Big Ask Campaign
Encyclopedia
The Big Ask is a campaign by Friends of the Earth
calling for a new climate change law in the United Kingdom and 15 other EU member states. The United Kingdom Government announced the introduction of the Climate Change Bill
in the Queen's Speech on November 15, 2006. This was as a result of 130,000 people across the country asking their MP to do more about climate change. Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke
was a spokesperson for the campaign.
— emissions of carbon dioxide
gas.
The law that Friends of the Earth are calling for would require the UK Government to cut the amounts of carbon dioxide being released by 3% year on year.
The Big Ask reasoning is:
The Big Ask Campaign has entered its next stage and is campaigning to make the Bill stronger than the Draft Bill. People are being asked to lobby their MPs again to ask them to support a Bill that will:
Friends of the Earth (EWNI)
Friends of the Earth is one of 70 national groups around the world which make up the Friends of the Earth network of environmental organizations...
calling for a new climate change law in the United Kingdom and 15 other EU member states. The United Kingdom Government announced the introduction of the Climate Change Bill
United Kingdom Climate Change Bill
The Climate Change Act 2008 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act makes it the duty of the Secretary of State to ensure that the net UK carbon account for all six Kyoto greenhouse gases for the year 2050 is at least 80% lower than the 1990 baseline, toward avoiding dangerous...
in the Queen's Speech on November 15, 2006. This was as a result of 130,000 people across the country asking their MP to do more about climate change. Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke
Thom Yorke
Thomas "Thom" Edward Yorke is an English musician who is the lead vocalist and principal songwriter for Radiohead. He mainly plays guitar and piano, but he has also played drums and bass guitar...
was a spokesperson for the campaign.
UK Climate Change Bill
This law is intended to tackle the main cause of climate changeClimate change
Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...
— emissions of carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom...
gas.
The law that Friends of the Earth are calling for would require the UK Government to cut the amounts of carbon dioxide being released by 3% year on year.
The Big Ask reasoning is:
- All the major political parties say climate change is the biggest threat we face
- They all have ambitious targets for cutting carbon dioxide (20% by 2010, 60% by 2050)
- Yet emissions of carbon dioxide in the UK keep on rising
- The UK needs to show leadership in showing that climate change can be tackled
- The Climate Change Bill is the best way of doing this
Draft bill
The Government has now produced a Draft Climate Change Bill with a closing date for responses on 12 June 2007.The Big Ask Campaign has entered its next stage and is campaigning to make the Bill stronger than the Draft Bill. People are being asked to lobby their MPs again to ask them to support a Bill that will:
- reduce emissions every year so the UK reaches a target of at least 80% cuts by 2050
- include annual targets so politicians can't blame preceding Governments for missed targets
- include emissions from international aviation and shipping