Alton Climate Action NetworkACAN’s Vigil of Hope on 30th and 31st October, brought people and organisations together in the Market Square in Alton to demonstrate how important it was that the UN COP26 conference in Glasgow was successful.
The Vigil included some powerful speeches, including one from Councillor Steve Hunt, the Climate Champion for East Hants District Council. Unfortunately it was very windy when Steve spoke and we’ve only been able to publish excerpts of the video recording. He talked about prevarication being the thief of time… the urgent need for action before it is too late.
Another hard-hitting, passionate speech was given by 16-year-old Lillie Ewins, who has recently set up Young ACAN. Here is the link to her speech.
https://onedrive.live.com/?authkey=%21ABE5QfM9AKiTFXg&cid=26FCBF5E19942832&id=26FCBF5E19942832%21557&parId=root&o=OneUp
Lillie talked about the climate crisis being a child rights crisis, as stated in a report by UNICEF in August 2021. One billion children are at “extremely high risk” due to climate change, and live within one of the 33 countries that have been categorised as such. There are 2.2 billion children on earch. And one billion of them, just under half, are at extremely high risk due to climate change.
Climate change, said Lillie, is at the heart of every aspect of human life – agriculture, industry, supply chains, politics, water supplies, the clothing on our backs, our houses… everything is affected, no one is safe.
Although the COP26 conference has not achieved as much as most climate activists wanted, we at ACAN will continue to fight the fight. Join us in tackling the climate crisis together in our local community, and continuing to press for decarbonisation through policies in national and local government.