… [T]here’s a growing consensus that the next 18 months will be critical in dealing with the global heating crisis, among other environmental challenges.
Last year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported that to keep the rise in global temperatures below 1.5C this century, emissions of carbon dioxide would have to be cut by 45% by 2030.
But today, observers recognise that the decisive, political steps to enable the cuts in carbon to take place will have to happen before the end of next year.
… [S]tarting Monday 15 July Extinction Rebellion UK will return to block streets day after day creating open public spaces for creative resistance in five cities in England, Wales and Scotland – Bristol, Cardiff, Glasgow, Leeds and London. People are coming together through a set of UK wide regional acts of nonviolent civil disobedience to demand the Government ACT NOW to halt biodiversity loss and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2025.
Marking the beginning of preparations for Extinction Rebellion’s next International Rebellion which will begin on Monday 7 October 2019, the Summer Uprising will follow on from this weekend’s East London Uprising.
Each site will have family-friendly spaces, live music, print
workshops, speeches and more. Everyone is invited to join this exciting
coordinated Summer Uprising in the city of their choosing:
In Bristol the focus will be on rising sea levels. This reflects the
city’s maritime history and its risk of floods, which NASA research
warns are likely to be a regular occurrence by 2050 if climate breakdown
isn’t urgently addressed. 22,300 residential Bristol properties will be
at risk, and flooding is likely to affect power stations.
Russell Arnott, 38, Oceanographer, University of Bath “We
are taking action in Bristol to tell the Government to act now on
climate change and ecological breakdown. Average sea levels have risen
by 23cm since 1880 with devastating consequences. This is causing
destructive erosion, flooding, more frequent hurricanes and powerful
storms, killing and displacing millions worldwide. We have to wake up to
the facts. This is a crisis to deal with, here and now.”
For updates on Bristol, follow Extinction Rebellion Bristol on facebook, twitter and their website.
Cardiff will be transformed by the arrival of concerned citizens from
across Wales who are determined to highlight the need for the Welsh
Government to dramatically accelerate its actions in tackling the
climate crisis and ecological emergency.
They will be occupying a central space in Cardiff – meeting from 11am
Monday outside Cardiff National Museum. Dressed in yellow, protestors
will represent dead canaries inspired by the words of Irish President
Michael D Higgins, “If we were coal miners we’d be up to our knees in dead canaries”. The sixth mass extinction is here and it’s time to act now.
Stephen Lingwood, 37, Extinction Rebellion Cardiff “People
are dying right now of climate chaos in places like India. It’s only
going to get worse. We’re at the beginning of the sixth mass extinction
and a climate genocide and the government’s inaction is, in my view,
criminally irresponsible.”
For updates on Cardiff, follow Extinction Rebellion Cardiff on facebook and their twitter.
Glasgow / Scotland’s focus for the Summer Uprising is solidarity with
climate refugees. Climate crisis and ecological breakdown are not
distant threats: all around the world people are already dying and being
displaced. The future effects of the Climate and Ecological Emergency
that we in the UK are terrified about – floods, food shortages, droughts
and resulting conflicts – are already a reality for millions of people
in the Global South/Majority World. The Glasgow event will have live
music, a ceilidh, speakers on climate justice and refugee solidarity,
and family activities with Wee Rebellion.
Daniel Armstrong, 24, Extinction Rebellion Scotland “As
the climate continues to break down, more and more parts of the world
will become uninhabitable. Immigration is already seen as a big issue
but it will only increase as more people are displaced. But if you’re
faced with unlivable conditions due to extreme weather, food shortages
and drought, you have no choice but to leave. From the perspective of my
hometown Glasgow, where refugees are welcomed, we stand in solidarity
with those affected not just by climate chaos but also those displaced
by this global crisis.”
For updates on Glasgow, follow Extinction Rebellion Glasgow on facebook and their twitter.
Rebels will target Leeds’ financial sector, which is the biggest and
fastest growing outside London, to draw attention to the links between
banking and the climate and ecological emergency. Demands will be made
for the finance industry to radically clean up its act and invest to be
part of the solution, not the problem.
Rev’d Jon Swales (B.A Hons, M.A, MLitt), 41, Leeds “Too
often we remain silent in the face of injustice, oppression and
extinction. I will not be silent for the sake of the world’s most poor.
“The Extinction Rebellion protests in Leeds will allow the alarm
bell to ring loud and clear in the City in which I live and work. If
this call is heeded perhaps we can avert the worst of what is yet to
come. I intend to play my part in non-violent and love shaped protest.”
For updates on Leeds, follow Extinction Rebellion Leeds on facebook and their twitter.
People are invited to gather outside the Royal Courts of Justice
(time TBC) in solidarity with all climate activists defending our planet
around the globe. We demand climate justice for all and call on
Government to make ecocide law. We stand with those laying their bodies
on the line to defend the natural world and commend their courage. We
are nature defending itself!
Fletcher Horobin-Worley, 45, Extinction Rebellion London: “The
time to debate climate change is over. Now we must talk of climate
justice. Now we must talk of moral obligations. Right now thousands
suffer and die every year in the global south due to climate change.
Entire island nations are being wiped of the map. Now we must meet our
duty to shoulder the burden of adapting to climate breakdown. ”
For updates on London, follow Extinction Rebellion London on facebook, twitter and their website.
