We live in an era of protest. An age defined by dissent. The world is filled with frustrated angry people rallying against their establishments for a multitude of outrages that bear little in common other than they are serious enough to get people to take to the streets. It appeared that Corona would kill off protests but in the end it just became another thing to protest about. There are currently so many groups fighting for so many different causes it is difficult to keep up and yet the one thing all these disparate cries of injustice are all united in, is that they are mostly defined by what they are against not what they are for.
Having a common enemy has bonded together many different groups of people at a time when there is mostly ever-increasing fragmentation and division. The internet has united people all over the world in a single cause but it has also ensured that we will never be able to get the majority to agree on anything ever again as the says of singular & factual source information are well and truly behind us.
Last week saw the return of the Extinction Rebellion and it is sadly apparent that their momentum has waned, their support diminished and the world has kinda moved on. And yet as it clearly slides from the forefront of people’s consciousness climate change is accelerating rapidly and its effects are ravaging the planet, hurtling us towards a future where life will not be sustainable for humans.
And just because we have stopped thinking about it doesn’t mean it has stopped happening. It is all there to see, we are just choosing to look in the other direction. And am not in any way undermining the validity or necessity of any of the protest movements in action around the globe at this moment in time but it has occurred to me that all these other protests around the world are maybe an intended distraction because we can’t face the reality of the environmental collapse we are facing.
The U.K government has now branded the XR as a criminal organisation who are threatening our way of life whilst the media and much of the population view them as troublemakers, privileged middle class or crusty hippies. These labels have been designed to deliberately undermine the movement and reduce their support but it still does not change the fact that their message is true and correct. It is happening and nothing is being done about it.
And the consequences of our inaction will have catastrophic results for all living creatures on this planet. Today I read that animal populations have decreased by 68% since 1970. At what point do we try to stop this mass extinction which we are responsible for and we will ultimately be a part of? at 80%? 90%? 100%? Oops too late.
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.
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…”
