MPs including Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Emily Thornberry show their support for Islington Council’s ‘climate emergency’

• ENGLISH isn’t my first language. Thus sometimes, even after nearly 20 years of living here, I occasionally look up a word to understand its meaning.

I never thought I would have to look up the word “emergency” but somehow today, I thought I’d better double check.

An emergency is defined as “a dangerous or serious situation (…) and (one that) needs immediate action”. An “emergency action is one that is done or arranged quickly and not in the normal way (…)”.

So when Islington Council declared a climate emergency, firstly unofficially on the steps of the Town Hall on February 28, to a small group of activists, and then again, officially, on the same steps on June 27 – this time with banners, press and speeches – I felt quietly optimistic.

However, just to be on the safe side, I thought it wise to ask the executive member for environment and transport, Cllr Claudia Webbe, at the June full council meeting, how and when the councillor would communicate the climate emergency.

I also asked how the council would assess the effectiveness of their communication. I was reassured a full communication campaign using all channels available would commence immediately. I was also told that the assessment of its effectiveness would come from the people themselves…

Three months have since passed the unanimous vote of the council to declare a climate emergency and setting a very ambitious target of net zero carbon by 2030.

And nearly seven months since the impassioned speech in February by Cllr Webbe ensuring us that they (the council) take the climate emergency seriously and will act accordingly, I cannot help but notice that most of the good people of Islington do not seem to be in a hurry.

Nor do I hear people talking about the climate emergency at the school gates, at the fruit stall or at my local café.

While some are getting to terms with the idea of human-created climate change, I fear most do not think that it will impact them or their children directly.

In fact, judging from general behaviour, most aren’t even aware of the harm air pollution has on their own and their children’s health today, while walking along Holloway Road or waiting for a bus with their babies in buggies at exhaust-pipe height.

I suggest the council and councillors get started with a serious and meaningful communication campaign to your staff and residents right now.

If people are not informed about the seriousness of the climate and ecological emergency, why change is needed and what we need to do to tackle it, they (the people) will resist it (the change), every step of the way. It’s only human.

A response to an emergency is not business as usual (BAU). It does not endorse, as both Cllr Richard Watts and Cllr Tricia Clarke seem to suggest in respective answers to XR Islington’s demands for meaningful action submitted to the council on September 9, a pat on the shoulder for all the brilliant initiatives Islington Council already has done.

Nor will history judge us lightly if called “austerity” is blamed for our inaction. This is not the time to be proud of our past successes or suggest we’re at the “forefront of efforts to tackle the environment and climate emergency”, implying we’re doing OK – because we are not.

Islington may be one of the better performing and progressive local authorities in London, and indeed in the UK, but if the baseline is inadequate, then Islington’s performance is only relative to how poor the rest are doing.

It might feel unfair, but the truth of the matter is that we are only as good as our next achievement. So, as an Islington resident, I am doing what you suggested Cllr Webbe. I’m telling you that from what I know, Islington Council is not communicating efficiently.

I’m telling you that issuing a transport strategy with targets that do not align with the net zero 2030 commitment, does not invoke confidence that you are serious.

I’m telling you that in order to have a fighting chance to meet the net zero target, we need to change gear, attitude and approach – now!

This is an emergency. If what I’ve seen thus far is how you as a council are responding to it, I’m anything but assured.

HELENA FARSTAD
Co-founder
Islington Clean Air Parents