We believe that the climate crisis is symptomatic of a political system that isn’t serving the public, and that a just transition to a green economy is one that’s democratic. So we jumped at the chance to run a workshop at the Extinction Rebellion camp in London (October 2019), and facilitate a conversation about what a new constitution for the climate (#constitution4theclimate) might look like.

Unlock Democracy’s Activism and Outreach Coordinator, Rob, has written about how there’s a democratic crisis at the heart of the climate emergency. Despite a striking majority of us being concerned about climate change, the government is going backwards on taking action, and as Rob wrote: “When it comes to the climate, the government simply does not embody the values of the people.”

Unlock Democracy x Extinction Rebellion

So in this light, it was only natural that we took up the chance to explore the intersection between the climate crisis and democracy when we were invited to run a workshop by Extinction Rebellion.

The workshop explored how we could build a political system that works for climate justice. That included looking at how to disrupt the state so that we bring an end to the business-as-usual politics that is failing to respond fast enough to the climate crisis. To disrupt the state, we need to change its foundations.

From there we talked about the UK’s constitution, and why the current constitutional settlement presents a challenge for realising climate justice. We discussed what form we would like our constitution to take, and what our constitution should include - what rights, what freedoms, what limits on state power.

The workshop wrapped up with a mock citizens’ assembly to suggest themes for rights to be enshrined in a new constitution, such as the right to live in a safe and healthy environment, the right to a decent job, and the right to clean water.

Our Demand Democracy campaign will be rolling out similar workshops in the coming months, so sign up to our mailing list to find out about a workshop near you.