Fatima Iftikhar is a mother of two teenage daughters and lives in Glasgow. She is Senior Project Lead for the grassroots organisation, Parents for Future Scotland.
I’ve been working on climate issues with communities for 10 years. When I started out, climate was not something people in my community wanted to be part of, because no-one was talking about it. There was a feeling that it wasn’t relevant.
Now, ten years on, things have changed a lot. There’s a lot more awareness about the climate crisis, and people are becoming more concerned. People are now feeling the changes happening, right next door.
Fatima Iftikhar at a Parents for Future Scotland event
My background is in psychology, not climate, and one of the things that stuck with me from the early days was realising that the people in charge did not have a plan. You assume people have a plan for everything. But they don’t. That’s why it’s absolutely essential to have ambitious climate targets, because we need to have a plan for the future.
Despite the change in public awareness and concern about climate change, I still think that politicians need a lot of pushing. We recently ran a week of action where volunteers were asked to contact their local MSPs to talk about the proposed new oil field, Rosebank, and the need to stop drilling for oil. What we found was that it was hugely difficult for people to get in touch with their representatives on climate issues. I was shocked – that should be the easiest step for someone to take, but instead it’s really difficult.
Of the people who did get appointments with their MSPs, there was a lot of disappointment. They came out of the surgery thinking what just happened there? Our volunteers were coming back and saying, ‘they didn’t want to listen to me; they wanted to talk about other things.’ So yes, sometimes it feels like we’re working against the tide.
We face many threats but none as great as climate change – it trickles down to all the community issues we face. We need ambitious targets in place because we are fighting for something – we need it for our future, and the future of our children. If the planet is not liveable what’s the point of everything else?
Becky Kenton-Lake is the Coalition Manager of Stop Climate Chaos Scotland, a coalition of over 70 organisations who campaign together for greater action on climate change.
In recent times there has been a shift in how receptive politicians are to listening, speaking about, and acting on climate issues. Since a peak around the time the COP26 talks were hosted in Glasgow, when all parties agreed to set rightly ambitious climate targets, we’ve seen many climate policies watered down, delayed or cancelled all together.
What’s hugely concerning is that this is happening alongside increasingly devastating climate impacts here in Scotland and most severely in some of the poorest countries around the world.
Already this year we’ve seen hugely damaging wildfires on Arran, while areas on the east coast were battered by several named storms last year. This is costing hundreds of thousands in clean up bills, destroying wildlife and nature, and affecting homes, lives and livelihoods.
These impacts are there for everyone to see, and public concern and the demand for action is hugely underestimated. A recent report highlighted that a ‘silent majority’ of 80% of people around the world want their governments to do more to tackle the climate crisis – but don’t know they’re the majority, and aren’t speaking up about it. Here in Scotland, a recent government survey showed that almost three quarters of people felt climate change is “an immediate and urgent problem’.
This concern shows up in the actions communities are taking, with increasing frustration that politicians are failing to do the same. From the parents setting up bike buses to cut car use, to the heat pump installers who need more qualified staff and the fishers moving to less harmful methods – there are thousands of examples of this positive action going on across Scotland. But they need far greater support to make a bigger impact, and feel that they aren’t alone in this.
People across Scotland recognise the increase in extreme weather that is already happening, and the opportunities to transition to a healthier, fairer greener society. Decision makers must listen, step up and deliver meaningful action.