It is the Red Code for humanity according to the scientific experts on the IPCC panel.! We are on the slippery course to disaster and by 2040 the temperature will have risen to 1.5C and probably well before that if urgent action isn’t taken. So what is urgent action? Well, the Covid crisis has shown us what governments do when they really believe that there is a crisis. Whether we agree or not we recognize that the actions taken have been emergency actions. The Climate Emergency is far worse than Covid but at least it allows us the opportunity for our political representatives to organize an Emergency Plan based on citizen participation. Groups like Extinction Rebellion insist on the need for Citizen Assemblies to help make decisions that politicians are reluctant to make due to the fact that they are always looking at how to get elected again and don’t want to make decisions that could be unpopular. And the measures that have to be taken won`t be to the liking of everyone, no matter how necessary they are!
Mungia Town-Hall is asking people to take part in its General Urban Management Plan and it is important that any future plan takes into account the Climate Emergency. In fact, the whole plan should be considered part of Mungia’s Climate Emergency Plan, something which still doesn’t exist nor is even mentioned as being a necessity. In 2012 Mungia signed the Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy and pledged to reduce its carbon emissions by 22% for the year 2020. We haven`been informed whether it achieved this goal but it is very clear that if it is anyway serious about becoming a carbon-neutral town it’s important that it engages with its citizens and with any group that shows an interest in combating climate change. BBT is ready to help and be an active participant in this process. We will be critical with anything that does not ensure a decarbonisation of our society but we will give our full support to measures aimed at decarbonisation.
Two years ago we presented a motion in various town-halls in the area, including Mungia, calling on them to declare a Climate Emergency. We again take the opportunity to ask our local town-halls to declare a Climate Emergency and together with their citizens draw up an Action Plan. In Mungia, in particular, we must put Climate Action to the forefront of any urban planning.
Finally, on the 24th September Fridays For Future is organizing a demonstration in Bilbao as part of world-wide mobilizations against Climate Change and we would ask all our members and sympathizers to take part in this important mobilization. Remember the often- quoted slogan, “There is no Planet B!!!”.
