When it comes to tackling climate change, I’m starting to believe mum could be the word.

Out and about in my constituency, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by a growing concern over the issue of pollution – especially among women with small children.

Are mums the fighters we’ve been missing in our efforts to save Mother Nature?

They were certainly out in force at a recent public meeting about the rebuilding of a local waste incinerator.

Their fury about a new threat to the air their children breathe – already polluted by dangerous exhaust fumes – was heartening to behold.

For so long, climate change has felt far away in both time and distance, but London Mayor Sadiq Khan 's new ultra low emission zone (ULEZ) has forced a broader discussion about the impacts of pollution, especially on the generations who will inherit this planet.

They face growing up in a world literally at risk from top to bottom.

As David Attenborough ’s wonderful Our Planet series on Netflix has proved, the Earth’s poles are melting at an alarming rate. And it’s not just the poles where the danger lies.

This week there was news that two thirds of the glacier ice in the Alps will melt by 2100 – with horrendous  consequences for the environment.

It’s no surprise that this story has been given far less news coverage than Brexit , but it is frustrating.

Especially because a lot of the arguments against Brexit – such as ensuring the best opportunities for our children and protecting jobs – are even more relevant when it comes to climate change.

A decade ago, I worked for an organisation doing research on how we should be tackling it. The organisation was regarded as “hippy”, middle class, and out of touch with everyday life.

Policy strategists used to dismiss me as soon as I said I worked there, but it turns out they should have been paying closer attention.

A decade later, the Green New Deal my colleagues were working on is now being championed by America’s rising Democrat star  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

This represents a shift of radical climate policy from the backwaters to the forefront of change.

Progress is being made, but there is always still the massive sticking point of money.

While mums with small kids want to stop air pollution, London drivers complain about the ULEZ charge.

Yet it’s a price that needs to be paid somehow. For small businesses and working class families, generous scrappage schemes and improved public transport are musts if we are to deliver not just climate action, but climate justice.

And the fight to tackle it must start in the everyday lives of ordinary people – like those mothers battling for their children’s future.

Read More

Top news stories from Mirror Online

Source: Read Full Article