David Buller, of Transition Exmouth, writes about the Climate and Ecological Bill in this week's Community Education corner.

Experts agree that the escalating crisis of climate breakdown is potentially much bigger than the current pandemic. Sir James Bevan, CEO of the UK’s Environment Agency, told a recent conference of insurers that 'The climate emergency is the unseen pandemic, because left unchecked it will kill more people, and do much more harm, than Covid-19'.

It seems that we are looking at a grim future without concerted action including investment, to combat the escalating disruptive impacts of climate change, for example the loss of biodiversity in the UK, and world-wide.

In this future parts of our planet will be uninhabitable, leaving millions homeless and destitute; a future where we face the threat of mass extinctions of species.

For all the Government talk of a Green Recovery, last week’s budget failed miserably to recognise that things need to change and soon. Faced with the scale of this crisis individual efforts are not enough on their own to reverse global warming, but that does not mean there is nothing we can do to bring about the systemic change that scientists agree is crucial for climate recovery.

If we act together, there is still time, and one way to do this is to let your elected representatives know that you support the Climate and Ecological Emergency (CEE) Bill currently on its way through Parliament.

This Bill has been drafted by scientists, academics and lawyers, and – if backed by MPs – will strengthen our Climate Change Act to commit us in statute to the emissions reductions necessary to keep global temperature rise below at most 2°C compared to pre-industrial levels.

It will ensure that we account fairly for the UK’s entire carbon footprint, including shipping, aviation, and emissions embodied as carbon in imported products, all of which are currently excluded.

And importantly, it also commits to the protection and restoration of nature and the active management of natural carbon sinks. We need the government to respond to this challenge and put this Bill into emergency action!

Addressing both climate and ecological emergencies synergistically within the same Bill is critical as they are two sides of the same coin.

We can’t solve one without addressing the other. So it’s a real problem that at present nature and climate are treated separately under Government policy.

The UK’s current obligation, as enshrined in law, is to reduce our carbon emissions to net-zero by 2050, and if we can achieve this globally we will head off the worst of climate breakdown and keep warming below 2oC.

However, the government’s own Climate Change Committee is warning us to prepare for a 2 – 4oC increase in global temperatures.

A temperature rise of 2 – 4oC does not sound a lot, but even this rise will have a devastating impact on our biosphere – a future defined by droughts, floods, food shortages, and the continued destruction of the places we all love, to say nothing of the spread of insect-borne diseases, such as malaria.

Coastal risk modelling is predicting that by 2050, less than 30 years away now, much of Exmouth town centre and low-lying residential areas, such as around the harbour and The Colony, will be under water at least once a year, unless adequate flood control or climate mitigation measures are enacted.

In addition we are losing natural biodiversity at an astonishing rate. Only this month Butterfly Conservation reported that large moths have declined in the UK by a third over the past 50 years.

These insects are pollinators of many plants, with some wildflowers, such as orchids, relying on visiting moths for reproduction. They also provide essential food for thousands of animal species, including bats and many familiar birds.

Acknowledging these findings and the need for action requires us all to make rapid and far-reaching changes in our lifestyles. So if you believe that future generations deserve to inherit a healthy planet and that restoring biodiversity is something worthwhile, then please act now and contact your elected MP and county councillors to let them know how you feel, and to demand that they support the CEE Bill. An easy way to do this is to access https://www.writetothem.com/ and input your postcode.

This opens up a list of your representatives and by clicking on any name you will be able to message them directly. Change can happen if sufficient of us do this.

To learn about simple steps that you can take now to help tackle the unfolding climate and ecological emergencies, you can logon to Transition Exmouth’s Our Place Our Planet website at https://ourplaceourplanet.org/.