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Climate Refugees – How does it Feel to Flee Your Home Country?

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By Kate Goldstone

There’s a lot of cruel nonsense talked about refugees. Some people think refugees only leave their home countries because of greed, because they’re simply economic migrants, because they want to tap into another country’s social security system or take other people’s jobs. But when you put yourself in their shoes, life as a refugee looks very different.

Maybe you escaped from war or rape, murder, starvation, dictatorship, terrorism, or violence. Maybe you’re making a life-or-death journey to give your children a better life. And just maybe you’ve had to flee your home country because of climate change. It’s happening.

OK, so climate change refugees are, so far, quite rare. But as the climate steadily warms and already-hot regions around the equator become too hot to support human life, we’re likely to see climate change refugees from all over the planet relocating to survive. How much sympathy will you feel for them? How welcome will you make them? It all depends how deeply you can imagine yourself in their shoes, how much you can empathise.

How it feels to leave your home country

You might not realise it until you leave, but everything about the place you were born and brought up is dear and familiar. Away from home you slowly realise that everything – absolutely every aspect – of the place you’ve moved to is baffling and strange. Not just the language, not just the way things are done. The food in the shops is puzzling and unfamiliar. The currency, the laws, the rules and regulations, the people, the clothing, the road signs, the cars, the sense of humour, nothing really makes sense any more. Even the air, the smells, the light, the way the evenings fall and the days begin, are different. You don’t even feel like you belong in your own skin any more.

You say the wrong things, in the wrong way, to the wrong people. You keep getting cultural stuff wrong, missing the mark, never feeling quite at home, or quite comfortable, or like you belong. You have no friends, no family, no support network. And, often, there’s nobody to help from a human perspective, from an emotional view point. Just cold-faced officials herding you through the system like cattle.

How would you feel if climate change forced you to leave your home, the things you love, everything you recognise and feel safe with? Can you imagine how distressing, terrifying and unsettling it’d feel? Would you be able to sleep at night? Would you wake every morning with feelings of sadness, of despair, of desperate loss?

Do you think it’s fair to lump your fellow humans into one big, unhappy, suffering category, simply anonymous members of a ‘refugee crisis’? This is how refugees are often treated whatever their origin, age, race or gender. Even though many governments and politicians are hell-bent on dehumanising them, refugees are exactly like you and me.

How many climate change refugees can we expect to see?

What’s the climate change-led refugee crisis looking like so far? Take Bangladesh. Most of Bangladesh lies just above sea level. The rainy season sees as much as a fifth of the entire nation flooded, and it’s only going to get worse as sea levels rise. According to National Geographic, “Interviews with dozens of migrant families, scientists, urban planners, human rights advocates, and government officials across Bangladesh reveal that while the country is keenly aware of its vulnerability to climate change, not enough has been done to match the pace and scale of the resultant displacement and urbanization, toppling any prospect of a humane life for one of the world’s largest populations of climate migrants.”

AsRefugees International says, “In 2018, a UN scientific panel released a major report warning that – absent immediate and ambitious action – climate change will have severe and irreversible impacts. This is especially true for the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people. Among the report’s key findings are that higher temperatures, more extreme weather, rising sea levels, and other effects of climate change will contribute to human displacement, migration, and conflict worldwide.”

At the same time the United Nations Refugee Agency says, “The Earth’s climate is changing at a rate that has exceeded most scientific forecasts. Some families and communities have already started to suffer from disasters and the consequences of climate change, forced to leave their homes in search of a new beginning. For UNHCR, the consequences of climate change are enormous. Scarce natural resources such as drinking water are likely to become even more limited. Many crops and some livestock are unlikely to survive in certain locations if conditions become too hot and dry, or too cold and wet. Food security, already a concern, will become even more challenging.”

The World Economic Forum also expresses concern, saying, “A new study in Science finds that as crops fail in agricultural regions of the world, more people will seek asylum in Europe in the coming decades. If the current warming trends were to continue, the research predicts that by 2100 Europe will receive around 660,000 extra applicants each year. ”

Whatever the number of displaced people turns out to be, whichever regions of the world they escape from and flee to, there are eventually going to be millions of us leaving climate change-affected countries to find safer, better lives. You might be one of them. If you’re flooded out of your home, it’s impossible to grow food on your land any more, or climate change related violence is threatening your family, you might have to leave.

Would you expect compassion from your new country?

If it happens to you, you’ll expect your new country to treat you with kindness and respect. You’ll want the people to be welcoming, and the officials to help you settle down quickly. You’ll expect the right facilities and support at every stage. And you’ll be even more distressed, lost, and frightened if it didn’t happen.

A refugee isn’t a problem or an issue to solve. A refugee is a fellow human being in need. Far too many governments around the world already dehumanise refugees, painting them as a big problem, people we should be suspicious of, people we should protect ourselves against. And that’s not human. It’s a disgrace.

 

 

Archived XR Newsletters Uncategorized

Newsletter #14 – Going Global

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Welcome to the 14th Extinction Rebellion Newsletter!

In the global north, spring is almost here – but Extinction Rebellion is blooming in both hemispheres, bringing our ideas and energy to minds and streets around the world.

