South East MEP and Green Party Leader Caroline Lucas will join thousands of campaigners in London this Saturday (6 December) in marching on Parliament to urge the government to match its rhetoric on climate change with credible action.
The National March against Climate Change, organised by the Campaign Against Climate Change, will gather at 12 noon at Grosvenor Square as thousands of people in more than 70 countries hold similar events around the world.
To mark the Global Day of Action on Climate Change, UK demonstrators will demand that the government says no to a third runway at Heathrow, ditches its plans for new coal-fired power stations, and halts further expansion of agrofuels.
The protest will also call for a Green New Deal - an innovative package of economic policies co-authored by Dr Lucas MEP to spark a revolution in energy efficiency and renewable energy, and create hundreds of thousands of green jobs in a time of recession.
Dr Lucas MEP commented:
"Climate change is happening even faster than the latest IPCC report predicted, and requires urgent and radical action at government level. UK ministers must be held to account for failing to match their green rhetoric with effective policies to secure environmental and economic sustainability.
"Just this week, the UK's climate watchdog called for dramatic cuts in carbon emissions to stave off the worst of what Lord Turner called ‘a grave threat to human welfare, the environment and the economy'.
"But if the government thinks it can achieve even its currently inadequate targets by expanding UK airports, approving a fleet of new coal fired power stations and committing to the same old boom-bust cycle of an over-exploitative, speculative fossil fuel-based economy, it is living in a fantasy land.
"In his Pre Budget Report, Alistair Darling threw away an historic opportunity to launch a clean energy revolution that would lead to hundreds of thousands of new green collar jobs in renewable energy and energy efficiency, cutting energy bills and delivering long-overdue improvements to the UK's infrastructure."
Dr Lucas concluded: "As critical UN climate talks get underway in Poznan, we stand in solidarity with the world's poorest and most vulnerable communities that suffer worst effects of climate change and demand that our politicians push hard for a tough and binding international climate agreement.
"At Kingsnorth Climate Camp 2008, we gathered peacefully to show our disgust at the government's commitment to coal. On Saturday we will gather once again to demand rapid action to safeguard our economic and environmental future."