It was extraordinary to hear Greater Tamberg today, getting involved in local Bristol politics by saying that she was delighted that the expansion off Bristol Airport had been stopped.

This is after I spoke to her about the scrapping of the third runway at Heathrow Airport.

You yourself were in favor of that expansion last year.

Did that put you in a rather awkward position because Bristol's been on the front end off action on climate change?

The delivery off?

What the world needs is gonna happen through cities where most people live in week published this week, are our climate strategy.

There is an evidence based approach involves replacing 96,000 high spoilers retrofitting homes.

Bring it forward.

A no carbon transport system on Bristol Airport while it says it on the tin is not actually in.

Bristol is in North.

Somerset was not my planning decision, but you were in favor of it last year on the record.

But it's not.

My decision is a politically because there's a contest.

I'm not in favor of airport expansion When there is a question.

The real aim is to get the number of people flying to reduce, and I think that's where people are missing the point.

So we're in favor off reducing the number of people flying, and that's a campaign.

I'm important for any politician, Harry, whether you're mayor or you're an MP.

Is it now impossible for you to ignore the voices of people like Jess?

We're not even old enough to vote.

I do want to reassure Jess and her friends that we do really hear the message.

And I think it is incredibly important to act with the first country major economy in the world to have put into law that we want to be net zero by 2050 on.

We've been able to grow the economy over the last decades, create millions and millions of jobs while at the same time cutting carbon emissions by 25%.

So we do hear the message and we are acting.

But they say they hear the message is, do you trust them?

I think we need to see the action, you know, they they say that they're going to act, but really 2050 is 2020 fifties, 20 years too late, and we want to be that zero by 2030 to avoid the catastrophic consequences of this crisis.

So do you think they're not doing enough politicians?

Okay, so what do you know?

What would you say to them now?

Here.

This is your opportunity.

I think there are so many, you know, this legislation, that is, they're ready to be put in place, such as a greeny deal which would make the transition to a zero carbon economy so much easier.

And it would ensure that jobs for those who currently have jobs in the fossil fuel industry and really carbon intensive jobs are protected and up.

You know, that voice is heard.

But not everyone in the city cares as much about the environment of the future, the planet as you and your generation do.

And they're saying in a minute we can't wait to these green jobs That that sounds great on paper, but I want the job that I was promised last month or last week.

So what do you say to them?

Because there has to be a balance, doesn't there between protecting the planet and protecting the economy?

There definitely does.

And I I think the thing to remember is that the more time we waste, the more, uh, drastic this action is gonna become.

So if we wantto you know, stop that.

You know, that kind of divide?

We need to take action as soon as possible.

Mayor Reese, do you find it annoying when people like, just just hold you just okay?

When 50 meal citizens like Jess on the Greater Thornburg who's 17 year old are basically telling ticking off politicians like you giving you a telling off?

No, I tell what I do find a little bit first.

Are you sure you don't find that if you let me finish?

One sentence is when when we get arguments set up is there They're binary like the light, like right now, In fact, this is really complicated.

As I said, we've got a city with 12,000 people on the way.

In this, we have to deliver over 30,000 homes in the context of a climate ecological emergency.

Delivering on this is challenging.

We need to deliver a de carbonized transit system.

We need a good relationship with national government.

It cost billions of pounds.

You gotta have an evidence based plan.

And that's what that's what we're doing.

So some things take a while.

Some things can happen quickly, right?

Okay, Hannah, click your hydrologist.

That means you understand how water flows, where it goes when whether we want it together or not are their practical solutions to the flooding crisis that we're still going through the men that you're hearing from the politicians in charge.

It's a very complicated situation.

It is, I acknowledge that, but the floods that we've seen over the past couple of weeks are really an indication that we can see, you know, natural hazards affecting most of the country at any point in time.

And we know that these are likely to get worse with climate change, most types of flooding are likely to get worse.

This is the new normal now that we have to get used to you, and I think it's, you know, it's a tiny fraction of 1% of the problems we're storing up for ourselves unless we take some serious action soon.

So how did you come from a constituency that has suffered severe floating?

And it's gonna it might get worse this weekend with storm home.

But you also represent the ruling party.

So what compromises would you be prepared to make Should the government make in terms off dealing with the new normal that is flooding in our country?

It is a well, I look at this flood event, and I looked back 13 years ago when we had the last really bad floods on the River seven and we've got many, many more homes have had flood defenses, so I think a compromise is we need to keep on spending money on flood defenses.

We've also been able to make the community more resilient, so individual level property protection.

But it was said the emergency service is working much more closely together on I think that there were announcements last week.

Just last week, for example, where we announced that you would no longer be able to put wet wood in your wood burning stove.

You will never be able to wouldn't be able to buy cold for your fire anymore on.

So those are the kinds of action that we are taking action.

No, they're not.

I think we have to do a lot more to make our communities resilient.

I think we need to do a lot more to make sure that we're not putting people in the way of floods on to make the problem is gonna get worse.

So we need to really take that seriously.

May you've got the particular responsibility of housing A lot of people in this city.

I think you told me that he expected population of Bristol, which is about 400,000.

The moment you got 465 60 dig up another 100,000 in the you know, in the next 10 years, we're gonna build those houses.

What us?

Our challenge.