In time for the new season, we’ve publicly released our strategy for the coming months – you can read it here. Branching out from the main strategy is a specific actions overview, from which in turn has branched an actions how-to guide which will help empower people all over the world to organise their own rebellions against our criminally complacent systems.

Speaking of guidance, the snowballing Earth March has also released a guide to help rebels everywhere in joining or establishing a March near them.

And in case that isn’t enough preparation, the Spring Uprising festival, coming up on the 16th of March, will welcome rebels from across the UK (or even beyond!) to take part in a weekend of training, celebration and community. You can book tickets here.

 

But it’s not all preparation – in fact there’s been so much going on over the past few weeks that it’s been hard to keep up. Actions include XR launching in many new countries and cities, rebel teachers marchingon the Department of Education in London, XR members blocking coal ports in Australia, and a week of rebellion across Canada.

More and more citizens across the globe are joining our movement and standing up to rebel for life; in celebration of this global solidarity, this week we’re giving special prominence to the actions of our fellow rebels all over the world.

 

We’re entering a pivotal moment in history – if you’d like to get involved, our volunteers page has just published an exciting new round of available roles which we’d really love to fill. To help out in your area, get in touch with your nearest XR group. If you can’t spare time, but can donate money instead, please see our fundraiser page.

Check out what’s on near you with our full list of upcoming events, available to view on our website rebellion.earth/events. Or create your own event by filling in our talks and trainings form. If you’re new, or haven’t already seen it, remember to check out our Campaign Overview Document.

If you’d like to look back through the newsletter archive, you can find it here.

Please help us improve the newsletter by telling us what you think about its current content, format and what are the most important things we should be including. Take the 4 minute survey.

 

Contents

  • International Highlights
  • Recent UK Activity
  • Upcoming Activity
  • Announcements
  • Extreme Weather
  • Latest News and Data
  • Recommended Content
  • Regenerative Culture / Good News Stories

International Highlights

South Africa – February 7, March 15 and 23

Rebels used South Africa’s recent state-of-the-nation address to raise awareness of Extinction Rebellion’s demands, by holding a mock parliament and making their own address to the nation. There’s an ongoing, dynamic discussion about how XR can best tackle South Africa’s unique challenges, and help people affected by climate breakdown.

As well as participating in the upcoming international actions, Extinction Rebellion South Africa has two upcoming events:

March 15 Co-hosting the Cape Town Climate Strike, in solidarity with school students.

March 23 Funeral for the earth events in Cape Town, Jo’burg, Durban and more.

Italy – February 10

Rebels performed a die-in at a Mall in Milan. It was a rainy Sunday afternoon so the mall was busy, and the protest garnered a lot of attention. You can watch Extinction Rebellion Italy’s beautifully produced video here.

Canada – February 10-17

An Extinction Rebellion week in Canada saw a variety of creative actions across the country. As well as road-blocks and die-ins, XR attempted to deliver 4180 dumpster-dived candy canes to a politician to highlight the problem of food waste, and used the occasion of Valentine’s day to invite people to write love letters to trees.

Switzerland – February 12 and 23

Lausanne saw its first Extinction Rebellion action on February 12, when Rebels enacted a silent grieving in front of the city hall. This powerful demonstration asked arriving councillors to vote yes on a resolution that would declare a climate emergency, and prioritise measures to combat climate breakdown. The resolution was postponed but the Swiss rebels remain undeterred, declaring “the pressure on the government is only the beginning”.

Meanwhile, in Zurich, on February 23, Rebels performed a series of die-ins in the city’s main shopping area. More than 25 participants simultaneously dropped to the ground and remained motionless for five minutes, while others spoke to people in the crowd. Despite some negative (though comical) comments such as “you should be at home making babies!”, the response was generally positive.

Belgium – February 19

In a spectacular first action for their country, Rebels protested outside a high-level international climate conference in Brussels. Rebels challenged the attending world leaders to set more ambitious targets on the oceans and climate change; they also managed to infiltrate the conference and interrupt the opening speech by Prime Minister Charles Michel (you can see a video of that here and more coverage on their facebook page). Their protest received significant media coverage: see here, here, here, and here for a few examples (not in English).

Sweden – February 22

Teachers in Stockholm demonstrated in front of their Department of Education in solidarity with protesting UK teachers and pupils, demanding the declaration of a state of emergency and the prioritization of the climate crisis in education. Students must be taught the truth about the ongoing catastrophe, they insisted, and all student climate strikes must be permitted.

Ireland – February 10

Extinction Rebellion Ireland, in coalition with other groups, held a die-in in Dublin on February 10, to protest a proposed gas terminal. This was covered in the media, including on page two of the Irish Independent, a prominent newspaper (picture shown here).

The Irish Rebels have also been busy holding various meetings and community talks.

Germany – February 23

In Hamburg, Rebels held a ‘funeral’ march in memory of all of the species that have gone extinct due to human activity. It was the first action in Hamburg; Rebels found it to be a good chance to meet each other and plan for the future. This video gives good coverage of the event.

Czech Republic – February 26

Extinction Rebellion CZ had a high visibility action when they dropped a banner in Prague old town square, calling upon the City of Prague to declare a climate emergency. Bravo!

Australia

Recently, having blocked a coal terminal in Australia for several days, protesters were greeted by a row of police at the gates to Abbot point, Adani. One protester had suspended himself on a giant tripod above the railway line that feeds key Adani infrastructures.

