Climate Catastrophe is Happening Now

I didn’t blog recently, not because nothing was happening, but because too much was. 

Extinction Rebellion had a fortnight of protests in London.  XR’s original mission was to draw attention to climate change as a reality, in spite of reassurances from the fossil fuel companies.  Since the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued its recent ‘Code Red for humanity’, there are few climate deniers left.

Extinction Rebellion’s updated quest is to get the government to act on climate change.  Despite making reassuring promises, they are supporting the opening of the vast new Cambo oilfield in Shetland and a new coalmine in Cumbria, while spending £27 billion on new roads and devastating an irreplaceable swathe of countryside with their HS2 white elephant project.

During the fortnight’s XR activities, Nigel sat down as an act of peaceful protest and offered himself for arrest twice, once chained to the pink table in the West End and once on a junction just north of Tower Bridge.  It is his way of shouting aloud ‘Stop the harm!’

I found myself surrounded by police cordons on at least three occasions and lost count of the number of times I was threatened with arrest. 

Extinction Rebellion causes disruption and this is controversial.  But the argument is that this is only the slightest fraction of the disruption which will be caused by climate catastrophe if it continues unchecked – ask the inhabitants of Germany or New York who suffered in recent flash floods.

There will be no ‘Business as Usual’ on a dead planet.

However, if the techniques of XR (Extinction Rebellion) seem uncomfortable to you, please still act to protect your planet by joining one of the other green organisations and following their advice to write to politicians and sign petitions.  We must act now.

Home - Extinction Rebellion UK

 Greenpeace UK

https://www.greenpeace.org.uk

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https://friendsoftheearth.uk

 

Inside the women's action at Oxford Circus

Back in the Jug Again

Nigel was on the wrong side of the law again on Thursday, at City of London Magistrates Court.

Back in September 2020 he got arrested as part of the Extinction Rebellion Protest outside the Houses of Parliament.

The occasion had been the first hearing of the Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill, tabled by Caroline Lucas.  It is an attempt to take measures to stem irreversible climate catastrophe but the Government is against it.   By protesting outside parliament, the hope was to appeal to the consciences of MPs so they might support it.

Nigel sat peacefully in the road and refused to move onto the grassy area where the police were containing protesters in circumstances which made Covid social distancing almost impossible.

In court our lawyer tried out some new tactics and arguments.  Nigel, as always, pleaded ‘Necessity’ – he did something a bit wrong in order to prevent a greater harm – i.e. global heating and the deaths of millions.  But, the judge was disposed to find Nigel guilty.  His sentence was a suspended fine.

However, we got hit with high court costs – a new way of deterring Climate Activists from peaceful protest.

The Government plans to make things even harder with the Police, Crime, Sentencing & Courts Bill, 2021, currently being rushed through Parliament.  It means that next time Nigel (or anybody else) sits down in the road as part of a peaceful protest, he could be given a ten year prison sentence. 

Due to climate factors, we have cut out air travel to foreign countries.  But this monstrous Police Bill will give us the opportunity to experience what it is like to live in Hong Kong or mainland China!

Extinction Rebellion

A really potent army recruitment poster of 1915 had a child asking his father, “Daddy, what did YOU do in the Great War?”

There is nothing more powerful than the thought that we will be called to account for our actions.  Especially if it our own children and grandchildren who are suffering as a result. 

So Nigel and I joined Extinction Rebellion.  It’s not like we have an excess of spare time or a shortage of hobbies.  It just seems incredibly urgent.

Many people would like to carry on the way we are - "If we ignore climate change, maybe it'll go away." Plus there is a strong mesh of business interests which does not want us to consume fewer resources. 

However, I have studied history and archaeology and I know that mighty civilisations like ours have fallen and that sometimes it has been for environmental reasons.

It is devastatingly inaccurate for us Brits to say, "We'll be okay." 

Actually global climate crisis will affect all of us. The millions who are being drowned and scorched will strive for survival. Society will break down on an unprecedented level.

Ours is the last generation that can prevent this. I am haunted by the vision of my someday grandchildren asking me what I did to ensure the planet was habitable for them. I want to have some sort of answer for them.

XR and the ants

At Greenbelt, Nigel, Pascoe and I took the opportunity to find out more about Extinction Rebellion (XR).  We don’t want our descendants to live in a world of famine, pollution and social breakdown. 

In order to get motivated to do something about Climate Change, we have to look squarely at the consequences.

And, it’s very frightening. 

So I also soothed myself by going on a nature walk run by Bob Gilbert, aimed at noticing the unnoticed (e.g. a beautiful willowherb flower that had taken root in the crook of a beech).  And by going on a foraging event led by Miles Irving where we learnt why we should gather ribwort, nettle seed and purple ground ivy.

But, the best indication of hope occurred just as we were packing up our tent.  I picked up the gas canister which had been on the ground only three days and discovered that in that brief time, yellow meadow ants  had nested inside its concave base and had filled this new chamber with their pupae.  I had to remove the canister, but we saw worker ants start to pick up the pupae and carry them to safety.

Given a chance, nature will triumph.  But we do have to ensure that Climate Change does not take our last chance away.

photo by Pascoe