Cornish marchers on a mission
IT MAY not be quite as impressive as “Trelawny’s Army”, but a group of Cornish climate activists are just as determined that the government should hear their voice.
The Earth March for Life crossed from Cornwall into Devon yesterday on their five-week “Extinction Rebellion” journey to London.
Three of the activists have walked all the way from Land’s End, where they set off on March 11.
Others have joined them for varying times, from an hour to several days, and supporters along the way are providing food and accommodation. Yesterday 15 women, men and children – and two dogs – set out from Callington to walk to Tavistock.
“Numbers are beginning to build,” Jackie Dash, who is organising the Cornwall-Devon-Somerset leg, said. On the journey they will link up with other marches from across the country, finishing in London on
April 14, in time for a week of action by the organisation Extinction Rebellion (XR).
With scientists warning that we have less than a dozen years to reverse climate change and stop the destruction of species, Extinction Rebellion says: “We are facing an unprecedented global emergency. The government has failed to protect us. To survive, it’s going to take everything we’ve got.”
They are demanding that the government “tells the truth about the climate and wider ecological emergency”, reverses inconsistent policies and works alongside the media to communicate with citizens.
They are called for legally binding measures to reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2025.
And they want a national Citizen’s Assembly to oversee the changes.
Ms Dash said: “We need to reduce, really quickly, the amount of fossil fuel we use and switch to renewable energy. The technology is there.”
Over the past couple of years the government has cut subsidies paid to renewable energy such as solar and wind, which Ms Dash said could hurt Cornish businesses.
Climate change, shrinking habitats and over-use of chemicals in farming are causing a “biological annihilation”. Scientists say a sixth mass extinction is either under way or about to happen, and may be more severe than previously feared.
In 2016 the UK State of Nature report by the Wildlife Trusts revealed that 60% of the species studied in Britain have declined over recent decades.
More than half of UK farmland species are in long-term decline. Birds and butterflies on farmland have continued their long term downward trend and 75% of more than 200 “priority” species – including hedgehogs, dormice and moths – are falling in number.
The Westcountry Extinction Rebellion marchers will walk from Tavistock to Powdermills on Dartmoor today. They will spend the night in Princetown, and head back to Powdermills tomorrow for the leg to Moretonhampstead.
They expect to arrive in Exeter on Friday afternoon. Bishop Robert Atwell will give them a send-off when they leave Exeter on Saturday.
At Bradford-on-Avon in Wiltshire they will join up with groups from Wales, Bristol and Bath.
Cornwall, Devon and Plymouth councils have all declared a “climate emergency”, although Devon was criticised for failing to set a target to become carbon neutral by 2030.
Ms Dash said anyone was welcome to join their march. You can find her through Facebook