Are Local and National Policies Up to the Challenge? 

Sian Berry, Green MP, Brighton Pavilion

Emma Montlake, Environmental Lawyer and Founder of Love Our Ouse

25 January 2025  10.00-12.30

Cornerstone Community Centre

Corner of Church Road and First Avenue

Hove

https://cornerstonecommunitycentre.com

We are being battered with terrible climate news. It’s not just the Los Angeles wild fires and the desperate flooding we have seen all over Europe in the last few weeks. Records for spiralling air and ocean temperatures, and for vanishing sea ice at both poles, are being smashed. Last month a group of the world’s senior climate scientists concluded that the world is “stepping into a critical and unpredictable new phase of the climate crisis”, bringing us to “the brink of an irreversible climate disaster”.

What can Compass supporters and other progressives do about this?

Sian will address the question from two angles: (i) the national level perspective, that is how is the country going to plausibly accelerate progress against both the Net Zero targets and the wider climate change agenda (and what can progressives do to make this happen); and, (ii) how can we in Brighton and Hove live up to our reputation as a progressive city and punch above our weight on this? We have asked her specifically to cover Brighton and Hove Council’s just published Decarbonisation Pathways Study and to talk about how we as citizens can build on whatever progress has been made so far.

Emma is an environmental lawyer. She will talk about the lessons she has learned from the Love Our Ouse campaign and how, in these times when the green perspective is not always welcomed with open arms, these lessons can apply to environmental campaigning generally. She wants to say something too about how the biodiversity crisis and climate change chaos should be seen together, not at odds. We have to be careful that new net zero infrastructure doesn't threaten our important nature sites.

Join us for this deeply important, stimulating and timely conversation.