I was delighted when The Environment Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) announced the details of its ‘New Earth Deal’ School Tour last week, naming Parrs Wood High School as one of its stops!

As a result, PACE’s Rapporteur on Climate Change, former UK Deputy Prime Minister and Kyoto Protocol negotiator John Prescott, will visit the school during UN Climate Week and deliver a presentation on the need to get a fair deal at Copenhagen as part of his ‘New Earth Deal’ campaign. 

As a campaigner to raise awareness of climate change amongst young people, I think that the School Tour is a fantastic idea and I’m even more thrilled that my old school and our community has been selected to be involved – something I have been pushing for.

Since Labour came to power in 1997 we have cut our greenhouse gas emissions by 66 million tonnes, and last year our CO₂ emissions fell by 10.8 million tonnes.  But we know that globally, we have to do more.  That’s why we have set a target of making all new homes ‘zero-carbon’ by 2015, and we have drawn up a £100 billion blueprint for renewable energy for our country.  With dedicated ministers such as John Prescott and Ed Miliband, we are leading the way with new ideas and innovative technologies that will enable us to create a greener future.

We have more ministerial visits to the constituency planned, so keep checking the website if you’d like to attend one and get in touch (community@lucypowell.org.uk) if you’d like to sign up for our community newsletter so that you are up-to-date with our events.