A small team of activists got creative with the road signs around Westminster this morning, calling on the government to commit to a green recovery.
As well as tackling the climate emergency, a green recovery could create 1.8 million jobs – and there’s no reason why the government shouldn’t want to do this.
Greenpeace activists replace the destinations on the road signs around Westminster to read “Green Recovery”. The green recovery is a turning we cannot afford to miss © Suzanne Plunkett / Greenpeace
The green recovery is a turning we cannot afford to miss
As the coronavirus crisis unfolded, everything slowed down – including the economy. At the same time, we saw how interconnected our health is to the health of the planet. And it’s now become clear that we can’t go back to the way things were.
Last week, prime minister Boris Johnson laid out his vision for a future “New Deal” – but it was just more of the same: old announcements, old money and the old way of doing things. Rebuilding the economy is an opportunity for change that we can’t afford to miss.
The government has consistently said that it wants a green recovery – but for this, we need to see spending on the right things, like renewable energy, accessible public transport and restoring nature.
Investing in these areas will also create a huge number of jobs, which we know will be badly needed in the coming months and years.
The road out of this crisis cannot be toward a worsening climate crisis
A green recovery makes the most sense for us and the planet that we live on. It will mean we fix the economy and deal with the climate emergency at the same time.
That’s why Greenpeace has been campaigning for action on climate change to be a priority in the government’s plans.
The government should be spending taxpayers’ money in the right way. This means dealing with the immediate coronavirus crisis while also looking ahead for ways to solve the climate emergency.
The last few months have been tough for many of us. As we emerge from lockdown we need to look after each other – we can do that best by building something better than what we had before.
The climate crisis will not be going away anytime soon. This is a unique chance to divert our economy towards caring for both people and our environment.
