A FATHER and daughter from Newcastle Emlyn are playing a key part in a global campaign aimed at highlighting the issue of climate change.
Jill Sutton and her 92-year-old dad Pete feature in a video beamed to 14 cities around the world as Extinction Rebellion launches global action: ‘COP26: We Are Watching You’ calling on world’s leaders to up their game on climate change.
Extinction Rebellion has started a year long action, #WeAreWatchingYou to draw attention to the inadequacy of the current climate commitments.
‘We Are Watching You’ features a series of global synchronised projections drawing attention to the lack of action, poor ambition and broken promises from world leaders regarding climate warming. Actions will continue until the COP26 event in Glasgow, in November 2021.
The actions have started with a video showing over several nights in 14 cities around the globe including London, Paris, Berlin, Mumbai, Moscow, Washington DC and Sao Paolo.
The video features families and individuals from around the globe who have already been hit by climate change.
They include Jill and her dad Pete, who lives next door to her in Newcastle Emlyn, who were flooded out of their homes at Teifi Terrace in Adpar when the River Teifi burst its banks during the devastating Storm Callum back in 2018.
In London, the video was projected onto the side of Big Ben and in Paris next to the Eifel Tower.
Extinction Rebellion says the message stresses the deeply interconnected humanitarian nature of the crisis which will require all countries to come together to find solutions.
The #WeAreWatchingYou action is demanding climate and social justice through interventions that will get the climate to align with the 1.5 degress of warming agreed at the Paris Accord five years ago. Current targets fall woefully short.
The video carried the message: “COP26: We Are Watching You. Don’t Let Us Down.” The groups intend to raise awareness of issues in every month in the lead up to the Glasgow summit in November next year.
The project has been developed by 20 countries, some of them already deeply affected by climate change including disrupting food security, livelihoods and homes.
Jill Pete were lucky...they are safe and now back in their homes but they keep a very wary eye on the river.
Jill was away at the time of Storm Callum and concerned for her dad's safety but the local community rallied around and looked after him and many others affected by the flooding.
After many months of building work, they were able to move back in but flooding is now becoming more frequent and intense.
“Politicians must rise to the urgent need and work together for the good of everyone including future generations,” said Jill.
“There will be no second chances.”
Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary General outlined on December 2, 2020, global temperature is already 1.2 degrees C higher and rising.
“In fact emissions are now 62 per cent higher than they were at the start of COP negotiations in 1990…the world needs to decrease fossil fuel production by roughly 6 per cent every year between now and 2030,” he said.
“Instead the world is going in the opposite direction – planning an annual increase of two per cent.”
More information about COP26: We Are Watching You can be found at https://www.instagram.com/cop26_extinctionrebellion/
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