South Hams Friends of the Earth

The new Climate Change Act means we have to start cutting carbon emissions, starting now, with 80% cuts by 2050. What will this mean for life in Devon? What will be the effect on jobs? What happens if the Government doesn’t obey the new law?

On Tuesday February 10th at 8pm in Totnes Guildhall, Roger Higman Head of Campaigns Coordination for National Friends of the Earth will explain what the new Act will mean for the Government, businesses and all of us in our everyday lives.

Does anything positive come out of international summits on climate change? Will the election of Barack Obama change anything?

Roger, who was a key member of Friends of the Earth International’s delegation to the World Climate Change summits in The Hague and Bonn will share his experience and thoughts on the prospects for the Copenhagen summit later this year in November this year, and what activists in the UK can do to shape the outcomes.

Friends of the Earth led the successful campaign which created the Climate Change Act. South Hams Friends of the Earth played a key role in the campaign, collecting hundreds of signed postcards to send to the Government, and enlisting the support of both our local MPs.

Roger Higman said:

“2009 could be a turning point in the fight against climate change. The Climate Change Act – a world first - is now law. We must use it to show the world that we can cut emissions in ways that make life better for everyone. World leaders are gathering in Copenhagen in December, and with a new American President, there is every chance that we can agree a new global deal. By acting locally and by pushing politicians to act at home and abroad, we have the opportunity to solve this most pressing of global problems.”

Roger’s talk will follow the AGM and election of a new committee for the new year.

ENDS

Contacts: Steve Melia 01364 72073

Ian Blackwell 01803 840990

Biographical Note

Roger Higman is 47. Born and bred in Oxford, Roger became a keen cyclist and birdwatcher at an early age. He studied geography at the London School of Economics (LSE) and has a Masters in European Politics from Birkbeck College, London

Roger has worked at Friends of the Earth almost continuously since 1985. In the 1990s, he was Transport Campaigner with special responsibility for the National Roads Programme. For five years he fought road projects up and down the country including those against the M3 through Twyford Down, the East London River Crossing through Oxleas Wood, the Newbury bypass and the proposed widening of the M25.

He has since worked on a range of issues including transport policy, air quality, vehicle emissions, aviation, climate change, energy policy and nuclear power and biodiversity. In June 2006, Roger was appointed to Friends of the Earth’s Organisational Management team with a broad remit to oversee its work on biodiversity and resource use and to coordinate its campaigning.