'I feel so desperate about the future that I’ve done things I’d never dreamt I’d do.'-Venetia Carter

Venetia Carter, 57 (Sourced from Insulate Britains Instagram page.)

Threat to humanity

Climate change is a hot topic, especially in the Western world for many reasons. The rise of globalisation and growth of capitalism has contributed to mass production, unethical trading values, and other such practic

es that are harmful to the planet and we, the people who live in it.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for example, ‘scientific evidence for warming of the climate system is unequivocal.’

Globalisation contributes to an increase in emissions and as stated by Harvard business school, ‘the farther a product travels, the more fuel is consumed, and a greater level of greenhouse gas emissions is produced.

These emissions contribute to pollution, climate change, and ocean acidification around the world.’ [My emphasis]. Greg Hands, UK’s Minister of State at the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy stated on 16 September 2021, that ‘climate change represents one of the greatest threats to humanity of our age,’ according to gov.uk.

Anxiety of our times

Climate change is something that has created much anxiety in recent years as individuals start to see the effects of it in the

ir own lifetime.

Winters in the UK are projected to become warmer and wetter on average, and summers are also projected to become hotter and drier due to global warming. Naturally this make’s the public more aware of the changing world around us.

Words like climate anxiety, climate depression and eco anxiety have become terms used relating to the anxiety surrounding global warming/climate change.

‘According to Sustainability Victoria [8], 73% of young people aged 15–24 years recognized health as one of the main ways

they can be affected by climate change.’ But Insulate Britain supporters include the young and old: Venetia Carter mentioned earlier is 57 and the other supporter quoted on their website (in their press release section) is 54 years old.

According to ons.ogv ‘In October 2021, just ahead of the COP26 UN Climate conference in Glasgow, three-quarters (75%) of adults in Great Britain said they were worried about the impact of climate change’.

Insulate Britain

Sourced from Insulate Britain Instagram page.

Since September of last year, (2021) there have been many demonstrations by the group Insulate Britain which campaigns on issues of climate change and a green economy, specifically the insulation of all UK housing.

The most recent in the news about them was a protest in April of this year 2022 against the state of roads in the UK, particularly London’s M25. Those affected by the protests lamented the fact that traffic

blocked led to ‘an estimated 18,000’ drivers being affected by the protests on the M25, according to ITV News (04/22).

Insulate Britain started recently in September 2021, but the movement has quickly gained the attention of the public. District Judge Stephen Leake admitted that he was ‘inspired’ by the group, regardless of the seriousness of the charges facing some of its members.

The campaign group calls on the government to put in place an insulation programme that will contribute to the overall reduction of carbon emissions in the UK, bring down the fuel bills. They have also proposed that the insulation programme can bring about ‘new green jobs’ and help tackle the overall crisis of global warming and climate change. Insulate Britain activist Venetia says she is now ‘desperate’ as the group’s supporters demand the following, stated on their website.

‘Our Demands’:

1. That the UK go

vernment immediately promises to fully fund and take responsibility for the insulation of all social housing in Britain by 2025.

2. That the UK government immediately promises to produce within four months a legally binding national plan to fully fund and take responsibility for the full low-energy and low-carbon whole-house retrofit, with no externalised costs, of all homes in Britain by 2030 as part of a just transition to full decarbonisation of all parts of society and the economy.’

New vocabulary

The activist group Insulate Britain use the word ‘supporters’ instead of ‘activists’ or ‘protestors’ to describ

e their membership. A ‘supporter’ and member of the campaign group had this to say:

“We use supporters as ‘protestors’ and ‘activists are terms tainted by the media and many of the public switch off when they hear those terms. Supporters is a more common term, we are a collection of ordinary people support our demands to ask the government in insulate Britain, starting with social housing.”

Climate change is also something that has created much anxiety in recent years due to how individuals are now starting to see the effects of it in their own lifetime. Such as, the winters in the UK are ‘projected to become warmer and wetter on average’

Summers are also ‘projected to become hotter’ and more dry, and this is due to global warming. Naturally this

make’s the public more aware of the changing world around us.

Words like climate anxiety, climate depression and eco anxiety have become terms used relating to the anxiety surrounding global warming/climate change. ‘According to Sustainability Victoria [8], 73% of young people aged 15–24 years recognized health as one of the main ways they can be affected by climate change.’

Distrust

A ‘British Social Attitudes Survey reports 2019 statistics that show 15 percent of participants states they trust the govern

ment either "most of the time” or "just about always," which the pollsters described as the lowest level recorded in more than 40 years.’

Insulate Britain supporters do not shy away from speaking their minds, a collective, campaign group with a mission to tackle climate change, though they have only started recently, they have managed to get the attention of the media and of the British public and get their point across via th

eir social media accounts as well as in real life.

‘We declare that the British legal system no longer has any legitimacy whatsoever in our eyes.’

Says Insulate Britain spokesperson. For years people have started to form a distrust in those in political power for their own reasons but linked to an inadequacy of the government on a particular matter or crisis.

Insulate Britain’s social media accounts will be attached below.

Website: https://www.insulatebritain.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/insulatebritain

Instagram: Insulate Britain

Twitter: InsulateLove