Climate activists want to save fries by handing them to politicians
Friday, 18 September 2020
Illustration image. Credit: Creative Commons
On Friday, climate activists handed out fries and beer to Egbert Lachaert and Conner Rousseau, the two royal appointees tasked with forming a federal government, to remind them of the importance of sustainable climate policy.
With the initiative, called “climate government now, or no fries on the menu,” the activists of the Climate Coalition point to a recent report, which showed that the production of two of Belgium’s iconic products, beer and fries, could be severely affected by climate change.
“88% of Belgians eat fries once a week. More and more studies are showing that doing nothing comes at a high price. They also show that we can create tens of thousands of jobs by increasing our ambition,” said Lien Vandamme of the Climate Coalition.
“As these do not yet seem to be sufficient arguments, we hope to finally alert our policymakers by pointing out the threat to our fries,” she added.
A combination of drought and heatwave in 2018 led to a loss of 31% of the potato crop in Flanders, which accounts for the great majority of the country’s production. For beer production, in case of the worst-case scenario, will fall by 40% by 2050.
The health crisis has pushed the climate one into the background for politicians, according to the organisation, but the urgency remains. To stay below the crucial threshold of 1.5°C warming, global emissions need to be halved by 2030.