Some time in the next few months MPs will vote to introduce the world’s first law to tackle a country’s role in causing climate change.

 The law will set targets to get the country’s CO2 emissions down, step by step, to the level they need to get to.  The law will hopefully set the scene for other countries to follow suit.  The clock’s ticking on climate change but thanks to pressure from people like you, action is starting to happen.

The time to push to get the law right is now.

The Climate Bill  

that the Government has produced is along the right lines but just isn’t good enough.

 Its target of a reduction of 60% of CO2 by 2050 is way too low – science says it should be 80-90%.  It doesn’t include aviation and shipping emissions and it sets itself interim targets that are too far apart to sustain the momentum for something like this to really work.  So it needs changes if it’s to do the job. 

 In November 2007 the Bill will get its second reading in the House of Commons and sometime early 2008 there will be a vote on it.  Both times we need Labour MPs to know that their constituents want them to vote for a stronger law than the one that their Government has introduced.

 There’s no doubt that it is the work of people on the ground, in their own towns and cities, putting pressure on at the local level, that has led to this Bill. 

That power needs to be harnessed again to win a law that will work and set an example to the world. 

 To join in the final push, and to find out how you can help in all sorts of ways please get in touch with Neil Kingsnorth at Friends of the Earth on 0113 3899952 or neil.kingsnorth@foe.co.uk

If you decide to contact Neil, please can you tell him you read this information in the Greater Manchester TJM/JDC Bulletin.