Climate demonstrations in Maidstone

Last Friday around 100 young people striked outside County Hall in protest for action on climate change. Mandy Rossi and I were privileged to be asked to address them. Below is a copy of the brief speech that we gave:

I’m Stuart Jeffery the Green Party's Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Maidstone and chair of Kent Greens

This is a fantastic turnout, huge thanks and huge thanks to all who are on strike today and who are fighting this emergency and we are symbolically holding hands with climate strikers around the world.

This is the most important issue facing humanity and the wider ecosystem

We are doing this for our future

When I was at school I was taught that CO2 levels in the air were around 300 ppm. Today they are well over 400. That is an incredible rise.

Very quick. This is an emergency. And it is symbolic to be outside KCC as councillors voted that 2050 was ok to take action by. It is not.

I keep hearing older people saying sorry and that it’s over to younger generation to sort out. But we must all work together.

What can we do? Three things that make a small difference as individuals but a big one collectively

1. Stop flying and eat far less meat.
2. Speak out: change the system, vote for a party that has the right solutions and ethos, call out the deniers, speak truth to power
3. Change our relationship with the world around us.

Once again a huge thank you from me and all of the Greens in Kent.