The FA Cup final is traditionally in May, but this year is in June. This is because of fixture congestion caused by the World cup finals being held during the winter. The football authorities realised that it would not be safe to hold the finals in the summer in Qatar. Whatever you think about football, they did at least plan and implement changes and not wait till players died on the field to act.
In contrast people are now identifiably dying from the effects of global warming, mostly created within our own life time. The IPCC (intergovernmental panel on climate change, set up in 1988) have provided governments with the information needed to form climate policy to avoid the worst consequences of climate change. Yet three decades later we have no plans to prevent the danger of irreversible and potentially catastrophic changes to the planet. The Paris Agreement in 2015 set a legally binding goal to limit the increase to well below 2 degrees and to pursue efforts to limit the increase to 1.5°C. Current policies are predicted to result in 3.2°C increase by the end of the century, we have already hit 1.1°C increase. We no longer have time to reduce carbon emissions gradually but now need a step change. We have to take emergency action to save our habitat, as we face global warming and also the ecological crisis (mass extinctions) that we have caused from over exploitation of resources.
“Climate and ecological breakdown, what matters most now?” This is a free event at Knebworth Village Hall as part of the Festival at 7:30pm on Tuesday 13th June. Kimberley Hare of HEART community group will be leading.
On Saturday 17th June at the Fun Day on the Rec you can explore the issues further at our stand and maybe come away with a better understanding of how you can help further.
An example of what we can prevent: We have a combined carbon budget of almost zero for our food, driving, flying, heating, clothing, washing, work and other things we own, individually or collectively; such as our cars, homes, computers, power stations and roads. We all know that we are finding it difficult to cut our carbon footprint, what can we cut out? We should be focussing on reducing activities that are damaging and making what remains as low polluting as we can. We should not, as a nation, increase any polluting activity. If we do, then to keep within limits, we will have to give up something else. Luton Airport are applying to almost double the number of passengers. Flying is one of the worst things we can do and has no current viable green solution. In Knebworth there will also be significant extra noise pollution and congestion on local roads. You can find details on how to object on: https://ladacan.org/how-to-oppose-the-future-luton-plan/
Visit our website (https://e-voice.org.uk/knebworthenvironmentalgroup/). Join our Facebook group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/knebworthenvironmentalgroup). You can also contact us via email to Kristin at knebworthenvironmentalgroup@gmail.com. Our next meeting is at 8PM on Wednesday 7th June at the Station pub: you can email in advance or just turn up.