We MUST think globally

Olwyn Hocking, Divest T&W

July 2023

Increased temperatures already mean:

• increased migration - millions of people are on the move due to frequent droughts harming access to water, food and shelter and destabilising entire countries
• increased pressure on food production - heatwaves are already affecting crop yields increasing international demand, pushing global prices up and deepening worldwide food insecurity
• rising sea levels - since 2004, low lying areas, coastal communities and island nations have seen acute flooding and loss of land, further exacerbating displacement

And these are just a couple of the major effects!

It IS frightening and it IS overwhelming but it IS real and it IS here.

It doesn't matter WHY you think this is a problem - it doesn't matter your reasons - but we need to stop burying our heads in the sand and do something. We can't stop it but there are many ways on offer to us to mitigate the impact. We just need to choose which ones we can act on NOW!

Get involved!

• make decisions to lower your carbon footprint. Try to use more public transport, consume a little less meat/dairy, shop local... check out your bank's investment policy with bank.green - greener finance makes a bigger difference than you think!
• lobby your councillor to sign the divestment pledge
• ensure your contacts in pension schemes lobby councillors to end fossil fuel investment. You don’t need to have a pension to join the Divest T&W campaign - ALL local council taxpayers end up contributing millions of pounds via local council tax, so please lobby the Tyne & Wear Pension Fund to end £238m fossil
  fuel investment and sign the campaign petition!
• join a campaign group, they’ve loads of info and advice - groups like these well-known examples Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, Climate Action are all simple to join