Tuesday 07-05-2019 - 14:54

Attend the Time Is Now mass lobby on Wed 26 June 2019 

With UK parliament declaring an environmental and climate change emergency, the youth strikes movement, and Extinction Rebellion creating a storm of climate change coverage; never has environmentalism felt so high up on the public and political agenda, but how can we turn this into meaningful, long term action? 

For some time NUS has been championing a strong Environment Act. The Act is the Government’s response to the UK losing EU regulations through Brexit, but it provides a vital opportunity to set us on a path to restoring nature and securing a just and sustainable future for all. 

Wildlife populations around the world are being decimated. And it starts right here at home – since 1970, 56% of species in the UK have declined and we’re one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world 

We also need strong environmental legislation to fight inequality. Issues like air pollution disproportionally affect low income communities, disabled people and children, who have often contributed relatively little to creating the problem. 

This term we have been working with ten student unions’, with The Wildlife Trust and World Wide Fund for Nature, to run on-campus debates on the Environment Act with local MPs and experts.  

We are also proud to support The Time is Now mass lobby, which is going to be the UK’s biggest ever environmental lobby event, to get MPs to support it.  

We encourage all students to register to attend (it is free), then contact your MPs (you can contact both your home MP and Uni MP if you have a different term time address) and then meet them on the day to tell them why you want a strong, restorative Environment Act.  

You can find out more about the Environment Act from Greener UK or by attending one of the student union debates listed below.  

 

We are now running a small grants scheme (£50 to £150 per application) for students to run their own activities to raise awareness of the need for urgent action to save nature, and support for the Environment Act. You can use the funding to attend the mass lobby. You can apply here at any time.

 

Contact sustainability@nus.org.uk if you have any questions.  

 

University of Warwick- 9th May 

University of Sussex- TBC

University of the West of England- 16th May 

University of Leeds- 16th May 

Anglia Ruskin University- 16th May 

University of Lincoln- - 16th May  

University of Salford- 23rd May 

University of Oxford- 23rd May 

University of Liverpool/Liverpool College- TBC