Huddersfield Meeting celebrates climate emergency motion
Quakers in Huddersfield welcome the news that Kirklees Council have passed an emergency climate motion
Kirklees Council has passed an emergency climate motion with the support of Huddersfield Quakers. The group of Quaker environmental campaigners has been calling for a motion to be passed in light of the urgency of climate change. The motion was moved on 16 January by a Labour councillor with the support of Labour and Green Party councillors. All parties agreed except for the Conservative Party councillors, who abstained.
Chris Herring, from Huddersfield Meeting, chair of the Passivhaus Trust UK, told the Friend: ‘It was driven through by us and we shall continue to do Quaker involvement in climate emergency. The motion itself is a bit of a pig’s ear, but it’s what they could agree between them. There are no specific targets, apart from some recycling ones, but the important point is that a council says there is an emergency and we can start using it as leverage and hold them to account.’
He added: ‘The council has said it will do an environmental audit of what they do, which will take around six months. If we get more and more councils declaring emergencies, they can share resources and, hopefully, it will create a domino effect, which will put pressure on the government.’
The motion notes the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s warning that the world has twelve years to make the necessary changes to limit a rise in global temperatures to 1.5°C. It also quotes David Attenborough’s words that ‘we are facing a man-made disaster of global scale’.
Among the commitments it makes – which include setting up an environmental audit and a councillor working party to oversee this – the motion pledges to significantly improve recycling rates ‘to reach the target of fifty-five per cent by 2025, and ask that the Cabinet implement a range of short term measures to improve recycling rates’.
Chris Herring, who also runs the Green Building Store, which specialises in working on energy efficient buildings, said Quakers have ‘a unique role to play’ in campaigning for action. ‘If we are going to accelerate action very fast, which we are going to do, I think very fast-growing protest movements need underpinning.
‘Quakers have a spiritual tradition and I think the support of a long established organisation will help anchor it as it goes forward. We can help encourage the spiritual and networking element so it is well-grounded. You can’t protest without getting moral support from each other.’
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