Zennor WI members and friends are pictured holding placards in support of the CE Bill, as well as the Climate Ambassadors’ craftivism Turtledove Banner which bears the message ‘Nature is the fabric which supports every human enterprise, and every species lost is a tear in that fabric’.
During the Covid pandemic, there was a big campaign in West Cornwall to persuade MP Derek Thomas to show his support for the Climate and Ecology Emergency Bill, which asks for a joined up approach to nature and the climate emergency.
This Bill, recently being discussed in the House of Lords, is shortly returning to the Commons as the Climate and Ecology (CE) Bill. The campaign group supporting it is called Zero Hour.
On 9 and 10 February, Derek Thomas invited members of the Zero Hour Team to visit the St Ives constituency to see the various green initiatives that are taking place locally and across Cornwall. He asked Zennor WI to offer them tea and cake at Zennor Village Hall, which of course they were happy to do!
Amy, Oliver and Jim from Zero Hour arrived with Derek after an exhilarating visit to Lisa Guy’s regenerative farm at Higher Keigwin in Morvah. The team were very friendly and keen to talk about the Bill, as well as being interested in what the WI is doing at a grassroots level to promote a conversation about climate change and nature recovery to members and to the wider public.
The CE Bill commits the Government to a nature target that would reverse nature loss in the UK by 2030. This holistic target includes the health, abundance, diversity and resilience of species, populations, habitats and ecosystems. No other UK legislation does this: the Environment Act commits only to halting the decline of species by 2030. So far, the CE Bill is supported by 160 cross party MPs, and by over 200 scientists from different disciplines.
In the meantime, don’t forget to look out for David Attenborough’s latest series Wild Isles, due to air this spring on BBC 1 and iPlayer. The five-part series will explore and celebrate the United Kingdom’s four main habitats: grasslands, woodlands, freshwater and marine.