AN ENVIRONMENTAL campaigner is on a seven-day hunger strike as she urges the city council to address its “lack of action on climate change”.

Extinction Rebellion member Venetia Carter from Queen’s Park in Brighton plans to eat nothing until Thursday evening when there will be a full Brighton and Hove City Council meeting.

Her protest, which began on Thursday with a demonstration outside Hove Town Hall, comes two years after the authority declared a climate emergency.

The Argus:

The council pledged to become a carbon neutral city by 2030.

But Mrs Carter says not enough has been done over the last 24 months to achieve this goal.

The 56-year-old said: “My fast symbolises the future we are headed for.

“A future of a four degree world (referring to what climate models predict the world could look like by 2100 after a temperature rise of four degrees compared to pre-industrial levels) where hunger will be a reality for millions as climate instability and soil degradation lead to an increasing likelihood of crop failures. Conflict is sure to follow.

The Argus:

“I also hope it will stand as an act of solidarity with those already suffering the impact of climate breakdown.

“Across the world, people have already lost their lives, been made homeless and lost their livelihoods by increasingly frequent and more extreme forest fires, floods, and droughts.

“For many, the climate crisis seems a long way off in time and space, but I see it looming over my future life and that of my children.

The Argus:

“This isn’t a problem that can be solved by the people of the future; it is the responsibility of all of us, here and now.”

At the full council meeting on Thursday, an Extinction Rebellion petition demanding the authority adopts an “operational climate and biodiversity plan” will be debated after it was signed more than 1,370 times.

On the Brighton and Hove City Council, it states that the authority has “almost halved our carbon emissions since 2009”.

The Argus:

It lists projects such as installing solar panels on council buildings, encouraging cycling, installing electric vehicle charging points and supporting local schools to embed sustainability into school life as ways it is looking to “deliver our pledge to become Carbon Neutral by 2030 and to support our climate emergency declaration”.

Other projects include providing community compost bins across the city and supporting outdoor events to be sustainable by using alternatives to single-use plastics.