Spain – March 1 and 5

Extinction Rebellion Spain University group, along with FridaysForFuture and Youth4Climate, held a sit-in at the Congress of Deputies in Madrid.

Now, Rebels are inviting climate and ecocide protesters to join them on the March 5th at 7.30pm in Madrid. They plan to hold a ‘jam’ in the city centre and are inviting everyone to share their creative skills. This could involve music, dance, circus skills and art on the streets. For more information click here.

France – March 24

French working groups are busy preparing for the “Jour de Declaration de Rebellion” (JDR) on 24 March, which will mark the start of Extinction Rebellion action there. It will take place at 2pm at the Place de la Bourse, in Paris, and will urge the government to meet Extinction Rebellion’s demands. A declaration statement will go out as a press release on March 20. The event page is here.

Planning is already underway for follow-up civil disobedience locally and nationally, and Rebels are conducting training in non-violent direct action and discussing how best to respond to the questions of the media and individuals.

Recent Activity

London Rebels Disrupt International Petroleum Week

On Wednesday 27th February, Extinction Rebels disrupted International Petroleum Week by blocking access to the hotel hosting an international gathering of fossil fuel companies, meeting to network and form new partnerships. Global finance’s cynical continuation of the status quo at the cost of life on this planet cannot continue unchecked, and we are supremely grateful to the brave Rebels who took action to disrupt the event and draw attention to the crimes of Big Oil. And despite the ideological clash, some delegates expressed support for Extinction Rebellion and took up the chanting inside.

Filmmaker Jack Harries was among nine arrested at the peaceful action, where activists glued themselves to the glass front doors of the hotel.

 

The Blue Wave, Glasgow

On March 2nd people flooded into Glasgow dressed in blue and green to draw attention to the rising sea-levels and flooding caused by the changing climate. They came together to demand that Glasgow City Council join local authorities across the country in making a Declaration of Climate Emergency.

 

XR Media Briefing

On 25th February, Extinction Rebellion held its first mass press briefing at its new London offices. Attended by media from across the world, the briefing shared Extinction Rebellion’s plans for the months ahead in order to ensure maximum coverage of our upcoming actions. Please keep an eye on our Upcoming Activity section and the press section of the website to keep up to date with these developments.

 

Teachers March on Department of Education

Friday 22nd of February teachers and students of all ages, supported by Extinction Rebellion, marched on the Department of Education in London to demand that climate and ecological emergency is made an educational priority. The protest came in the wake of  a letter signed by more than 200 academics in support of the Youth Strike 4 Climate. As it stands a student can go through the state education system and only hear climate change mentioned up to 10 out of approximately 10,000 lessons.

After some inspiring speeches from activists of all ages, teacher and Extinction Rebellion member Tim Jones spray-painted “Tell the Truth” outside the door of the Department. The peaceful act of protest was followed by a children’s sit-in outside the building, where they sang protest songs.

Speakers at the event included Professor David Humphreys (Open University), Dr Anne Andrews (Cambridge University) and Dr Alison Green, who recently stepped down from her Pro Vice-Chancellor role to focus on full-time climate activism and who authored the academic letter published last week.

 

Fashion Designer Clare Farrell Banned from London Fashion Week

During the opening of London Fashion Week on Sunday 17th February, Extinction Rebellion began a day of disruption by swarming outside Victoria Beckham’s show at the Tate Britain.

Following the protest, Extinction Rebellion member, organiser and fashion designer, Clare Farrell was barred from entering London Fashion Week, even though she was a Product Developer for the event. A police officer approached Farrell in the queue for the show, addressing her by name and informing her that she would not be allowed to enter as they did not want anyone from Extinction Rebellion to attend.

 

Local contributions

Decentralisation is a key element of XR’s ethos. So while high-profile actions will often take place in the big cities, we’re eager to celebrate all the amazing actions across the country and the world every week. If you’re involved in your local XR scene, in whatever part of the world, and if you’ve got a story to share, please email xr-newsletter@protonmail.com with ‘Story Contribution’ in the subject line. For major bonus points, it’d also be really helpful if you could write the story as you’d like it to appear in the newsletter!

XR Canterbury

Extinction Rebellion campaigners held a mock funeral parade through Canterbury to raise awareness about climate change. At the end of the procession, the traffic was blocked near Westgate Towers, drawing praise as well as anger from drivers.

XR Shrewsbury

XR Shrewsbury organised a climate march through the town centre on February the 16th, and it was so much better attended than we were expecting. It was a fabulous day!

Marlborough

Rebels in Marlborough have been spreading the message of emergency with leaflets, letters in bottles, and a banner right outside the town hall.

 

Halifax

On the 17th of February 150 rebels in Halifax, Canada, shut down multiple intersections – and then went on radio to talk about it. They’ve since disrupted a local legislature meeting.

 

Upcoming Activity

The Blood of our Children: an Act of Civil Disobedience, March 9th  

Join our bloody but non-violent civil disobedience at a central London government location. The science is done. We are in a climate and ecological emergency. We’re sending our children into a future likely to involve mental breakdown, starvation, war and early death. There are no words to describe the horrors we risk if we do not make governments act immediately. So we all have a responsibility and duty to take action. Even if that means breaking the law.

