Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty Images
The bright pink 24-foot sailboat that was named after the murdered Honduran environmental activist, Berta Caceres, was parked in the center of London, in Oxford Circus early Sunday morning. Extinction Rebellion organized thousands to gather around shutting down the intersection, disrupting business as usual. Thousands also occupied Waterloo Bridge complete with potted trees and skate board park, Parliament Square, and Marble Arch, the biggest of camps.
Friday, actor Emma Thompson spoke out from the cockpit of the Berta Caceres. Emma made known to all the Extinction Rebellion movement has three aims: to get governments to declare a "climate emergency;" to eliminate net greenhouse gas emissions by 2025; and to have citizens' assemblies lead the government on climate and ecological justice.
Police in high-vis jackets arrived, surrounded the vessel and commenced to peel off the Extinction Rebellion activists. Angle grinders followed, cutting through the bars and struts below the hull. Protesters who had chained and glued themselves to the structure were left holding the bits.
The little but heavy fiberglass boat was moved just two streets away before arrested by a crush of demonstrators singing the Beatles' All You Need is Love. The 7-hour cruise stopped there, until a lorry arrived. As the boat was pulled away, uniformed officers jogged with it. The crowd chanted: "We have more boats."
Peaceful rebellion is collectively our last best chance.
Oskar's Quest
As climate change wreaks havoc on our wildlife and agriculture,
what do you tell a 13-year-old boy about his future?
Jem Bendell's story of Oskar's quest, delving into deeply adaptive actions that include recognizing, letting go, and cherishing, considers whether and how to discuss our climate predicament with children and young adults.
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Photograph: Valerio Portelli/LaPresse via Zuma/Rex/Shutterstock
Greta Thunberg speaking out from the Vatican, European Parliament, to London
"I would love to participate in their protests while in London if there is time and if they are still protesting. I think it's one of the most important and hopeful movements of our time. Civil disobedience is necessary to create attention to the ongoing climate and ecological crisis."
Greta Thunberg is due to arrive London on Sunday after a meeting with Pope Francis and an excoriating address at the European parliament. Monday & Tuesday, Greta is scheduled to speak to the UK parliament at the invitation of Green Party MP Caroline Lucas. Greta will speak to dozens of MPs including the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, and the environment secretary, Michael Gove.
From Arizona, Linguist and activist Noam Chomsky sent a statement of support. "It is impossible to exaggerate the awesome nature of the challenge we face: to determine, within the next few years, whether organised human society can survive in anything like its present form," he said. "The activists of Extinction Rebellion are leading the way in confronting this immense challenge, with courage and integrity, an achievement of historic significance that must be amplified with urgency."
Click here for Chomsky speaking with Stuart Scott on the Climate Crisis.
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Canary Wharf DLR station. Photograph Henry Nicholls/Reuters
Riding that train, high on climate change
"Trouble ahead, trouble behind, and you know that notion just crossed my mind"
"I don't want to be here today and I'm really sorry for the disruption, but I feel I have been forced to do this. I have two daughters and I can't sit by while their future is threatened ... The government is doing nothing - we have to force them to act." Cathy Eastburn, 51, speaking to The Guardian.
Disrupting London's rail and tube network, Eastburn, up on the roof, was one of three activists who glued themselves to a DLR train at Canary Wharf, unfurling a banner reading, "Climate emergency - act now." Eastburn and another then glued themselves to the top of the train. Another man, who gave his name as Mark, glued himself to the side of the train. The protesters were finally removed from the roof by police at 12.40pm and arrested.
Gail Bradbrook, one of the founders of Extinction Rebellion, who was at the scene, said to the Guardian: "This [Canary Wharf] is the heart of the system that is bringing us to our knees causing huge disruption and chaos around the world ... so we want people to pause and reflect."
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Oxford Circle with boat. Photo: The Independent
More than 682 Climate Activists Arrested, Extinction Rebellion Looms Large in London
Friday, with four areas in central London blocked by thousands of demonstrators organized by Extinction Rebellion, Sir David Attenborough took off the gloves on BBC One: "If we have not taken dramatic action within the next decade we could face irreversible damage to the natural world and the collapse of our societies," Sir David Attenborough, Climate Change: The Facts.
Kudos to the BBC for refusing the UK Climate deniers any airtime.
Mark Carney of the Bank of England is warning of catastrophic financial consequences.
A truck driver held up by protesters occupying the road summed it up well: "This slows the work big-time. Which is good in some ways. You slow the work down, they take notice. The Government will lose money that way. The government is doing nothing about it so our kids have got to grab something. If we don't do something now it will never happen."
Shorter piece by the Independent featuring the pink boat in Oxford Circle.
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| It's April; before you commence spreading fertilizer consider letting your lawn combat climate change with more roots, more foliage, more carbon capture. |
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