38 Degrees members in Witney tell David Cameron to act on climate change

Over 300 38 Degrees members in Witney have signed an open letter to their MP, a certain Mr David Cameron, calling on him to take hard decisions and push for real policy changes on climate change.

Oxfordshire’s just had some of its worst flooding in decades. David Cameron’s gone as far as to connect it to global climate change… but we need strong policy action from him, too.

In two weeks’ time, Cameron will be at the EU climate summit in Brussels. Either he’ll push for the strong climate change policy we need – or he won’t.

Cameron might be Prime Minister, but he’s not immune to what his constituents think. Greenpeace, Oxfam and Stop Climate Chaos Coalition supporters in Witney are signing this open letter to Cameron asking him to show strong leadership at the EU summit – and now hundreds of 38 Degrees members have joined them.

Here’s the open letter they’re signing:

Dear Mr Cameron,

Over the past month West Oxfordshire has seen some of its worst flooding in over 50 years. Before 2007 such flooding was rare, yet this is the third time in five years that crops across the area have been destroyed, travel disrupted and property damage commonplace. As your constituents, we were pleased to hear our concerns being voiced when you pointed out the link between climate change and the increasing occurrence of extreme weather events – both in the UK and abroad.

However, we are keen to see that statements like these translate into policy decisions which might help avert the worst effects of climate change. We are writing to urge you to play a leading role in the coming weeks to ensure the EU takes on its fair share of the global effort to keep temperature rise well below 2 degrees, beyond which scientists have predicted catastrophic climate change.

We hope that you will demonstrate strong leadership at the EU climate summit by urging it to adopt far-reaching, legally binding targets to curb greenhouse gases and stimulate energy efficiency and renewable energy. The impact of the flooding on our economy and wellbeing, and the devastation caused by more extreme examples such as Typhoon Haiyan, demonstrates how necessary it is to be taking ambitious action to tackle climate change. Now is the time for action.

The EU summit at the end of March will set the stage for a global summit in September. Changing climate change policy is a long game – but the UK’s position in two weeks’ time really matters.

If Cameron goes in hard now and pushes for strong emissions targets, there’s a good chance that the opportunities on the table in September will be more ambitious. And if they’re ambitious, 2014 could be the year that we start turning the tide on climate change.

38 Degrees members are getting the ball rolling by signing up in their hundreds to the open letter. If you live in Witney and you’d like to sign up too, here’s a link where you can add your name: https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/page/s/cameron-climate-change