August has seen members of BBT presenting motions asking for their respective town-halls to declare a climate emergency and to act now by reducing their carbon emissions to zero. The motion has been supported by numerous ecological movements such as Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, Ekologistak Martxan, Eguzki and Fridays For Future. Most of the motions will be debated in the towns coming weeks so it will help to focus attention on the climate issue, the week of action from 20th September to the 27th September when an International Climate Strike has been called.
So far the motion has been presented by BBT, and in some cases together with other groups in the town-halls of Mungia, Fruiz, Meñaka, Gamiz-Fika, Arrieta and Bakio. On Wednesday 4th September the first one was debated in Arrieta in the Town-Council only receiving the backing of one member of Bildu, the abstention of another (one was absent) and the rejection of all four councillors of the PNV despite the fact that the Lehendakari has seen it necessary to declare a Climate Emergency. The PNV argued that it was better to wait to see what measures the Basque government is going to introduce and to act accordingly. In the same council meeting Bildu presented its own Climate Emergency motion, receiving the votes of its two councillors and the rejection of the PNV. The next time the motion will be presented locally will be in Fruiz on 19th September at 19:00.