Vote The Environment
the UK election that will shape the 2030 climate and biodiversity landscape
Welcome to Regen/Notes
So, we head into the UK general election with 7 out of 9 planetary boundaries crossed and with the UK as one of the worst in the world for biodiversity loss, and a political/ideological debate around whether net zero is good or harmful to business or a blinkered approach to climate solutions.
This election has been called a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the environment. I would venture further that this is an election for future generations. The government parliament and MPs we elect in July will shape the climate landscape for the next five years. A critical five years that will take us close to 2030, the milestone target for reversing biodiversity loss, (bending the curve) and for achieving the majority of carbon reductions, amongst many other social and climate 2030 objectives and targets.
We are on the cusp of something regeneratively wonderful or something irreversibly disastrous. Martin Brown. Restord 2030
In 2010 Patagonia led a Vote The Environment campaign. As Yvon Chouinard said at that time, and a message even more vital today “Vote as though your life depends on it. Before you mark your ballot check the environmental record and intentions of the person"
In 2024, the Zero-Hour movement is leading a Climate Vote campaign based on the Climate and Nature Bill
The UK Wildlife Trusts has suggested questions to ask your candidates, in hustings, and on the doorstep, and to be able to score the responses you receive for others to become more aware of candidate positions. Are Your MPs going to give a Voice to Nature?
This is the time, more than ever, to vote the environment
From a connecting with nature perspective, I do like the British Mountaineering Council's simple priorities for future MPs ... 1. Access to nature so we feel connected and healthy 2. Access to nature so more people of all backgrounds and abilities can get out and be active close to home 3. Educate, inspire and inform responsible behaviour
From organisational and built environmental project perspectives, many are asking themselves how they can be regenerative, how to be a business or project that is a force for good, and how they can bring nature’s voice into governance or project design. This will be vital over the next five years. We need the life of the government we are now selecting to be clear and positive in creating a new dawn on political, environmental, social, technical, economic and legislative (PESTEL) framework and landscape.
Undoubtedly the next five years will be tough as carbon reductions bite into lifestyle choices, mostly travel and food. So, from a social, health and community perspective, we need to vote for a government that is focused on enabling social transition to 2030 milestones, moving from surviving to thriving, moving from global to local and bioregions and providing meaningful lives through healthy, affordable, resilient housing and communities.
Everything we make and build comes ultimately from the ground, from beneath or our common waters. Every job and every economy depends on the health of the natural world ecosystems of which we are part.
If we do not reverse biodiversity loss by 2030 we may not have the ecosystems to support nature-based solutions & natural materials we so desperately need in addressing the embodied carbons of our projects and products.
We need to be sure we vote for the government that will enable the landscape to enable ourselves, our organisations, and our built environment to tread lightly on our planet and to heal the future. We cannot vote for a government to lead us up to 2030 that will hamper our efforts for a healthy, resilient and thriving future.
For us, future generations and the planet.
