Yes.  Last night history was made in Oxford Town Hall when Oxford City Council voted unanimously to support a motion to declare a #climateemergency, joining councils in Bristol, Kirlees, Bradford District, Scarborough, Brighton, and may others around the globe.  At the same time, and in keeping with declaring the climate emergency, the council also voted to OPPOSE the Oxford-Cambridge Expressway.

Loads of people @OxfordCity to support #climateemergency pledge and #noexpressway vote pic.twitter.com/ln0MrHwGfK

— No Expressway Alliance (@NoExpressway) January 28, 2019

#Oxford council has declared a CLIMATE EMERGENCY. Interview with @TheGreenParty Cllr Craig Simmons.@ExtinctionR @TheFootPrinter #ClimateEmergency #ClimateBreakdown pic.twitter.com/FFW8OgvPYR

— Zoe Broughton (@cameraZoe) January 29, 2019

Oxford City Council has unanimously backed a Green Party motion declaring a climate emergency 👊

This is what real climate action looks like 💚

📷 Photo by Mati Warwick pic.twitter.com/oXA4860k6O

— Green Party (@TheGreenParty) January 29, 2019

Toasting the oxford city council declaration of a climate emergency and opposition to the expressway with vegan wine and lovely local apple juice – and a fab talk from ⁦@P_Grunewald⁩ 🙂 pic.twitter.com/bJQFlWCFvV

— Low Carbon West Oxford (@Low_Carbon_West) January 28, 2019

I felt pretty elated at the news last night, and was bursting to share with everyone who came along to our AGM and Dr Phil Grunewald’s ‘The joys (and sorrows) of energy use’!  I even shed a few tears.  I could not imagine this day when I first started campaigning on climate change, back in 2005, and it shows just how far we’ve come… BUT WE HAVE GOT A LONG WAY TO GO.  Last night, at least, felt like a step in the RIGHT direction, which such steps may seem few and far between at the political level in current times.

To understand properly what the passing of both motions really means, watch this space – we will be sharing more in the next day or two.  In the meantime, you can find out more about the climate emergency declaration movement here: https://climateemergencydeclaration.org

And THANK YOU.  Thank you to all those who read, shared and acted on our call to action to countact councillors – the relevant page on our website had 600 hits (200 on the 23rd alone!) this week just gone, with our facebook posts reaching 2681 people, 593 ‘engaging’ with the post (number of people clicking, sharing, liking, comments etc).  What a response, and something we are feeling pretty proud of today – when the Oxford climate movement wants to move, it MOVES!