So whatever your age, beliefs, or background, Extinction Rebellion is calling for you to come and pour (artificial) blood on the ground outside a key government location. We’ll make the gravity of the crisis viscerally clear and show that we’re prepared to make the sacrifice of our own freedom by being arrested. This is now what’s required. We also wish to apologise to the next generation for our complicity in bequeathing them the toxic legacy of climate and ecological breakdown.

The event page is here. Say you are “going” or “interested” on this page and we will message you with a full briefing. Please share and spread the word. If you have any questions, email us at boocxr@gmail.com.

 

Wales Rising Up: Carnival of Animals, March 9th

Extinction Rebellion Wales will be taking over some central streets in Cardiff with a colourful eclectic carnival of insects, animals, and plant life.  People across Wales will come together to openly declare rebellion and to call on the Welsh Government to declare a Climate Emergency. There will be music, costumes, performance and more. Check out their Facebook page for more info.

 

XR Rig Rebellion – Edinburgh, March 8th

On Friday 8th of March, the Scottish Oil Club, an exclusive body representing the international oil and gas industry, will hold their annual celebratory dinner at the National Museum of Scotland.

A major driver of the climate emergency, the fossil fuel industry should not be celebrated, and definitely not on International Women’s Day! Women across the globe are on the front line of facing climate chaos, while rarely being the drivers of it.

Extinction Rebellion Scotland will protest this event through a dance-demonstration, driven by love, music and compassion. We’ll be dancing, singing, speaking and sharing – bring music, instruments, and your dancing feet!

Facebook event here.

 

Second UK-Wide Youth Strike – March 15th

Last month saw 10,000 young people across the UK rising up and demanding change, as part of the Global Youth Strike. Their voices caught national media and political attention. Unfortunately, the Government hasn’t received the message yet, as No.10 tweeted that it was a “waste of lesson time”. Together, we can show that that the inaction of political leaders for the past 30 years is much worse, as Greta rightfully pointed out. Join your local strike next Friday, found out more here.

 

Spring Uprising – Festival – March 16th

WINTER IS OVER, WAKE UP – THERE’S A REBELLION ON

LET’S GET TOGETHER, CELEBRATE XR, GET TRAINED, GET ORGANISED

AND HAVE A DAMN GOOD TIME DOING IT

The weekend of 16/17 March in Bristol, Extinction Rebellion will put on its first ever festival of rebellion, activism and music – dubbed ‘Spring Uprising’ – at which up to 1,000 people at a time will be trained in peaceful non-violent civil disobedience.

Bringing together an unprecedented gathering of people from different backgrounds for nonviolent direct action workshops, music and art, the festival to be held in Bristol’s Motion venue (74-78 Avon Street, Bristol, BS2 0PX) is part of Extinction Rebellion’s planning for what is expected to be one of the largest non-violent civil disobedience acts in decades – International Rebellion beginning 15 April 2019.

The event is supported by music industry and festival organisers such as Boomtown Festival, Buddhafield, Ninja Tune Records, Alfresco Disco, The Green Gathering, Woman Fest and Burn Punk, and over a dozen musical acts have so far been confirmed.

Don’t miss it!

See the websitefor details – and bookings!

Facebook event-page here.

 

Announcements

 

Legal – Arrest Watch

Extinction Rebels are getting arrested all over the country at a speed that makes it impossible to train up new legal observers fast enough. So what to do?

The XR Legal working group has designed a training to skill up a new team for your local group: The Arrest Watch! Those who do an arrest watch training are not fully trained legal observers. Instead, they know of the whole arrestee support system, from pre-action day preparation to solidarity at the court, and make sure that no arrest goes unwatched.

The Arrest Watch training is intended to prepare you to support fellow rebels by:

– watching and reporting arrests at the time of the action

– answering the arrest phone in a back office

– making sure that no rebel has to go to court on their own

– setting up a legal team in your local XR group

We want to enable every local XR group to set up their own Arrest Watch Team for their actions. So even if you can’t get hold of a legal  observer, you still have a system in place to support your arrestees as best as you can.

Please send 1-2 representative(s) from your local XR group down to the arrest watch training on Saturday, 23rd March, from 10am-3pm.

 

Affinity Groups

NVDA trainings are steaming ahead and Affinity Groups are popping up all over.  Our network is growing so fast! If there are any Affinity Groups out there, who haven’t had a call from a member of the Affinity Group Support Team, please do get in touch with us at xrgroupsnetwork@gmail.com

 

Culture Group

‘Bringing Extinction Rebellion to Arts and Culture’ is a group that will mobilise the power of art and artists for International Rebellion

This group is calling together artists – music, theatre, dance, circus and every other imaginable art – to raise the Rebellion and engage people in a way that protest and actions alone cannot. Ideas are snowballing. Guerrilla arts events to generate a buzz in the weeks up to 15th April – musical flashmobs, poetry slams, and more. Here’s just some of the projects bursting into life…. if you are an artist/arts worker and would like to join this group, get in touch via email to lola@lolaperr.in  We meet on Thursday evenings in the XR London office.

The Silence Ends – an emotive mass spoken chorus with music taken up by multiple groups.

Street Explosion – an explosion of pop-up and street theatre across London featuring new works by famous writers.

