Read on Twitter
Today I formally left @greenparty_ie - I was a member for over 10yrs, its primary researcher in opposition from 2016-19 & an advocate for climate justice/just transition within and outside the party. It was a wonderful adventure but much wasted potential (Long thread).
I made many lifelong friends, and am grateful for the opportunities I was given to advance the principles above. I now believe the time has come for independent, evidence-based research & advice on climate change action. I can best serve this without political affiliation.
I am also deeply disappointed at the party& #39;s decision at #GP2020 to oppose a just transition. Argument was focus on rights delay climate action. This is ignorant of the IPCC& #39;s calculations (AR6) which show achievement of SDG Agenda 2030 is the fastest way to reduce emissions.
I organised a panel on just transition 3 years ago at the GP convention. I convinced my wonderful dad, the playwright & filmmaker Paul Mercier, to speak at it. It was the most beautiful speech on turf-cutting, black carbon & the importance of Meitheal - of care for one another.
I was also blessed to have speaking Adrian Kane, SIPTU organiser for energy and utilities. Who gave one of the greatest speeches I& #39;ve heard on climate, the pride of Offaly bog men & the transition we face amidst the great crisis of inequality & lost faith in old institutions.
Others were @think_or_swim @kruddock & Comharcumann Fuinneamh Oileáin Árann. I later wrote one of the 1st pieces of JT legislation internationally (with Ryan). I worked for months with trade unions to ensure our work was in line with UNFCCC principles https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/bills/bill/2018/118/">https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/bills/...
From 2016-19, I bought & delivered solidarity food & pizzas from the party for striking @SIPTU public bus workers & @MandateTU Tesco workers. I was not reimbursed (though Eoin Wilson personally contributed). Since I left, the party privatised bus routes & ignores @DevilDebenhams
This vote by the GP is bigger than Bord na Móna, or Moneypoint. It is a rejection of Meitheal - of the common ordinary offerings of care that underpin our relationship with one another. A turn from the generous tapestry of & #39;comhshaol& #39;, to a reductive, colonised, & #39;environ-ment& #39;.
The global wave of climate action - from @climatecaseire , school strikers, Green New Deal to @Pontifex - have no time for such an ungenerous, small-minded, & #39;I& #39;m alright Jack& #39; vision of the world. Maybe I& #39;ve read too much sci-fi &so can still dream of new& better civilisations...
...maybe I& #39;ve experienced enough of this planet to know it& #39;s tough enough without making it worse for each other. Either way, the future is elsewhere.
Oh, and I& #39;d like to highlight the shade my dad appears to have given me (& the room) in his incredible speech at the time: "and in the minds of many boggers, the people who forced us not to burn the bondholders are the same people telling us not to burn turf"
