Charlie Gardner invites public to share climate views at Cambridge Junction event

People worried about this summer’s extreme temperatures and ongoing drought are urged to come to a Community Climate Talk at Cambridge Junction on Sunday (September 4).

The climate talks are designed to reach out to all sectors of the community, allowing people to share their hopes and fears, and offering the chance to come together to tackle the emergency.

The Cambridge Junction event starts at 3pm and includes a talk by scientist and conservationist Dr Gardner, followed by personal stories from local people describing how they’ve been affected by the crisis and what action they’re taking.

Dr Gardner, 43, from Norfolk, has witnessed the devastating impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss during 17 years working in conservation.

“For a long time, climate change was communicated as something that’s going to happen in the future,” said Dr Gardner. “We were always talking about 2050 and 2100 which seem impossibly futuristic, and we talk in these abstract terms of 1.5 degrees C, and 400 parts per million of carbon dioxide, which are strange incomprehensible concepts.

“But the pace of change, the rate at which it’s getting worse, has surprised everyone, even the scientists. It’s a lot more imminent now than most of us thought it would be.

“It’s down to special interests and the power of the fossil fuel industry...To continue extracting their proven reserves they have to fight against any legislation or action that would stop us from continuing to burn fossil fuels.

“It is the power of a very small number of people that get rich off fossil fuels who want to continue what they’re doing, and as a result all the rest of us are suffering. We’re moving into really really dangerous territory.”

Large parts of Cambridgeshire are predicted to be underwater by 2050, with sea levels expected to rise by 35cm as the polar ice caps continue to melt in the coming years, according to research by scientific organisation Climate Central. Areas around Cambridge likely to suffer flooding include Chesterton, Milton, Waterbeach, Lode and Chatteris. Most of Fenland and the east of Cambridgeshire could be submerged, including Wisbech, March, Whittlesey, and Manea.

Dr Gardner, an associate lecturer, and former senior lecturer at the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology at the University of Kent, is part of a team of scientists taking part in Community Climate Talks in 20 towns and cities this autumn.

He says: “We’ve been talking about this for 40 years. Governments agreed to start addressing this issue 30 years ago in 1992. Scientists have been warning about this for a long time and they’ve been ignored.”

As a response, Dr Gardner joined Scientists Rebellion, and has been arrested twice for his activism.

He explains: “When I first heard of Extinction Rebellion, I felt this is what I’d been waiting for. I’d always found it bizarre that just a tiny proportion of people were fighting for our world and that people loved wildlife and forests, but no-one was doing anything. I always secretly wished that the public cared as much about our world as conservationists did and suddenly it was happening. Suddenly it was the public of Great Britain out on the streets.”

“Scientists have a particular responsibility. We often have specialised knowledge, and we are respected, because the rest of society listens to us. I think that gives us an extra responsibility to do something.”

“But we all have a moral obligation to act because this is our world, this is all we have.”

He urges people to come along to the talk, whatever their feelings about climate change.

Dr Gardner said: “I would invite everyone to come along if they’re worried about what we’re experiencing.

“We’re not going to be talking about the science so much. Most people are aware of why it’s happening and what’s going on.

“We’re going to be focusing on what it means for us as a society and what it means for us as individuals. How do we as individuals react to this and push for the change that we need when our political leadership is still taking us in the wrong direction?”

Entry is free and includes refreshments and snacks, so people can mingle, chat and ask questions of Dr Gardner and the other activists afterwards.