Play Piano for International Rebellion – Pianists outdoors in a prominent London street; watch the film.

Sound the rebellion!!! – Flashmobs gather to make a lot of noise and fill the air with sound and fury in the days running up to the 15th.

Sounding Twelve Years – Groups of hand-bell ringers and metal clangers sound the warning knell in locations all over London, ringing out the 12 years we have left.

Moments of power and beauty. Poets and musicians drift into numerous place and engage people with their own personal brief moments of power and beauty to remind people what a precious world we may lose.

And there’s plenty more…  Come and join us and help us make the Rebellion a creative force!

 

Earth March

The idea of the Earth March is spreading fast, with over 700 people already involved in planning marches from all over the UK. To make things easier, we’ve written a guide which we’ll be progressively filling with tips and advice – organisation, logistics, press, and plenty more. The first march leaves from Land’s End on the 11th of March – once this has started, we’ll be able to write up the lessons we learn onto this guide.

If you’d like to get involved in Earth March but don’t know if it’s feasible, don’t worry! For those already in living in London, and for those a long way a way, we’ll be encouraging all XR UK members to join the last leg of the March as Earth Marchers enter London in time for the International Rebellion. Stay tuned for details on when and where as we get closer to April and London.

If you’re outside the UK and are interested in setting up an Earth March in your own country, please email earthmarch@protonmail.com for support.

 

Flyposting in London

See what fly-posting and leafleting is on in London over the coming days here. Any questions email xrflyeringlondon@gmail.com

If you’re not in London but would like advice on starting up your own fly-posting scene, please contact the same address.

 

Zero Hour – Young People’s Brief

Zero Hour is a US-based movement aiming to give greater prominence to young voices in the conversation on climate change; we’re filing an Amicus Brief for the Juliana v. United States Lawsuit and we are hoping to get 100,000 young people to sign their names onto it showing their support.

In 2015, 21 young people became plaintiffs in a case against the U.S. government. They filed the Constitutional climate lawsuit called Juliana v. United States. These 21 young men and women sued the government demanding action against climate change.

Zero Hour will file the Young People’s Brief with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals so that the Juliana Plaintiffs will be heard.

The Juliana Plaintiffs want to hold the US government accountable. The young people believe that the government’s affirmative action has violated the youngest generation’s constitutional rights to life, liberty, and property, while also failing to protect essential public trust resources.

We are launching a planetwide drive to get thousands of young people to add their names to a Young People’s Brief in support of the Juliana Plaintiffs. Over 25,000 people have signed their name so far.

Add your name to the brief here to be a part of history!

 

XR Seniors

A new group has been launched for XR seniors – for more information, please contact xr.seniors@gmail.com.

 

XR Blog

XR Blog seeks submissions on an ongoing basis, from rebels from all walks of life. Minimal writing experience is required. If you’re stuck for content we can provide a variety of writing briefs. Please contact us on xrblog@protonmail.com

 

Extreme Weather

According to a new report commissioned by Care International, the majority of humanitarian crises in the last year were caused by extreme weather. During 2018, as a result of extreme weather conditions, worldwide 5000 lives were lost and 29 million people were left in need of humanitarian aid and emergency assistance.

Areas of the UK experienced the hottest February day. The Met Office recorded temperatures of 20.8°C at Porthmadog in Wales, 21.2°C at Kew Gardens in England and 18.3°C at Aboyne in Scotland. The new figures are the warmest on record for the UK at this time of year.

Australia’s summer smashes seasonal heat records – ‘Australia has posted its hottest summer and the first season in which temperatures exceeded two degrees above the long-term averages, according to the Bureau of Meteorology’ (no mention of climate change by the Sydney Morning Herald)

Apocalyptic scenes as Saddleworth Moor burns.

 

Latest News and Data

 

Cuadrilla loses planning appeal for second UK site

The Government has recently refused Cuadrilla’s application to open a second fracking site in Lancashire. This follows the company’s admission that commercial fracking is impossible in the UK unless rules on minor earthquakes are relaxed. The government has shown no interest in changing the regulations previously agreed upon by the fracking industry. We are extremely grateful to all those on the frontline of anti-fracking campaigns all over the country that have banjaxed the possibility of active fracking in the UK.

‘We need more bullets’

Shocking losses to wildlife and livestock in Queensland, Australia after seven years of drought are interrupted by freezing winds and ‘three years worth of rain in 10 days’. News.com report with upsetting images and no mention of climate change here.

“Disaster” as Indian Supreme Court orders eviction of “8 million” tribespeople

Survival International Director Stephen Corry: ‘This judgement is a death sentence for millions of tribal people in India, land theft on an epic scale, and a monumental injustice […] it will do nothing to save the forests which these tribespeople have protected for generations.’

Drax Can’t Grow Trees Fast Enough — Biomass is Not a Climate Solution

‘Drax often makes the misleading claim that they save over 80 percent of carbon emissions compared to coal. This is far from the truth, because it is not counting the emissions from combustion, which are 3 percent higher than burning coal’

New evidence linking mass strandings of beaked whales to military sonar

‘Scientists have long known that some beaked whales beach themselves and die in agony after exposure to naval sonar, and now they know why: the giant sea mammals suffer decompression sickness, just like scuba divers.’

