This statement is from the Extinction Rebellion as to their intentions:
Civil Disobedience works when it’s, peaceful respectful, disruptive and undertaken on a mass scale. We don’t want to disrupt people, but our governments’ criminal negligence over 30 years leaves us no choice. If we had functioning democracies we wouldn’t need to. We’ve tried petitions, marches, letters, reports, papers, meetings, even direct actions, and emissions have continued to rise. Governments prioritise the short term interests of the economic elites, so to get their attention, we have to disrupt the economy. They have left no other option to get our three demands met, to save all that we love.
We need thousands of people to take to the streets, so spread the word. From the first night, we’ll start a wide diversity of cultural events – music, theatre, visual art, speakers, trainings. The more we do, the more people we will attract. As more join, we will grow bigger, faster, and have a wider effect.
Action is now taking place all around the world. Join us. This is it! Extinction Rebellion.
From 11am Monday 15 April, Parliament Square, London
To read more about the XR and the upcoming event/demo please click here:
I am joining them because amidst a sea of nothing they are actually doing something and something really needs to be done. The time for doing nothing is over.
Britain has been broken, splintered from every corner and they can’t quite put all the pieces back together again. This shot of a ‘gaffer tape union jack’ could not be a more appropriate visual metaphor, and all the other pictures this week symbolically represented the distorted,and subsequently divisive, perception of our national identity. Monday’s shot was an image that reflected the “great” days of the British Empire. Tuesday was a street art portrait of the Queen in her headscarf, looking like an ordinary elderly woman, the flag behind her, sprayed onto a shutter of a shop closed for business. Wednesday was a woman kneeling in front of the English flag, shadows closing in around her, seemingly defeated whilst a sign in the window states: ‘Take the risk, or lose the chance’. And then yesterday, a shot of a newspaper (yesterday) which cruelly echoed the famous headline that appeared after the first massive wave of European immigrants into this country: “Will the last person in Poland please switch off the lights?”
A lot of people freaked out when so many Eastern Europeans came over here but there is only one statistic that was ever relevant in relation in immigration: they put more in than they take out. So what was the problem exactly? A threat to our sovereignty? What even is that? Why are we defined by the country we were born in? We could have been born anywhere. Why do we need to take up everything it stands for, lock, stock and barrel? Everyone’s been banging on about sovereignty but all I know is you can’t pay your rent with it and you can’t eat it.
The attempt to preserve our national identity in the face of a globalised existence has brought this country to its knees but it doesn’t really exist. It is a concept. It is not real. In the highly enlightening book ‘Sapiens’ by Yuval Noah he explains how societies are held together with ‘imagined belief systems’ which are ideas that everyone agrees to follow so that we can all get along and function. Religion, capitalism, national and cultural identity are all ‘imagined belief systems that people adhere to so that their society doesn’ fall apart at the seams. When people stop believing in the same thing, it all starts to fragment and divisions emerge and hostility between different belief systems takes hold. This is where we are at. In order for harmony to be reinstated we would need to create a new belief system. The question is, what could we all unite over? What do we now all believe? In a post-truth world of fake news where opinion carries more weight that fact, it will be hard to find anything we all agree on. Even the flat earth theory is back for fuck’s sake. Now that little nugget of truth arrived many moons ago so the fact it is now in question again shows how demented things have got. Devolution is officially in effect.
The only thing we could all agree on, if everyone was to accept the data and what they know deep down to be happening is that it is all a distraction from the climate emergency that is taking over this planet. This is thr common enemy that will affect everyone and could be the one thing that would finally unite us as a single tribe where we would see beyond identity, race, gender, religion, politics and just see a single species in desperate need of unification to defeat this threat to our survival…if only people could agree it existed. Acceptance will lead to a solution. And we do need a solution. Nothing else matters…not even Brexshit.
I went to my first ever Extinction Rebellion this week. It was very encouraging to meet people who are not just going to sit back and wait for nothing to happen. They are galvanising into a global organisation that will do anything it can to raise the issue so that they declare it the level of emergency that it truly is. They are organising a massive demonstration/shut down of London on April 15th but are planning things all over the world. There are groups springing up everywhere. If there isn’t one local to you, start one. Time to get on board cos they’re ain’t no other train leaving the station. We have to fight. We cannot go from denial to defeat and skip the solution bit. We inherited a working planet and an environment contusive to our species. We must do everything we can to pass that on to future generations. Join the resistance: https://rebellion.earth
This was taken at a teacher/pupil strike in the centre of Stockholm, which are also taking place all over the world to raise the issue of climate change in the hope someone in power will pay attention and actually do something.
The U.K is currently experiencing ridiculously warm weather for this time of year but mostly all you hear about it are people saying how glorious and wonderful it is. People are all pottering around in T-shirts thinking everything is great but it isn’t. It’s February. It should not be like this and it means just one thing: the world is hotting up and climate change is destabilising our environment. And whether you believe it or not, it does not matter, because it will happen regardless.
