Hundreds attend Manningtree festival about climate crisis

Hundreds of people attended a festival held in a town to raise awareness of the climate crisis.

The Earth Festival, in Manningtree, Essex, wanted to inspire people to live a more sustainable life, with speeches, live music, games and workshops.

It was organised by Practical Actions for Climate and the Environment (PACE).

Bonny Williams, from PACE, said: "We have definitely raised the profile of sustainability in our corner of the world."

She added: "Now the challenge is to turn enthusiasm and inspiration into action."

The festival had 40 stalls, 80 volunteers and featured talks about the environment from 18 different speakers.

John Hall, chairman of PACE, said he hoped people who attended might be inspired to make small changes, from recycling more to using the car less.

"The science is terrifying," he said. "We now have less than three years to turn around global warming to ensure it doesn't reach the irreversible tipping point of 1.5C.

"We're not even close to achieving that. Following current policy, Earth is on track for 2.7C of warming by 2100.

"A figure which will see catastrophic consequences not only for the poor around the world but for us all, here in Manningtree.

"To avoid this we all need to start reducing our personal carbon footprint straight away."

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