One of the wildest parts of Britain is under threat

Coul Links dunes, heath and wetlands on the Sutherland coast at risk from ‘high impact’ golf course development, compromising its ecological integrity.

Record-level earthquake in Newdigate, Surrey – calls for reopening of inquiry into links to oil industry

First debate about global warming in the houses of parliament for two years. Heartwarming to see how much our elected representatives care about our future and that of the living world! h/t Andrew Harmer

Recommended Content

This is a really interesting graphic from the New York Times, showing what would happen to US CO2 emissions if they were to adopt seven ambitious climate change policies from around the world.

New research on clouds, indicating that atmospheric CO2 concentrations of around 1200ppm can cause them to break up and lead to a dramatic tipping point where they no longer provide a cooling effect by shading the surface and reflecting heat back into space, leading to excess warming of up to 8°C. This might explain why earlier periods of rapid warming such as during the Eocene were much hotter than models otherwise would suggest. Not a cause for immediate concern at the current 410ppm, but a nightmare possibility if the dominant culture were to ‘massively expand coal use and eschew any climate mitigation’ until 2100. Longer report here – Ian

 

Victory For The Chagos Islanders as the International Court of Justice rules that the UK is ‘under an obligation to bring an end to its administration of the Chagos Archipelago as rapidly as possible’. The UK foreign office is regarding it as ‘an advisory opinion, not a judgment’, and brazenly insists that the US military base on Diego Garcia is necessary ‘to protect people here in Britain and around the world from terrorist threats, organised crime and piracy’ (have they looked in the mirror lately?) This continues its longstanding policy of seeking any means to deny justice to the Chagossians, from antiquated Royal Prerogatives to a marine reserve deliberately designed to ‘prevent the resettlement’ of ‘Man Fridays’ on the islands. This was a cynical move to play environmentalists off against human rights supporters, because ‘the UK environmental lobby is far more powerful than the Chagossians’ advocates’ according to confidential cables published by Wikileaks in 2010. John Pilger (see opening link) and historian Mark Curtis are well worth checking out on this shameful story. Former diplomat Craig Murray will be commenting in depth on the ICJ judgement shortly but has this to say for now. Hopefully the Chagossians are now a step closer to establishing their right to return to the islands they were expelled from just over 50 years ago. – Ian

 

Regenerative Culture / Good News Stories

 

Following a speech by Greta Thunberg at the plenary session of the European Economic and Social Committee in Brussels, the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker has pledged that a quarter of the EU’s budget will now go towards tackling Climate Change.

Wild Justice is a new organisation set up to take legal cases on behalf of wildlife against public bodies where they are failing to protect species and/or habitats. Wild Justice is working with legal teams in England and Scotland. Legal action will be funded by public donations and crowdfunding appeals. One of the founders, broadcaster and wildlife campaigner Chris Packham said ‘Wild. Justice. Because the wild needs justice more than ever before.’

Clothing firm Patagonia has made an additional $10 million in profits since President Trump slashed corporate tax rates in the US from 35% to 21% last year. But instead of ploughing these profits back into the business, the company has just announced it will be giving the money away to grassroots campaigns to fight against climate change.

 

 

Thank you for reading this, our 14th newsletter. There’s so much exciting stuff going on that we barely have time to write this sign-off. Keep up the good work! If you have any questions or queries, please get in touch at xr-newsletter@protonmail.com.

 

This newsletter was written collaboratively by a hivemind of 12 rebels.

 

 

As we enter this crucial and potentially final phase in human history, our Rebellion will need money to make sure our message is heard. Anything you can give is appreciated. Please visit our Fundrazr page.

Alternatively, standing orders or money transfers should be made to our Triodos Bank Account (Sort code: 16-58-10 Account No: 20737912) in the name of Compassionate Revolution Ltd (the holding company for Rising Up!).

Alternatively, if you’re a PayPal user (or more comfortable with PayPal), PayPal payments can be made to info@risingup.org.uk.

For queries contact Dave Nicks (dave.nicks@btinternet.com).

 

Uncategorized

Youth of XR #2

Published by:

My first protest

by Holly Errington, 14 years old

On Thursday February 21st, I went to my first ever protest; it was to influence and spread awareness about how Devon needs to become carbon neutral by 2030. I was excited yet nervous as I walked up to the old building where the event was taking place, I went with two other girls and two guys my age. When I arrived on the sunlight flooded field at midday, I finally realised the importance of the issues we are facing. We need to join together and do more to get our voices heard so that in years to come, our great grandchildren will be eternally grateful by the effort we put into saving their future. People of all ages were united. Families, teens, and the elderly. It was a beautiful experience to share with such passionate like-minded people. Everyone who was there had the same goal and wanted to work as a team to achieve it, which is a concept that is truly inspiring to me. It was amazing to meet so many interesting people from all different backgrounds. We chanted, we sang, and we stood our ground. I was asked to come to other protests in the area and I was also approached by many older people telling me well done for coming, because as a young person this decision will affect me the most. Seeing the colourful posters with encouraging messages only made me more determined to carry on this fight until the very end. The main symbol that got stuck in my mind that day was a timer. Climate change is something that will affect all of us, and I would desperately encourage you to go out and play your part, whether that be through protesting or something else. We can do this, but we need to act fast.

