This below is a guest post from Sarah Brown, a PhD candidate at University of Manchester.
My PhD looks into how much CO2 is created when peat soils are eroded into rivers, and it is likely that nearly every academic article I read or will ever write will somehow include the words ‘climate change’. I’ve been thinking to myself recently that I should be ‘walking the walk’ when it comes to the climate, rather than just ‘talking the talk’ about how important it is.
When I heard about this petition, this seemed like a great way to get involved and take action for the climate. Today myself and Marc Hudson stood outside The University of Manchester Library accosting students to sign this petition, trying to get Manchester City Council to declare a Climate Emergency. Perhaps they were just feeling the effects of climate change with today’s warm weather or perhaps they all know the effects of climate change will be most felt by their generation but we got an impressive 70 more signatures taking our total up tojust shy of 1000. Very few people said no, and those that signed seemed genuinely interested in making a difference. It wasn’t just environmental science students but computer scientists, business studies, politics, history, geography, neuroscience, and I even spoke to a student nurse writing an essay on the effects of climate change on children in developing nations.
You can sign the petition online and have a look at the some of the other ways to get involved on this website. Marc is always looking for more volunteers to help gather signatures on paper, so please get in touch!
