CAMBRIDGE JUNCTION DECLARES A CLIMATE AND ECOLOGICAL EMERGENCY
In October 2018, the International Panel on Climate Change reported that we only have 12 years to change how we live, globally. In line with Cambridge Junction’s commitment to leadership and action on climate emergency, the arts centre has today joined the Culture Declares Emergency campaign.
This new initiative has recently emerged, beginning with Climate Mobilization in the US and Australia and now promoted by groups including Extinction Rebellion and the School Strike for Climate. This movement declares the need for urgent action on Climate Emergency.
So far several councils, including the Greater London Authority, Bristol and Manchester have declared and more will follow. It is the turn of the Arts and Cultural sectors to make their voices heard.
The declaration follows:
The Staff & Board of Cambridge Junction declare a Climate and Ecological Emergency
Cambridge Junction pledges to work with and support our community and local government in tackling this Emergency, and we call on others to do the same.
These are our intentions:
1. Cambridge Junction will tell the Truth
Governments, and their public broadcasters and cultural agencies, must tell the truth about the Climate and Ecological Emergency, reverse inconsistent policies and communicate the urgency for far-reaching systemic change.
Cambridge Junction will communicate with citizens and support them to discover the reality of the Emergency and its impacts, and the changes that are needed.
2. Cambridge Junction will take Action
Governments must enact legally binding policy measures to reduce emissions to net zero by 2025 and to reduce consumption levels.
Cambridge Junction pledge to work towards reducing our emissions to net zero* by 2025.
Cambridge Junction will challenge policies and actions of local and national governments and their agencies, where we interact with them, that do not help to reduce emissions or consumption levels.
Cambridge Junction will actively work to imagine and model ways that my practice / our organisation can regenerate the planet’s resources.
3. Cambridge Junction is committed to Justice
The emergency has arisen from deeply systemic injustices. Arts and Culture can imagine and forge shifts in the ways we relate to one another and the world, in our values and behaviours.
Cambridge Junction will do what is possible to enable dialogue and expression amidst our communities about how the Emergency will affect them and the changes that are needed.
Cambridge Junction will support demands for more democracy within our civic institutions and government.
Cambridge Junction believes that all truth-telling, action and democratic work must be underpinned by a commitment to justice based on intersectional principles, led by and for marginalised people.
Cambridge Junction further believes, if we fail to take action now, the Emergency endangers our ability to deliver our charitable aims and objectives due to its impacts on our sustainability and resilience, and on the lives and work of all with whom we engage.
*Net zero means that on balance one’s activities are zero emissions, taking into account all possible Greenhouse Gas emissions and actions taken to mitigate or offset those emissions.
Declaration ends.
Cambridge Junction recognises the urgent need to promote a sustainable business model by reducing its environmental impact. The arts centre already works with its stakeholders, partners and suppliers in order to reduce waste, invest in new technologies and promote environmental awareness.
As well as continuing the commitment to reducing its environmental impact Cambridge Junction sees joining Culture Declares Emergency as an opportunity to debate, foster collaborations between academics, researchers and artists. Building these relationships will encourage the development and programming of work that communicates the emergency, and explores possible solutions.
Follow the hashtag #CultureDeclaresEmergency on social media.
Download a copy of the declarationYour Visit
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