And that's the nature relationship.

We need to have the government, but one of the ancestors.

With most of the world now living in cities and cities, being the big driver of emissions is to support cities to redesign themselves.

Historically, they've grown with no regard to the impact on the planet.

So even if people are conscious and want to live a low impact life, it's hard work.

What we need is a bankable relationship with government is worth billions of pounds over 10 15 years for us to redesign city systems from housing to waste the water to the use of energy to transport so that even if people aren't thinking about it, they're living low impact lives.

That takes a fundamental shift in the way we run this country.

Okay?

Just I mean, you know, these are practical decisions that politicians have to make.

But you've got totally different concerns, haven't you?

You got your concern is about the future of the planet that you have to inhabit.

Yeah, I think it's really important for politicians to realize that my generation and generations to follow the ones who are really gonna bear the brunt of the decisions that are made now, on today.

So are you frustrated when you when you look at what's going on in government not just here but in other countries as well?

I mean, the way the greater tongue burgers and she looks at the newspapers everyday things.

Oh, my God, they're just not taking this seriously.

And she gets really angry about it.

I think, Yeah, I think it's understandable to be when you see all these new extremes that are becoming everyday life, it's I don't see how you can not be angry in a way because it's affecting people and people are dying.

And yet the action needs to be taken isn't currently happening, but your anger is not shared by.

But is it shed by you sadly for you.

But it's not shared by you because you don't see a sound angry.

Don't look angry.

She sounds angry.

I don't say you have to be and you yourself some phenomenal lt's analysis to peer into my soul.

1 to 10.

How angry.

I'm angry about it because poor people can't get first and hardest by the consequences of climate change.

I've been involved in development organizations for a long time.

This is the thing is a major social justice issue.

The people that die looked like me and my dad, and that does make me angry.

But being angry takes you so far have an evidence base action plan.

Actually doing something about it takes you a lot further.

Have it.

I agree.

It's got to be about doing, and I think it's for example, the UK, which was one of the first countries in the world to be powered by Cole.

We're going to have given up Cole altogether by 2024 when I was first elected in 2010 6% of the country's electricity came from renewables.

Now it's nearly 50%.

So we are taking action.

I do hear what Jesse's saying about.

She wants us to do it faster.

We want to do it in a way that creates those green jobs.

And yet the austerity policies that have been pursued by the government that you represented, you sat in a government have been have cut flood defenses over the years.

I mean, this is just not enough money around to sector.

Actually, no accurate.

We've had six new flood defense schemes built in Westminster.

Shall we cumulatively protected over 200,000 more homes were increasing the flood defense budget budget.

Before that, they were cut quite severely.

They know that's when I got all my flood defense schemes were built in that window, six of them on DSO.

We're much, much more protected than we were.

But we do.

You're absolutely right, Matt, that we do have to keep on investing in flood resilience, flood defences and continuing to make sure that we are working together to mitigate these.

How can we afford that?

The chances just put back some of the very difficult decisions of this budget because of the Corona virus, the economy is taking a bit of a hit of the moment.

Who knows where this will end?

Money is going to run, though, if not dry.

How do you make sure you get the funds that you need?

While I cite that fact that the economy has grown 25% in the last decade and yet we've been able to cut carbon emissions by 25% during that time, I think the economy's going nearly 20%.

You've talked about some of the practical things that could be done, but also you.

Are you very much gather agree with greater turned back on the important, really tackling climate change.

What is the right balance between the big picture stuff, you know?

And the more practical stuff that you would suggest is a hydrologist.

Well, I don't think that there is any conflict between everything that we've seen the young activist saying, and all of the science and evidence that I know is true about the climate changing and the action, the urgent action that we need to take to change the way that we think about our future.

What is the most important here, the three top things that need to be done now.

I think that people taking personal responsibility so mobilising everybody, you know, if you're a zookeeper or you know, a new three draw or whatever.

Everybody has take personal responsibility for changing the way that they live their lives.

But also we do need some kind of top down policy change that joined up agriculture, land management, you know, and everything needs to be joined up in order to make a difference.

But where does that personal responsibility come from?

If people don't fear, you know this new normal if they don't not living in a flood zone if they're not living in a drug zone, if they're not experiencing this stuff, even if it's inevitable, where is that personal responsibility come from?

I think it's up to us to make sure that we are communicating that actually a lot of people are at risk, particularly from natural hazards, and floods nearly everywhere in the country is at risk in that particular sense.

So if you can, if you can generate that from that science evidence, that would be great.

Just what with your role be in this, you know, firing people up to do more.

I think it's important to remember that we are still Children and we're no experts.

It'll But we it's so important that the government take responsibility for this and make sure that people are educated on what's happening and know what's going on and know how it's going to affect their lives.

And what did the things that you can do and you have done in Bristol to make a real difference here?

Well, first of all, I say this isn't just about adding up individual actions.

This is about systems like is.

It is hard to live a low impact life in the modern city.

When you change the whole way, cities actually work, and that takes billions of pounds of investment.

But just in Bristol the other day, we took order of 77 by gas buses.

That means buses generated by sewage and waste food.

Now take those people getting on the buses aren't thinking, Oh, I am now no longer getting on a diesel bus.

We have set up a means of transport.

It means they're not having such a negative impact on a plane.