As Brexit stands poised to highjack the news headlines after the Easter break, the brief respite allowed us to focus again on the crucial issue of our times: Climate Change. It’s effects will last well beyond those of Brexit, and affect all of us, our children and their children.

As a mother of two young children, I have been deeply humbled by the youth strikes and their calls for action by us, their parents, carers and authority figures. Our children and youth have spoken loud and clear: we are not doing enough to secure their future, which is inextricably linked with the future of the planet. 

I have been a student of environmental science for the past eight years and have had a deep insight into the damage we doing to our planet. One of my sons’ teachers said to me once that I was helping to save the environment. And to certain extent that is true: science can gain knowledge about what is happening and make tentative predictions about what might happen in the future. However, change can only occur where there is political will and where the science is acted upon and put into policy and law. This is why I call on South Hams District Council to declare a Climate Emergency to ensure that climate science and long-term care for the planet and our childrens’ futures are put at the heart of its policy-making, ahead of short-term economic goals.