'There is no future for our children without protections Rishi Sunak scrapped'

20 September 2023 , 20:57

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'There is no future for our children without protections Rishi Sunak scrapped'

We are being betrayed. Betrayed by a political party elected to protect us. They say it’s for the sake of the public purse, our homes and our families. They attempt to charm and distract us by saying they have our best interests at heart. But the reality is, these people – our politicians – are deliberately adding fuel to a fire which will one day burn down our houses.

Today Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has drastically reduced our country’s climate and environmental protections, saying green changes are too expensive for people during a cost of living crisis. His proposals might sound reasonable if he wasn’t talking about a dying planet.

Those responsible for the climate crisis are typically the richer households whose emissions are higher, and our PM is sacrificing the health of the environment and putting the onus on working class families to benefit people like him, the wealthy. This week I was out with the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, taking children in year 5 river dipping – an engaging activity looking for wildlife.

To see their young faces light up at the sight of shimmering stickleback fish, water beetles and shrimps renewed my passion and love for nature. It meant a lot considering one third of all freshwater species are facing extinction. In the back of my mind, I am left questioning, will that morning be the greenest, most biodiverse day that these children will ever see again?

Richer households are typically responsible for the climate crisis, writes Megan McCubbin (Jonathan Buckmaster)

With weaker environmental protections, I doubt they will ever see an ecologically healthy river, a thriving forest or a stable climate. We need a general election before these short-sighted greedy politicians drown us in deeper droughts, burn us in wilder fires and starve us on… dust.

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With only 50 harvests left before crop production fails catastrophically, these are all devastating possibilities. I am not being melodramatic, I’m frightened. This generation of politicians have already consumed my future – our future. Their decisions whilst in office has meant that you and I will never know what a healthy planet looks like and the cherry on top of that delightful gift, is that they try to criminalise us for speaking up and protesting for our rights to safe and healthy environment.

I am not a naturally confrontational person, but I will fight with everything I have got to protect this planet, as we all should do. It’s the only home we’ve got. There are laws against drunk driving, but what about those intoxicated with power and greed steering the country, making irreversible and deadly decisions.

This is not the government we voted for, and it’s certainly not the one we deserve. Sunak concluded saying he wishes to “build a better future for our children, nothing less is acceptable”. I say there is no future for our children without these protections now.

Megan McCubbin