Bridgnorth could declare climate emergency
Environmental campaigners have called on Bridgnorth Town Council to declare a climate emergency and to lead the way in tackling the problem in the town.
At the town’s annual meeting at Bridgnorth Community Hall on Tuesday, Luke Neal from Shropshire Wildlife Trust asked mayor Ron Whittle if the council would debate the matter at its next meeting. To date, 52 councils in the country have declared a climate emergency.
Major protests have taken place including schools and Sir David Attenborough’s Our Planet documentary has also stirred people into taking action.
Mr Neal, a Bridgnorth resident who is a community officer for the trust, said: “This is a serious problem. When we did a clean up of the river with volunteers we gathered two tractor truckloads of rubbish from Bridgnorth. We also collected three from Shrewsbury and two from Ironbridge.
"There are toxic chemicals which get into the environment and passed up the food chain all the way up to the fish in the supermarket.
The most serious threat is climate change. A temperature rise of 1.5C is unfortunately inevitable. But a rise of 2C would be catastrophic and we need to act now. It could be avoided.
"You will have seen school strikes and demonstrations to highlight the issue in the media.”
Among issues Mr Neal requested the council discuss as part of the debate included seeking ways to encourage the community to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, taking active steps to encourage sustainable transport, try and source food locally and recycle, as well as getting on board with Sustainable Bridgnorth's Prevent Pointless Plastic campaign.
He asked for a show of hands in the room of around 50 people to see who would support the council in declaring a climate emergency, and the vast majority backed it.
Councillor Whittle said the issue would be discussed at an upcoming meeting.
