AT around 8am on Saturday, two trains carrying hundreds of north west people will leave Manchester's Piccadilly railway station for a journey which could quite literally help to change the world.

The trains have been chartered by The Co-operative in Manchester so that its members can take part in The Wave – a march through the capital aimed at ensuring that politicians can have no doubt what voters think about climate change.

Timed to coincide with the start of the crucial United Nations Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen, its organisers, the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition, expect more than 50,000 people to pull on a pair of blue gloves and form a “wave” of concern around the parliament building.

With 11 million members, the coalition describe themselves as “committed supporters, campaigners, hearts, minds and voices of over 100 organisations.”

This demonstration is motivated by their belief that the Copenhagen discussions may be the last chance for the world to agree a deal that averts dangerous climate change.

Among the 650 people making the journey from Piccadilly will be Liz Smith, 30, her partner Kevin Chan, 34, and his nine-year-old son Finley.

Liz, who works in sustainable procurement for the Warrington company Envirolink, says that she expects a carnival atmosphere in spite of The Wave's very serious undercurrent.

“This will show that climate change is such a pressing issue for many thousands of people and one that the Government can no longer afford to ignore.

“The Government is always talking about people taking matters into their own hands – we are saying to the Government that they have to do something to make people take matters into their own hands.

“They do need to force people - through legislation - to alter they way they consume energy.

“More important than advertising to ordinary people, they need to ensure that business does its bit.”

Liz says that she is “100 per cent convinced” about the impact of C02 emissions on the environment and believes that the worst impact of climate change in the near future will be a worldwide shortage of water.

She believes that other nations will suffer more than the United Kingdom and is concerned about the inequalities that situation will produce.

In terms of the “chaos” predicted by the SCCC, she talks about the potential for drought to turn vast numbers of people into refugees.

She adds: “If we don't act now, then things are going to be far worse for Finley's generation. How can we be telling the developing economies that they should limit the amount of C02 that they produce when we are still producing so much ourselves.

“I think there will be a carnival atmosphere in London on Saturday. People are coming together to show that they care about this issue. Politicians are afraid of making tough decisions for fear of upsetting the people who run the major corporations, but with so many people passing through London, they will know that they can no longer afford to ignore the issue.”

While Liz has always supported green ways of working, the outlook of her partner perhaps demonstrates more accurately the way that others are taking up the cause.

Kevin Chan describes his awakening to the issues facing the planet as being an “epiphany.”

“I wasn't really into the environment until I read a newspaper article which quoted a scientist called James Lovelock, who'd written a book about his belief that global warming would end in catastrophe ,” he says. “He spoke about feedback loops, a concept I had learned in biology lessons in relation to the human body, but in his work, he related them to the world itself.

“He basically said that when you have a warm planet, you are going to get more methane in the atmosphere. It's almost as though the planet is trying to re-balance itself by reducing the amount of human life it provides a home to.

“Tough decisions need to be taken and I think it is best to leave them to the politicians.

“But they are afraid to make decisions which might cost people money in a recession.

“What I would want to say to our politicians is that there are many people out there who want them to make those decisions even if they do increase taxes, otherwise, the price that will be paid by our grandchildren will be even higher.”

The Co-operative has also chartered another train from Leeds and coaches from towns and cities around the country. It expects around 2,000 members to attend the event in total.

Chris Shearlock, sustainable development manager at the Co-operative, says: “As a business with commercial interests in farming, food and finance, we are deeply concerned that the world's leaders must agree an ambitious deal in Copenhagen that is safe and fair.

“We have been pioneering our support for renewable energies but recognise that ultimately, anything that we do is a drop in the ocean unless a robust legislative framework is in place.

“That is why The Co-operative is calling for not only tough and binding reduction targets for 2020 but also the allocation of substantial resources to enable the developing world to play its part – at least $200bn per annum, which should be additional to existing finance pledges to help tackle global poverty.”

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