Climate cycle event cancelled due to bad weather

Stop Climate Chaos Scotland campaigns manager Gail Wilson. Picture: Contributed

Stop Climate Chaos Scotland were due to ride around Edinburgh on their bicycles delivering copies of their climate change manifesto to the offices of the Conservatives, Greens, Labour, Liberal Democrats and the SNP. But as Gertrude’s squall ravaged the city, the storm made it impossible for the campaigners to make their journey – but at least one woman in the group, Gail Wilson (pictured), campaigns manager, saw the humour in the defeat.

“The irony has not been lost on us at all,” Gail told the Evening News. “The storm stopped us from our campaign and we had to cancel the event. And yes, it is especially ironic, given my name.

“The plan was that a group of us were going to cycle round party headquarters with a copy of our manifesto for climate change – but obviously Storm Gertrude happened and it was too windy for us safely to do.”

While the winds may have defeated the campaigner on this occasion, the battle for a greener city is far from over.

Gail said: “We will reschedule to do this again next week, so all is not lost.”

The group said the recent spate of flooding and the increasing number of storms across the country, should now make the public sit up and take notice.

“Climate scientists have linked the changing weather patterns to climate change, and these links are becoming clearer,” Gail said.

“More flooding is predicted for Scotland and the UK and we can expect more of that if we don’t take action.

“The last month has been quite exceptional, so its made people stop and thing and perhaps start connecting these things.

“What really matters now is what actions are taken by the Scottish Government on climate change targets.”

The group are calling on Holyrood’s political parties, to play their part in tackling the environment as they gear up for the election.

They want commitments set out in the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 to be met, including targets to reduce emissions by 42 per cent by 2020 and 80 per cent by 2050.

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