Environmental Psychology Groningen’s Post

Climate action isn’t niche. Suggesting otherwise is undemocratic. ⚖️ ⚖️ Last week, Yvonne Hofs wrote two stories for de Volkskrant just a couple of hours apart, the first analysing the newly sworn in government coalition's plan to prevent advocacy organisations “of an ideal nature” from suing the Dutch government because they don't represent the views of the Dutch public. The second announced an independent review of the plan by the Raad voor de leefomgeving en infrastructuur (Rli) had concluded that the government owes such lawsuits to itself for failing to fulfil its own agreements. In the week since these stories came out, many other news pieces have been written about how such a proposal is a dangerous attack on #democracy and how it obstructs justice. From our perspective as environmental psychologists, what has not yet been said enough is that #climateaction is very much representative of people’s values and concerns. The stated logic behind the proposal is that idealistic organizations like climate action groups are somehow a niche interest, insinuating that they are not broadly socially relevant and only reflect the beliefs of a small group. The suggestion that groups advocating for faster climate action are on the fringes of society is completely false. Many people, worldwide and in the #Netherlands, are concerned about the consequences of climate change, not only in the future, but right here, right now. https://lnkd.in/eCZEbmR8

Climate action isn’t niche. Suggesting otherwise is undemocratic.

Climate action isn’t niche. Suggesting otherwise is undemocratic.

https://epgroningen.nl

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