I hope you have had a good summer and managed to enjoy a break and a good rest.
I am unexpectedly taking a rather longer than usual summer break, and even stretching it well into the Autumn!
This is partly because I had a hand operation in late July that is taking longer than I expected to recover from. I am only now just starting to be able to write and type two-handed once again. And I’m still not able to grip firmly or carry any heavy weights, so playing gongs is some way off!
And now, rather than recuperate and get back to my gong baths ASAP, much as I would like to, I am instead preparing to step up and take action, once again, to try and get our government to stop dragging its heels and finally show some climate leadership. To get them to take urgent - and vital - action to address the climate emergency that is threatening the future of our children.
According to UNICEF’s recent report, over 1 billion children’s lives are threatened because of the course we are on, thanks to our collective lack of action on climate change. The UK has a particular responsibility to show good leadership. We are one of the world’s highest emitters per capita, historically Britain is one of the globe’s largest emitters, and the City of London is the 9th largest emitter in the world when judged by what it enables through finance and insurance (according to research from WWF and Greenpeace) . Plus we are partly responsible for countries like China’s emissions- a huge part of their emissions are because they manufacture the stuff that we in the West import and consume.
The UK is hosting COP26 in November, the most important annual global gathering trying to avert climate breakdown. Our government needs to show some real leadership now by taking real action, not just spouting yet more empty words. For example, getting down to the essential task of insulating Britains homes, which are a huge source of emissions, which everyone agrees needs to be done, and which the government has conspicuously failed to sort out, other than reluctantly and incompetently running a smallscale scheme which they quietly disbanded last year.
I will be stepping up, alongside others, to take part in an act of nonviolent civil disobedience, in the Ghandian tradition, to encourage our government to do get on with it and insulate Britain’s homes. I expect to be arrested and maybe imprisoned. Please wish me luck, and I can’t wait till I can come back and resume the gong baths. Watch this space!
Cathy x
#Insulatebritain
