Women and children recently gathered in Parliament Square under the banner of Climate Action Now, to call for decisive political action on the issues of climate change ñ and fast.

‘The government needs to know that it has a mandate to tackle the problem and we want to show that it has,’ says Rebecca Frayn, one of the founders of we CAN ñ Climate Action Now. ‘There are solutions to climate change but the government does not seem to want to take them, in case they upset some of the voters or big business.’

Many of the mothers involved had not taken political action before. ‘We believe the whole issue needs to be placed above party politics,’ says Rebecca, a television presenter, playwright and novelist like her father Michael Frayn. ‘Ideally, we’d like to see a national coalition agreeing the measures needed to safeguard our world’s future.’

Rosie Boycott, co-founder of we CAN and former editor of The Independent, states: ‘Climate change is too vital an issue to sacrifice to political infighting and cowardice. Clearly, it would also be political suicide for any one party to introduce all the changes needed. This is why a cross-party coalition should be formed ñ as during the second world war ñ to guide and direct both government planning and industry.’

The question that many mothers are asking is: ‘What will we tell our children when they ask us what we did when the scale of the problem facing the world became apparent? We cannot stand by and do nothing.’

The women are particularly concerned about the proposal of Heathrow’s third runway. They are posing the question: How can a responsible government, that claims it cares about the environment, be giving serious consideration to a third runway which would double air traffic, not reduce congestion and emit just as much carbon dioxide in one year as the whole of Kenya?’

Actress, Rula Lenska, who was also in Parliament Square for the vigil, said: ‘I do all the things we are asked to do, like using energy saving light bulbs and re-cycling. Individuals can’t do the bigger things. We need a concerted government effort. They can afford to go to war, so why can’t they do something positive about climate change?’

Colin Challen MP, a member of the House of Commons All-Party Group on Climate Change says: ‘I’d like to see a cross-party consensus led from the top.’

To ask your MP to support Colin Challen’s Early Day Motion 1636, calling for
Cross Party Consensus on Climate Change
Contact: www.writetothem.com

We CAN meets regularly and welcomes new members.

Contact: wecan.uk.com

Rula Lenska and celebrity journalist Rosie Boycott join children in Parliament Square at the launch of
we CAN. Photo: © Mike Russell