Rebel over climate change

Every day brings another dollop of bad news for the environment

Every day brings another dollop of bad news for the environment.

Iknow I’ve moaned a bit lately about the lack of active protest at the state of the world, in particular our impending doom thanks to climate change, but finally there’s some good news on that front.

No, sorry, we’re still facing rising seas and extreme weather, but at last there’s a street-based international movement springing up to fight against the lack of government and industry action to avoid catastrophe.

It’s called Extinction Rebellion, or XR for short, and I’m now a cardcarrying member. Not that that’s hard; you simply visit a Rebellion site online and sign up — and/or then participate as best you can.

Formed in Britain a year ago, XR has adopted the “extinction symbol” as its logo — a stylised hour-glass inside a circle, signifying time running out for the world. This symbol was originally designed by an East London artist known as ESP in 2011.

Note the basic premise of the group’s actions is that protest be nonviolent.

XR first made its presence felt on

October 31 with an assembly in Parliament Square, London, addressed by activists such as writer George Monbiot and Swedish schoolgirl Greta Thunberg and followed by a sit-in on the road outside the British Parliament.

Various acts of civil disobedience have continued around Britain, culminating in the 10 day-long “occupation” of four main thoroughfares in London in April, seriously disrupting traffic and resulting in some 1130 arrests.

As a direct result of these protests, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn proposed a motion in the House of Commons on Wednesday calling on the British Government to declare an environment and climate emergency — in line with the main demand of the XR movement.

“We have no time to waste. We are living in a climate crisis that will spiral dangerously out of control unless we take rapid and dramatic action now,” Corbyn said.

Elsewhere, XR events have already been held in Australia, Canada, France, Sweden, Germany, Colombia, Spain, and the US. And, yes, here in New Zealand, where a week of actions including theatrical skits and rolling road blocks took place late last month in cities from Auckland to Invercargill.

But not, unfortunately, in Hawke’s Bay. However that is, I hope, about to change; I’ve put my hand up to help facilitate an XR group, and invite anyone interested to make contact via the XR Hawke’s Bay Facebook page.

As to why, well, that’s a question you shouldn’t need to ask. Every day brings another dollop of bad news for the environment — such as that part of the Ross Ice Shelf is melting 10 times faster than it should be because of rising sea temperatures.

The implications of such data for the Bay are immense; we may face invasive sea-level rise far sooner than anyone has predicted.

I could go on, but if you’re unaware of the dangers by now then you’re either living in a bubble of denial or trying hard to ignore it. But science doesn’t care; it says climate change is happening regardless of whatever you might think or wish.

Also, to be honest I’ve pretty much given up on the Greens; they may contain a lot of activists, but as a party they seem to increasingly disassociate from activism in favour of holding a few seats in Parliament.

Moreover they’ve never run a local body campaign — the coal-face as far as political environmentalism is concerned.

In contrast, Extinction Rebellion’s motto is “Rebel For Life”, which sums it up: we are out of time, and we have no choice but to start taking direct action to force our leaders to respond to this crisis.

Immediately.