UK, in a first, declares climate emergency

Britain’s opposition Labour Party on Wednesday called for “real action” after parliament became the first in the world to vote to declare a climate emergency. “Thanks to pressure from the Labour Party, the UK just became the first country to declare an environment and #climateemergency,” the party said on its Twitter page. The vote was taken following 11 days of protests organised by climate activists Extinction Rebellion that brought several London sites to a standstill. Extinction Rebellion called the vote a “first step in the government telling the truth about the climate and ecological emergency.”