Choose life and vote for our planet on December 12
The clock is ticking. Everything we hear from the experts – people who have devoted years of their lives to understanding the root causes and effects of climate change – points towards us having, at best, 10 years to change course and prevent the worst impacts of global warming. In that time, we’re going to have to undertake “rapid and far-reaching transitions” in land, energy, industry, buildings, transport, and cities, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s October 2018 report.
Concerned citizens around the world are taking action in any way they can: over seven million people around the world mobilised for Climate Strike Week, Greta Thunberg has galvanised a generation and Extinction Rebellion has put the climate emergency on the front pages of the daily news, at the centre of public consciousness and firmly on the political agenda.
And on 12th December, every voter in the United Kingdom general elections has the power to make their voice count by voting for our planet. Whoever moves into Downing Street next Friday will be stewarding the UK through up to half of those 10 crucial years. They must be trusted to implement radical systems change if we have any chance of a future as we know it. Immediate transformations such as managing a just transition – for the people – from the current system, holding the big gas and oil companies to account and shepherding the country towards net zero carbon emissions are vital to the protection of our planet, our eco-system and our children.
Working for Patagonia, our mission statement – we’re in business to save our home planet – is a philosophy I carry with me every day. For almost 40 years we have partnered with grassroots environmental groups fighting the root causes of climate change. And we know that democracy is one of the powerful ways for citizens to help to bring about systemic change.
Every day brings more sobering news. From fires raging across the Amazon, California, and Australia, to extreme weather and flooding across Europe and nature declining globally at an unprecedented rate – evidence is mounting that the ‘tipping point’ into a climate emergency is imminent. However, 12th December is an opportunity for us all to take action and voice our support for a healthy planet and a future that is liveable for humankind.
So while the clock continues to tick, put aside an hour of your day to read up on the party manifestos and find out what your local candidate is saying about the environment and how they plan to handle the responsibility of these extraordinary times.
This is our moment for collective action – to elect leaders who will fight, at a local, national and international level, for the future of our planet and people. Everything we love is at stake.
Alex Beasley is the UK & Ireland Country Manager for Patagonia.
Enjoyed this article? Like Huck on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.
You might like
The long history of slop in music
Top of the Slops — The term might be everywhere now, but the act of copying and enshittifying has been around for decades, explains Ian McQuaid.
In photos: Lives of solitude at the world’s edge
Coirón — Pie Aerts’s new photobook documents years spent in close quarters with puesteros in Patagonia – a group of aging gauchos who live almost completely isolated existences.
Just Stop Oil holds first protest in 17 months
No new drilling — Having previously said that it was “hanging up the hi-vis”, the climate activist group has blocked a road outside Parliament to protest Andy Burnham opening the door for new oil and gas extraction licenses in the North Sea.
The rise of the outdoor’s punks
Future is unwritten — As demand for the outdoors has grown, so has the codification of its rules and styles. Phil Young searches for those adventuring against the mainstream and asks if the industry is about to get its own record label moment?
‘Baking Street’: Activists rename Tube stations in heatwave protest
‘Heatwave, sponsored by Shell’ — The protest comes as the UK recorded the hottest day in June ever recorded at 36.7C.
The rise of France’s rollerskiing scene, as its snowfall thins
Carving road — With changing climates forcing skiers to travel higher up mountains in search of quality powder, a small community is turning to tarmac and building a new vision of the sport that doesn’t rely on winter.