Picture by Lauren Fenton
February 21th, 2019

12 Years to Avoid Climate Catastrophe

by Lauren Fenton, 18 years old

In an age where news is filtered for entertainment and reality TV takes over our lives, it is easy to forget the real issues at hand. In November 2018, the largest and deadliest forest fire in California states record broke out, classed as the costliest disaster in the world, 2018; despite this, only 4% of networks broadcasted the disaster. On February 25th, 2019 the UK experience the hottest day in February on record, the BBC announced that if this doubling in temperature continued into the summer we could experience severe drought. These events and disasters are no coincidence, they have a direct link to our increasingly changing climate.                  

We are creating a positive feedback system:

We need to mitigate this feedback loop to prevent
global warming from spiralling out of control.

The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change) has warned that we must cap
temperature rise at 1.5 degrees C, which is classed as ‘the tipping point’,
if exceeded the temperature will increase uncontrollably and we will be past
the point of mitigation. If the climate warming exceeds 1.5 degrees C, the
great barrier reef will be destroyed, droughts and hurricanes will become the
norm and the melting of ice sheets will cause major flooding. During the summer
months the arctic will experience an increase of 2.5 degrees C, the alps,
already warming more than twice as fast as the rest of Europe, will cause
annual droughts, as experienced in 2018. Furthermore, in the last decade 600
meters of glacial ice has been reduced in this region and it is predicted that
by the end of the century, glaciers will
disappear completely, leaving only a few in mountain summits.

We
have the facts. We have the power. We will have climate justice

Works Cited:

ABC News
(Australia). (2019, February 26th). Can we hack climate change to save us all?
| Foreign Correspondent. Retrieved February 2019, from YouTube:

Climeworks.
(n.d.). About us. Retrieved February 28th , 2019, from Climeworks:

Global News.
(2019, Janurary 31st). Climate change: Why people aren’t taking more action
to stop it? Retrieved February 2019, from YouTube:

National
Statistics. (2017). 2017 UK Greenhouse Gas Emissions. Retrieved
February 28th, 2019, from GOV.UK:

A Salute to the School Strikers

by Robert Alcock, Extinction Rebellion activist and father

You’ll have noticed that there’s never any shortage of grown-ups who
are eager to tell you their opinions about whatever you happen to be
doing. That’s especially true when tens of thousands of you—including my
daughter, I’m proud to say—skip school to protest about the state your
elders are leaving the planet in.

Quite a few “responsible” adults—as in “the ones who are responsible
for the mess we’re in”—have made it clear they think the Climate Strike
is really just an excuse to skip school. Well, duh! Obviously it’s much
more fun and educational to be out in the streets changing the world
than sitting in class being taught about it. You’ve written slogans and
designed placards, organised with friends and debated with opponents,
made appearances on TV and in social media, made new friends and bumped
into old ones you had no idea were involved. Try fitting all that into a
timetable and a lesson plan.

Theresa May had this to
say about the School Strike: “…Disruption increases teachers’ workloads
and wastes lesson time that teachers have carefully prepared for. That
time is crucial for young people precisely so that they can develop into
the top scientists, engineers and advocates that we need to help tackle
this problem.”

Sorry, Theresa, but I’ll have to give you an F for that answer. This
is a global ecological emergency! We need action NOW, not in 30 years’
time when a lucky few among today’s teenagers have managed to reach
positions of power and influence. Anyway the vast majority of schools
don’t give kids the kind of education they need to gain access to those
positions. And the wise young people who were on the streets on Friday
know full well that what’s needed today isn’t more technical solutions,
but the political will to put the solutions we already have into
practice, in a way that’s socially just and ecologically sustainable. No
amount of studying is going to achieve that.

My educational journey

When it comes to the cost and value of formal education, I know what
I’m talking about. I left school in 1988, the year the IPCC was founded;
I studied science at university, graduating in 1992, the year of the
Rio Earth Summit, went on to do a masters in ecology, then a PhD,
studying the effects of climate change on rocky shore organisms.

In November 2002, the very same weekend I completed my fieldwork, the beautiful coast of northern Spain was devastated by the Prestige oil spill—the
worst environmental disaster in Spain’s history—which covered the whole
shore in a thick layer of toxic black fuel oil, poisoning the seaweed
and shellfish I’d spent three years studying.

After all that, I still couldn’t get a job changing the world, so I
had to do it on my own time, supporting myself as an writer, editor and
translator while also building a house for my family—all skills that I
learned mostly outside the formal education system.

Meanwhile, in those 30 years since I left school, theglobal economy has emitted more CO2
than it did during the whole of human history up to that point, and
still shows no sign of slowing down, while ecosystems worldwide are on
the point of collapse. If anyone had told me back then that we’d be in
this predicament now, I think I would have done less studying and more
protesting.

(But here we are.)

Unlike George Monbiot, I don’t
feel inclined to apologise to your generation on behalf of my own for
having fucked up the world. I’ve been doing what I can. Let everyone
look to their own conscience.

But nor do I want to put the burden of the future entirely on your shoulders. Greta Thunberg
has something to say about that: “It’s sometimes annoying when people
say, ‘Oh you children, you young people are the hope. You will save the
world.’ I think it would be helpful if you could help us just a little
bit.”

