5 minute read
A Climate Change Emergency
A CLIMATE
On the 1st of May 2019 the UK’s House of Commons became the first legislature in the world to declare an ‘environment and climate emergency’. Coined by Bristol councillor Carla Denyer back in 2018, the idea of a state authority officially declaring a climate emergency took only a year to accumulate the clout for Leader of the Opposition Jeremy Corbyn to propose an almost identical declaration in the House of Commons. The movement passed without vote.
Despite the supposedly unwavering support in Parliament, many have been quick to point out that Westminster’s declaration does not legally bind the government into doing anything. So perhaps one may ask, “Why has it taken Extinction Rebellion protests, the Greta Thunberg effect and the school climate strike movement to squeeze an empty statement from our political elites?” - a genuine concern.
However, many argue that we must consider that although this declaration is small, it is a movement in the right direction. It is likely that its most crucial impact will be its role as a blatant signpost to the incumbent government that the will to make and accept climate change policy is present not only amongst the public but also within the House.
Since the UK parliament’s declaration, it has become increasingly popular for both public and private institutions of all sizes to give similar announcements. Amongst those who are taking part in the ‘climate emergency’ vogue, are universities and/or their student unions.
After a damning report emerged in mid-July of 2019 showing that two-thirds of universities are likely to fail their 2020 targets for the reduction of carbon emissions, higher education institutions are becoming more and more conscious of their environmental impact.
In the same report, People and Planet, a student network campaigning for social and environmental justice, ranked 154 UK institutions on a ‘Green University League Table’. Gloucester, Manchester Metropolitan and Nottingham Trent came in first, second and third, head and shoulders above those below.
E M E R G E N C Y
The ‘greenification’ seen in a small number of universities perhaps arrives as they realise the harsh irony of their institution. Universities are a place that prepare students for the future but as Jean Renouf, lecturer at Southern Cross University, points out, with the planet in crisis it is becoming increasingly likely that there may be “no future to prepare for”. However, as youthful enthusiasm towards environmental issues slowly turns into frustration and impatience, universities have begun to propel environmental issues to the top of their lists of concerns.
CHANGE
On the 13th of November 2019, President James Pheasey and Environment and Social Justice Officer Lee Taylor declared a Climate Emergency on behalf of the University of Nottingham Student Union. The policy pledges that the Union will “commit to having its processes rethought and, where appropriate, reconstructed in the context of a climate emergency to work towards developing and publishing a Sustainability Action Plan and annual sustainability reports.” Alongside this, the Union includes a commitment to work towards ensuring that all union matters, and operations become carbon neutral by no later than 2028. Nottingham joins a growing list of universities and Student Unions across the country from Bristol to Glasgow in making their stance clear: our planet is staring down the barrel of an environmental catastrophe, and we must act now.
Aidan Hall Graphic & Page Design by Natasha Phang-Lee Looking beyond the UK, in July 2019, the alliance for sustainability leadership in education and climate action organisation ‘Second Nature’, announced that they were declaring a Climate Emergency. As of writing, these organisations represent 7,000 higher and further education institutions from 6 continents. With the expectation that over 10,000 higher and further education institutions will be on board by the start of 2020, this huge uptake from education institutions around the world not only reveals the magnitude of the climate problem, but also acts as an indicator of where a huge amount of the environmental enthusiasm and momentum is coming from. It is coming from those that hold the largest stake in this planet-sized gamble; young people. More broadly, the concept of a ‘climate emergency’ has enjoyed such a rise in popularity that in November 2019, Oxford English Dictionary declared “climate emergency” the word of the year, following a hundred-fold increase in its usage over 12 months. The surge in the use of the phrase reflects a change in the language people are using to describe our planet’s current situation. With the sheer scale and severity of humaninflicted environmental damage beginning to rear its ugly head, people are changing the language they use to more precisely convey the desperate environmental situation. In May 2019, The Guardian officially released a statement explaining that they were subtly changing the vocabulary they used to describe a number of environmental phenomena in order to more accurately portray certain events. Amongst the changes were the use of “climate emergency” or “climate crisis” in place of “climate change” and the use of the term “global heating” instead of “global warming”. Although Guardian editors said that these changes were in order to achieve greater scientific preciseness; they are emblematic of a greater trend in discourse surrounding the climate change issue. People are growing more fearful about the fate of our planet and our language is reflecting these increasing anxieties. “Oxford Dictionary declared ‘climate emergency’ the word of the year, following a hundred-fold increase in its usage over 12 months” Linguistic nuances aside, reality tells only one story. It is a sobering story of disdainful environmental degradation, callous corporate greed and perverse political myopia. However, this story is not finished. The conclusion is not yet written. It is now up to all characters in the story to help write the conclusion that is best for all. By declaring Climate Emergencies, universities as well as governments are playing a part in steering this story away from tragedy, and toward a happy ending.
