a real responsibility to the public, with a strong sense of a social contract in the way the arts speak to people.”
Before the coronavirus, many arts and cultural organisations were re-evaluating their sponsorship arrangements with fossil fuel companies, with the National Theatre ending its sponsorship deal with Shell, and the Royal Shakespeare Company giving up its backing from BP. Despite the immediate threat to the viability of the sector, which contributes about £112bn a year to the UK economy – more than the automotive and aerospace sectors – arts organisations have not abandoned their quest for sustainability.
Frances Morris, director of Tate Modern, told the Guardian: “Government commitment to a long-lasting and inclusive green recovery programme is a crucial and urgently required step to creating a future in which we cannot just survive but thrive.”
Arts organisations have been taking their own steps to green their operations, for instance through upgrading their energy systems, switching to electric vehicles, and cutting down on waste.
The prime minister has made references to the need for a sustainable recovery, but so far there has been no concrete plan for ensuring that the hundreds of billions to be spent on the economic recovery will “build back better” instead of propping up the high-carbon economy. Much of the money spent so far has gone to heavy emitters such as airlines, carmakers and oil companies, with no green strings attached.
The UK is seen as holding a particular responsibility because it will host the next vital UN summit on the climate, next year in Glasgow. Ministers will face a key test this week when its statutory advisers, the committee on climate change, are expected to warn that carbon reduction targets will be missed without swift action.
Acknowledgement – Fiona Harvey, Guardian Environment correspondent 22/6/20
Mark Rylance Photograph: Andreas Rentz/Getty Images
******************************************************
PREVIOUS TALE –
From Holyhead to Hollywood
– the journey of Graham Wyn Jones :
Storyboard Artist
PREVIOUS TALE –
Aching and yearning for the wild: The experience of children in the garden
PREVIOUS TALE – ‘The NHS Crisis or Opportunity’
