While claiming to be a climate leader ahead of the COP26 climate talks in Glasgow this November, our government is planning to allow a new coal mine to be built in Whitehaven, Cumbria. This new mine would allow the extraction of 2.78 million tonnes of coal every year until 2050, the year by which the UK will supposedly have reached net-zero carbon emissions.
The new mine is opposed by a range of local and national groups, with the local campaign being led by South Lakes Action on Climate Change (SLACC – of which I am a member). In fact, SLACC was set up my members of the Global Justice Now’s South Lakes group after Ricardo Navarro came to speak with us in 2007. Ricardo came over from El Salvador to talk with us about climate justice and we had upwards of 120 people at the meeting. It was a hugely inspiring event that has spurred on local action against climate change.