Our MP, Jesse Norman, has said that he does “not doubt the scale of the challenge that climate change poses”.

Yet there is a huge gulf between his stated acceptance of the climate emergency and his actions as a minister investing in roads and hugely destructive projects like HS2.

This government is failing to keep us safe.

Regardless of expert warnings, they distract us with lies and misinformation in order to continue with a corrupt agenda that is killing us.

The choices they’re making as we recover from the pandemic are a danger to us all; offering dodgy contracts and bail-outs to their mates that put profit before people’s needs.

This shambolic government is wasting our best and last chance to escape the worst of the climate and ecological emergency.

Scientists are clear that global carbon emissions must be cut by half by the end of this decade for us to have a reasonable chance of keeping temperature rises to below 1.5°C, the limit we agreed in the Paris climate deal.

We stand at a crossroads in human history.

Faced with multiple global crise – coronavirus, racial injustice, economic inequality, climate and ecological devastation – we have never been more acutely aware of our vulnerability on a finite planet.

We cannot build, spend or invest our way out of this crisis.

We need action now. This is why Extinction Rebellion along with many other groups, NGOs, unions and churches will be demanding that parliament debate the Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill urgently.

This bill commits the Government to taking the necessary action immediately to tackle the crises we are suffering from.

And why local XR groups across Herefordshire will be out making our voices heard both locally and nationally.

Do come and join us if you think a kinder world is possible.

David Gillam
Peterchurch