Jean, who has lived in Walthamstow for over thirty years, urged Londoners to make a small change to their lives to ensure that generations to come had a positive future to look forward to. Jean commented; "We are currently facing an inevitable climate change crisis. If we are going to change this and improve our environment we must change our lifestyle now.
"It is important for people to ‘own’ the process of change and therefore vital that we involve local people in deciding how some of the changes should come about. Local groups such as Waltham Forest Friends of the Earth can be really important in leading this change."
Speaking alongside Neil Gerrard MP, Jean encouraged young people to embark on ‘green training’, helping the next generation to build on the essential skills needed to tackle the climate crisis; "It is vital that we meet C02 reduction targets but we wont be successful if the next generation are not trained in improving the environment. How will we meet targets if we haven’t got any trained solar panel fitters for example? If we can’t use the Yellow Pages to find a solar panel fitter then we haven’t brought action against climate change into the mainstream. "
ENDS
For more information please contact:Morwenna Holland, Media Officertel: 020 7407 6280 or 07813149812 email: media@jeanlambertmep.org.uk www.jeanlambertmep.org.uk
Notes to editors: Jean Lambert: In October 2005 Jean was named MEP 2005 for Justice and Human Rights. Jean was first elected Green Party Member of the European Parliament for London in the 1999 European elections. She was re-elected in 2004. She is one of nine MEPs representing London and one of two UK Green representatives in the European Parliament.