And this is not something that will occur in the distant the future. The effects are happening right now. And this problem that we have created is not going away. We cannot shove it under the carpet and hope it will just disappear. It won’t. We need to wake up. And fast. It is as if we are in a sleep state from which we cannot shake ourselves. And deep down we all know it. We have collective paralysis because the problem feels too big to tackle and it would mean giving up our entire way of life and starting again. And we clearly aren’t prepared to do that as massive inaction is still the current order of the day. We have been spoon-fed our existence and it has rendered us useless. We have become so passive we don’t even know how to stand up and fight anymore. They have destroyed our spirit with easy living and a digital prison. Survival has not been a modus operandi for so much of the world’s population for so many generations we don’t even know where to start.
We are all still so preoccupied with everything else we are blind to the magnitude of this all encompassing problem. but nothing else really matters anymore. Whatever your goals were, whatever career or house or car you wanted, whatever health regime you were following, whatever you are doing to ensure your family has a good life, none of it will count for shit if we do not attempt to deal with this. And we are not dealing with it. We are submerged up to our eyeballs in denial. And there is no magic solution coming. None of our leaders are coming to save the day. The Climate summit has been meeting for 24 years and in 24 years they are not one iota closer to initiating anything that will be remotely enough to tackle the mother of all problems in time. So I think we can safely assume that, if they have done nothing of any significance in a quarter of a decade, the solution will not be coming from them.
Yesterday there was an article on bbc about the warm weather (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-47374936) and even though they did mention climate change they still sat on the fence and suggested other factors might be involved and they even put up pictures of people smiling and enjoying the sun as if it was still a good thing. The 20 hottest years on record have come in the last 21 years. Coincidence? Of course not. The artic, the himalayas, the glaciers, all our melting at a rate way faster even their most alarming predictions and it is all having a massive knock-on effect which is going to render giant chunks of the world uninhabitable and destroy our ability to feed the 7 billion plus people (and their livestock) on the planet. At least the Guardian had the balls to post this article which at least raises the issue of fear surrounding this situation: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/feb/26/terrified-warm-weather-global-warming-london.
On April 15th the Extinction Rebellion are staging a mass shutdown of London on April 15th. Look them up and see what they are proposing and you might want to get involved. You might think you don’t agree with their course of action, but all other avenues have been exhausted. Or that you don’t want to associate yourself with climate activists but let me remind you, if you are anti-extinction (and am assuming you are) you are already in the Extinction Rebellion…
Wake wakey Human Racey! We’re heading for the exit…its now-or-never time to do something about it…
I have featured old people in this week’s posts as they are the only generation alive that will not witness the debilitating effect climate change will have on this planet’s ability to make life habitable for humans. This is because they will be dead. Lucky them. When death becomes a good option you know you’re in trouble..
Too dramatic? Too depressing? Stay with me. Please. If you are already switching off because you can’t face reading this, please do everything you can to override your brain’s natural preference to turn away from calamitous news – its a defence mechanism which, ironically, will cause our destruction if left unchecked. We simply can’t ignore this anymore. So, just say to your brain..dear brain, (maybe you don’t need to be so formal) Yo brain! (if u iz bit street) don’t switch off! We need to know what’s going on here. Stop looking for dopamine hits and try to pay attention, just for a lil bit then if you’re a good boy I’ll show you a notification..
And so we’re back in the room, back on the doom. Please proceed ahead…
This is no longer about future generations, this will affect everyone alive today who isn’t old. And even if this was to happen to generations beyond the ones already here why don’t we give a shit about the humans on this Earth 100 years, 200 years from now? Are we that self-centric? They are the grandkids of today’s grandkids – why would we not be concerned for them as well?
All the scientific predictions, even the alarmist ones, are falling way short of what we are already witnessing, namely the increased acceleration of the warming of the climate as the domino effects starts to take effect. And still nothing is being done about it. Not in any significant way whatsoever by anyone. Nothing that will remotely prevent what is definitely ahead….
And not wishing to burst your bubble, but recycling your milk cartons and giving up on plastic straws or signing a petition is not going to do it. Doing our bit is no longer enough. Our bit has to be bigger. Much much bigger. So big you couldn’t even call it a bit. You would have to call it a ‘lot’ instead. We need drastic action now and yet there is no sign of it from anyone in power anywhere in the world. So now what?
I went down to one of the Extinction Rebellion road blocks this week to join in and to see the effect it was having. I wanted to know if the public were supporting the cause. After contacting a few mobile numbers I eventually found a very small band of protestors lined up against the oncoming traffic at a major thoroughfare in West Kensington. Were they being cheered on and applauded for their actions? No. They were being met with was utter hostility and anger. From everyone that surrounded them.
