Gordon Brown has been calling for a ‘global Green New Deal’, but so far he has done little to put his words into effect. As renewable energy projects are forced to close through lack of funding and millions of people face unemployment, the need for a Green New Deal has never been more critical.
That’s why over 140 organisations – from faith groups and trade unions to environmental campaigns and social justice NGOs – will be gathering in London this weekend to demand, among other things, a Green New Deal.
The Put People First march is an unprecendented coalition of campaigners, joining forces to remind Gordon Brown and the rest of the G20 leaders that going back to business as usual is no longer an option. We need real change and leadership at this time of economic and environmental turmoil.
The demonstrations will begin at Victoria Embankment, near Temple tube station, in London, at 11am on Saturday 28 March 2009. To find out more, and to book a place on one of the coaches coming from all parts of the country, visit www.putpeoplefirst.org.uk.
The coalition’s document of recommendations, which was written with input from Green New Deal Group members Colin Hines and Richard Murphy, calls on the UK government to:
Ensure a massive investment in transformative action to deliver a low-carbon economy and push other developed countries to do the same. A green new deal is needed to create jobs based on decent work and pay through alternative energy development, sustainable transport systems, and energy saving and conservation. This shift to a low-carbon economy must be a ‘just transition’ based on democratic involvement of those groups most affected by that shift.