A TOWN Councillor from Launceston is part of a small team of cyclists delivering a report from Climate Vision at Truro Cathedral to the UN climate talks in Paris in December.
Cllr Roger Creagh-Osborne said: “I remember 2009 when 4,000 people across Cornwall inspired by a group at Truro Cathedral pledged to take personal action to reduce their carbon footprint. A team took a pilot gig and the pledges to the Copenhagen Climate talks, which ended in failure.”
In Paris this year, as in Copenhagen in 2009, governments of all countries in the world meet to attempt to agree on necessary actions to mitigate the effect of man made climate change which science states is a clear and present danger.
Cllr Creagh-Osborne said: “Five years on and Governments have continued to drag their heels but Climate Vision have followed up on the 4,000 pledges and discovered an enormous impact at very low cost.
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“This is the message of the report we are carrying to Paris — people are willing and able to take action if only Governments will give us a lead.
“Science now tells us the situation is an emergency. There is very limited time to act if the earth is to remain habitable for mammals, including humankind, beyond the lifetime of our children.”
The core team of four riders will be joined by many others along the route and will be holding meetings and talks in towns as they pass through in Cornwall and France.
In Cornwall, having left Truro at 11am on Tuesday, November 17, they will be in Wadebridge in the evening then ride via Bodmin to Liskeard on Wednesday.
On Thursday they pass through Looe on the way to Saltash for a mass crossing of the bridge at 4pm and a rally in Plymouth before catching the ferry to St Malo. They arrive in Paris on Thursday, November 26 for a weekend of meetings and actions at the start of the conference.
Full details and links are on the website www.pedal2paris.uk
Cllr Creagh-Osborne added: “I first heard about the possibility of man-made climate change at school in the late 1960s — since when I have been watching things getting gradually worse. We now reach the end-game.
“I will stand up and be counted — we must act together and demand our politicians take this threat seriously for our children’s sake.
“As a councillor I see this action as essential to protecting the future of Launceston — a potentially thriving community well placed to weather the storms ahead if we prepare ourselves.”
Cllr Creagh-Osborne intends to organise an evening in Launceston to talk about the experience of the ride and the significance of the events in Paris early in December.