Cars and lorries beeped their horns relentlessly at them, passersby shouted abuse at them. Onlookers loathed them for what they were doing and they weren’t even affected by it. And all they were doing was stopping traffic for 7 minutes at a time and being very polite in the process. The police were actually the most cordial to them out of everyone present but they have worked out that what the Rebels want is to be arrested so they are doing anything but that.
I listened to some of the people standing around…
One guy said: “There are much more important issues than this right now”.
Ironically, there aren’t. Not one. This is the only thing that matters now and it seems to be the only thing that no-one is bothering to do anything about. Everything else needs to be shelved until we deal with this. It is not for tomorrow. It is for now. This is urgent. We are rapidly running out of time. If you are focussing on your career, your kids, your digital love or even supporting other causes, it will all be moot if we render large chunks of this planet uninhabitable. Everything we are focusing on right now will be irrelevant.
Another woman said: “they’re just disrespecting people and pissing them off. Its not these drivers fault. They should get the government to sort this out. I know it will take longer but this ain’t the way forward”
Maybe not, but they are only doing this because all other avenues have failed and there are no other options. Marching doesn’t work. Lobbying doesn’t work, petitions, celebrity campaigns, documentaries, decades of corroborated scientific research and yes, even writing about it, doesn’t work. The Rebels think that civil disobedience is all that is left and they might be right, but based on the amount of animosity they received from everyone around them, it’s going to be a seriously uphill struggle to get the people on their side. This movement has received a lot of support and has already succeeded in raising the issue and galvanising action and is making traction through the treacle of public paralysis but you can see how resistant and unwilling a lot of folk are to face up to the realities of this threat and seem to resent anyone who shoves it in their face. (guilty your honour)
The funny thing is we are all technically part of The Extinction Rebellion because we are all against extinction right? Its a given isn’t it so why isn’t it worth fighting for? And we should be supporting anyone who has got off their arse to try and deal with this shitstorm that is looming ever closer? And how can you really be in favour of inaction over action? We need to realise it is down to us and no-one else. There is no knight in shining armour coming to save us, no magic wand that will fix everything. No future bit of carbon capture tech is going to be invented in time that will save us. And interplanetary travel is just fiction folks. We ain’t ever getting off this spinning rock. Sorry.
And leaving it to our government as the woman suggested is not only an utter dead end but they are actively worsening the situation with fracking and the building of a 3rd runway at Heathrow. And just so we are all clear this is what green policies the Tories have abandoned, axed or removed funding for since they have been in power…
support for onshore wind
green home schemes
solar subsidies
green investment bank
incentives to buy green cars
zero carbon homes
green tax targets
tidal power
So why do we think they are going to fix the situation when everything that might potentially help they have ditched, given up on or sold off? I was pretty depressed at the reaction of the public to this protest. It very well might not change anything but this is last chance at the saloon to wake people up to what’s ahead and has been born out of utter desperation following the exhaustion of all other avenues. I’m sure everyone present would be rather doing anything else than be relentlessly honked and shouted at but were there because we are now entering desperate times which require desperate measures.
The effects of climate change (fires/floods/droughts/desertification/pollution/mass species annihilation), which are already in full swing and already wrecking havoc and destruction are accelerating as domino effects of a warming climate come into play. This is not some apocalyptic sci-fi future we are talking about. This is right now. It is already here. And still we do nothing. What has to happen for us to wake up? How many need to die before we shake ourselves out of our slumber. Will it need to be millions? Billions? How many before we do something?
The only real way out of this mega shitstorm is to have strong governments in every country take the situation as seriously as is required and tell the public what needs to happen. Not dress it up so they don’t upset anyone. Just tell us what we can and cannot do anymore and we’ll just have to accept it. For example…
If they told us we couldn’t have petrol cars anymore, it would suck but we would get over it
If they told us we had to stop flying everywhere, it would suck but we would get over it
If they told us we couldn’t have meat 3 times a day anymore it would suck but surely we would get over it (being a smug 85% indoor vegan I am obvs ok with this one)
If they told us we couldn’t have avocados in march, it would suck but surely we would get over it
If they told us to give up all our tech, all our comforts, all our toys…it would suck but what the fuck else can we do?
basically everything that makes our lives better and easier and more fun would have to be drastically reduced or given up completely…they would all have to go until we get this shit under control…yes, it would totally fucking suck to high heaven but I’m pretty sure existence of any kind is better than no existence at all. Would you rather be alive and not eating a burger or dead and not eating anything? Hmmmm….
(NB: I don’t actually know if avos need to be imported in march but you get the point, take any fruit or veg, find out when its hard to get and then imagine not having it during that period. Is it really that terrible?)
Whatever we would have to do without we would have to be ok with it, whatever is necessary, because the alternative is longer an option. The alternative to all this is to wait and watch as we make this environment impossible for us to survive in. It took the earth billions of years to get to this stage where life can exist as it does. Do we want to remove this capability in under 200 years?
Is that what we want on our species tombstone? “Here lies homo sapien. Fucked life forever in a really short space of time…”
