Help End Fuel Poverty in Cumbria!

With a recent study showing that almost 19,000 families in Cumbria are now living in fuel poverty – a proportion that’s higher than the national average – and with winter fast approaching, we are asking for YOUR help to improve things!!

Just recently, ‘Green Future for Cumbria’ – which includes members of XR North Lakes and Sustainable Keswick – has launched a petition, calling on Ed Miliband (the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero) to secure an urgent and massive injection of GB Energy cash for green projects and jobs in Cumbria – including a massive home insulation roll-out.

You can find the petition on the Organise Network, and you can sign it here

OR, if that link doesn’t work, try this one.

NB – YOU DON’T HAVE TO LIVE IN CUMBRIA IN ORDER TO SIGN!!

And there’s more! Every time someone signs, Ed Miliband gets a notification!!

After you’ve signed, please share – AS WIDELY AS POSSIBLE – via your social media groups and WhatsApp groups, and email your family and friends.

The full text is pasted below.

Many thanks!

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TO: ED MILIBAND, SECRETARY OF STATE FOR ENERGY SECURITY AND NET ZERO

With a recent study showing that almost 19,000 families in Cumbria are living in fuel poverty – a proportion higher than the national average – and climate records being broken on a regular basis, we are calling on the government to put significant GB Energy money into Cumbria, as a matter of urgency, to support renewable energy projects, to provide well-paid green jobs for locals, and to begin a massive home insulation programme.

The Cumbria Action for Sustainability (CAfS) Report of 2021 – The Potential for green jobs in Cumbria – presented clear proof that the transition to Net Zero in Cumbria would create around 9,000 net jobs during a 15-year transition period, and 3,800 in the long term. These would mainly be connected to generating clean and cheaper renewable electricity via an expansion of solar, on-shore wind, off-shore wind, tidal lagoon, and hydro schemes.

The climate clock is ticking ever faster – and, with Cumbria being recognised as one of the UK’s ‘left-behind’ communities, the government could improve the lives of thousands of families whilst also acting to meet its national climate targets.

Your signature on this petition can help persuade the government to make the right decisions on this crucial matter.

PETITION TEXT

We, the undersigned, urgently call on you to invest significant GB Energy funds in Cumbria, to:

1. Finance a massive and rapid scheme of home insulation to reduce home energy use – and thus bills – so that families are not forced to choose between ‘heating or eating.’

2. Approve the creation of a large solar farm at Dean Moor; and help finance the Project Collette plan to build a large off-shore windfarm off the coast of west Cumbria – and also provide funds which will allow the windfarm to be part community-owned.

3. Upgrade the Cumbrian Coast Line; fund a general expansion of cheap public transport; and ensure that both Workington and Whitehaven ports are made ready to play a key role in off-shore renewables.

We thus urge you to take immediate steps to put significant funding into Cumbria to:

• enable a rapid transition to clean and cheap energy

• create thousands of good local jobs that would come with that transition

• invest in training programmes that will equip local workers with the skills needed to grow those green sectors of the economy

Let’s not wait – the time to act is now!

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Allan Todd is a member of Left Unity’s National Council, of ACR’s Council, and of Unite Against Fascism; and is an ecosocialist/environmental and anti-fascist activist. He is the author of Revolutions 1789-1917, Trotsky: The Passionate Revolutionary, Che Guevara: The Romantic Revolutionary – and the forthcoming For the Earth to Live: The Case for Ecosocialism