U3A Kingston Group Climate Action – Meeting with Ed Davey MP

In early June a few of us from our Climate Action Group co-ordinated by Christine Thompson, joined forces with some members of Kingston United Reform Church (KURC) to meet with Sir Ed Davey MP. Our purpose was to discuss climate change,

The meeting was held at the Lib Dem Constituency office in Surbiton. Our meeting lasted well over the scheduled hour.

Prior to the meeting, we had planned to focus our discussions on the Climate and Nature Bill (the CAN Bill), which had been introduced to Parliament by Lib Dem MP Dr Roz Savage.

Having been Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change during the coalition years, Ed was very well informed and could answer all our questions with clarity and understanding. He expressed a view that, UK voters are concerned about the cost of living, care/NHS and immigration. [ When asked specifically about climate change, they are concerned about it] Ed regrets that the topic of climate change has dropped out of public discourse and made the point that, amongst other things, immigration is linked to climate change. Ed was very approachable and pleasant.

Ed commented that we should support the use of renewable energy sources e.g. tidal, water, wind and solar and that we should be using use less gas and oil.

Ed is clearly very familiar with his constituency and referred to his involvement with the local project called the Hogsmill Heat Network whereby waste heat from the sewage works could be used to heat buildings. Our colleagues from KURC thought this may be worth investigating when planning a new heating system for their Church.

On a global level we talked about how important it is for debt-laden countries to have their debts cancelled on condition they invest in renewables. This development has already begun in some countries.  Ed thanked Christine for raising this matter.

The meeting demonstrated the importance of addressing big challenges like climate change, economic inequality and how anyone can become involved in these subjects. We felt that we have a shared responsibility to tackle these issues, and hopefully, we have laid the foundation for future collaboration between community groups and their MP.

Bill Higgins, Kingston U3A Climate Action Group Member