May Day “mayday”

Posted by James on 1st May
Tagged with: bitc environment howard hrh prince of wales may day mayday porritt senator mitchell
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“Mayday” is the internationally recognised distress call.  

In launching Business in the Communities 2nd Prince’s May Day Summit, HRH Prince of Wales challenged leaders – individual, corporate and political – to respond with “urgent collective action” to the global climate change “mayday”.

Leaders from over 1,600 UK companies attended today’s May Day Summit to pledge to take action into climate change.  

The Prince of Wales “begged” the audience to take individual and collective action “now – there is no time to lose”, to avoid “headless chickens having to come home to roost in the only trees left standing”.   He also urged against allowing the current global economic troubles to divert or delay the necessary action and instead encouraged leaders to make the right decisions now for the long term.

The Prime Minister Gordon Brown, as did all the speakers, praised Prince Charles for his visionary leadership in alerting the world relentlessly and tirelessly – and for initiating the May Day Network.

He went on to outline how he believed that the fourth technological revolution since the industrial revolution would be the transformation to a low carbon world – which would require new thinking, creativity, entrepreneurialism and technology. He revealed the Government’s new recommendations to:
1.    Create a long-term policy framework, including the Climate Change Bill
2.    Support innovation and reduce regulatory barriers to change
3.    Skill the labour force
4.    Encourage consumer behaviour change

He said it was time for people power – and people choosing to do the right thing [I think it was a typo and that what he really meant was that it was time for people to do the Green Thing].

Senator George Mitchell – having echoed the call for more committed leadership - said that in addition to all of the social, environmental and economic justifications for action we should also remember a fourth – “the threat to world peace and stability”.  He went on to say that he expected that the next White House incumbent would drive the US to take real and committed action – and to show real leadership and that the US population would no longer tolerate the US being a laggard in this arena.

Jonathan Porritt, as ever so eloquent, felt that the tide had turned from one of  indifference to one of emerging leadership and action.  But he urged everyone, particularly Government, to mandate action – and to take more action urgently.

Stephen Howard, the CEO of BITC closed the event, by quoting Martin Luther King  and calling us all to seize “the fierce urgency of now”.
 
Huge congratulations must go to Lucy, Katie and Jim at Business in the Community for creating such an event – quite simply brilliant.

I left believing that there is at least a chance the business community – and perhaps even the political community - will choose to do the right thing quickly enough …. But fervently believing that all of us who are part of the Green Thing community have a major role in creatively inspiring people to change their individual behaviour with respect to the environment – and have some fun in doing it.