Sir Patrick Valance, the government’s chief scientific adviser, will address lawmakers about the climate crisis following a protest hunger strike by protesters.
Angus Rose, 52, refused to eat for 37 days during a parliamentary vigil because he asked the scientific adviser to make a public address to lawmakers and ministers about the climate crisis.
He has now ended his hunger strike 17kg lighter after the all-party parliamentary group on climate change said it would host Valance to address the issue.
A spokesman for the group, led by Green MP Caroline Lucas, told Rose that “they will be happy to host a briefing on climate change for MPs and cabinet members from the government’s chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Valance.” This event will take place at the new parliamentary session, probably in May-June … the briefing will also be recorded, sent to all MPs after the event and made public.
Valance has agreed to hold a briefing, Lucas told the Guardian, and a date will be set soon.
Although Rose initially asked Valance to hold a televised briefing in the cabinet instead of addressing a parliamentary committee, he said he was pleased with the result.
During his hunger strike, a group of 79 leading scientists, including former government chief scientific adviser Sir David King, wrote a letter in support of his request, saying “a briefing on climate and environmental crises will help our leaders pursue the right policies. to decarbonise our society at the right pace, while preserving biodiversity. “
Rose was admitted to hospital as a precautionary measure, but began eating again. He said he felt weak and dizzy when standing up after so long without food.
Rose said: “Many parliamentarians do not seem to be aware of the dire consequences of the climate crisis; although the information is available to them, there is no system in place to ensure that they are committed and understood. This is what is so frustrating. I hope that if MPs understand science, they will act with the necessary urgency.
On January 28, 2020, the Prime Minister received a briefing, led by Valance, on the science of climate emergency. Johnson, who has challenged climate scientists’ claims in the past, later said it was his “road to Damascus” moment in climate science. He told reporters that government scientists had “gone through everything” and that anthropogenic climate change had proved “very difficult to challenge”.
Rose and other activists called for such briefings to be made public and for all ministers and lawmakers to be informed about science.
The hunger strike said it took the most inspiration from Guillermo Fernandez, a Swiss who declared victory after a 39-day hunger strike when scientists announced they would meet with Swiss lawmakers to discuss climate science.
Lucas said: “I am relieved that Angus Rose has ended her hunger strike, which requires great courage, resilience and determination, and can now start working to restore her health. However, one should never have to risk one’s own life in this way to emphasize what scientists have been telling us for decades – that we, in the words of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, are “on the fast track to climate change. catastrophe. “
“If the government wants to protect future generations, such as Angus’s niece and nephew, then it must abandon the insignificant half-measures and distractions of the dead cat – and start behaving as if lives depended on it.”
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