Hearing you loud and clear, Greta. On behalf of the adults of Extinction Rebellion (XR)—and
I think I’m safe in speaking for the whole movement here—I want to say
to the school strikers: we’ve got your back. We’re here to help. We
don’t want to take control of the Climate Strike, profit from it, or use
it as part of our nefarious plot to take over the world (well, ok,
maybe just a little bit ;-). You’ve done a great job so far, and it has
to continue to be driven and organised by you, the young people. But we
want to offer you our whole-hearted support to help the Climate Strike
grow bigger and better every Friday, and make the next mass action, on
Friday March 15th, absolutely impossible to ignore.

In a very practical sense, XR has a lot of resources that you can
draw on. (Of course, we’re also aware of the safeguarding and legal
issues around adults working with children and other vulnerable groups.)
We can offer training and support in a load of different areas: media
and messaging, legal advice, how to plan and cary out NVDA (non-violent
direct action), how to facilitate meetings and assemblies, prevent
burnout, resolve conflicts, and make sure we are all having a good time,
how to make effective and beautiful graphics, signs, puppets, music…
Really, pretty much everything your movement needs to grow and flourish,
except your own passion, wisdom and dedication—and you already have
that in abundance.

What about Monday morning?

It’s great that you’re out on the streets protesting on Fridays. I hope you keep it up and diversify what you do during the protests. Marching, waving banners and shouting slogans gets a bit boring after a while. How about holding (Young) People’s Assemblies to talk about the ecological emergency and what we should be doing about it? Extend the conversation you’ve started with your brilliant signs and slogans.

But I think what matters just as much is what you’re going to be doing Monday to Thursday. Many of you are about to go back to school after the half-term break: going from schooling adults in how to change the world, to having to ask to use the bathroom.

Despite the excellent intentions and efforts of many teachers, the vast majority of schools are simply not fit for purpose. They just aren’t set up to empower and inform the young people who are going to create a restorative future for Planet Earth. Rather, for the most part, they foster a culture of domination, disempowerment, passivity, and hopelessness: in fact, the culture at the root of the ecological crisis. The system persists through our resignation and acceptance. Systemic change is needed, starting where each of us is best placed to act. For you, that’s likely to be in your school.

The climate crisis is a great rallying point, though our predicament
is a whole lot bigger than just the climate. From oceans to insects,
forests to cities, health to justice, no aspect of life on Earth is
untouched. You can create a student-led assembly to demand your school
declare an climate emergency, and discuss what to do about it: whether
that means planting a school forest, tackling air pollution, eliminating
plastics, stopping the use of pesticides, sourcing healthy local food
for school lunches or growing your own… or reaching out into your local
communities. But at the same time, you’ll likely find yourselves talking
about, and coming up with solutions for, a lot of other problems—from
bullying to child poverty to boring lessons—once you start to see how
they are all connected.

Three words to remember: NEVER. ASK. PERMISSION.

I don’t mean you should be rude or arrogant in your behaviour. Be respectful at all times—especially to your opponents; but make it clear that you’re going to do what you believe is right, whether those in power grant permission or not. Most adults will be on your side, even if they might be afraid to say so openly.

Another world is possible. See you there!

For the Earth,

Robert Alcock
Extinction Rebellion Edinburgh
@AbrazoHouse (twitter)

Science

Global warming and mass extinction of life on Earth

Published by:

By Zeeshan Hasan

Climate change is usually pictured in terms of rising sea levels and increased storm and drought; but science has revealed that it bears further threats. These previously unknown dangers of climate change are the focus of Peter D. Ward’s book, “Under a Green Sky: Global warming, the mass extinctions of the past, and what they can tell us about our future”. Ward is a professor of biology and earth and space sciences at the University of Washington at Seattle, and also works at Nasa. He is one of the biologists whose analysis of the fossil record has helped scientists understand what caused the numerous mass extinctions that have occurred during the history of life on earth.

The most famous of earlier mass extinctions was the one which wiped out the dinosaurs; thirty years ago, scientists confirmed it was the result of an asteroid hitting the earth. Following that great discovery, scientists for years assumed that all the other mass extinctions were similarly the result of asteroid impacts. However, geologists were ultimately unable to find any evidence for those supposed asteroids. Apparently, the extinction of the dinosaurs was unique, and a different explanation was necessary for the remaining mass extinctions. This was ultimately found to be global warming due to excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. It turns out that large quantities of carbon dioxide can be released by volcanic activity; this is especially likely in major tectonic events such as when the Indian subcontinent collided with Eurasia (creating the Himalayas).

Ward’s book investigates the mechanism by which global warming caused mass extinctions such as the end-Permian extinction event, which destroyed 95% of life on earth 250 million years ago. Scientists have found that most mass extinctions were marked by the release of huge amounts of hydrogen sulphide gas, which is the smelly, poisonous gas released by rotten eggs. The hydrogen sulphide would have been created by an oxygen-free “Canfield ocean” (named after the scientist who discovered it), a condition similar to that which now exists in the Black Sea. Canfield oceans occur when global warming melts too much polar ice, releasing so much cold water that the normal ocean currents which circulate water from deep to shallow and keep the oceans oxygen-rich are disrupted. Once this happens, the oxygen-breathing fish and other sea creatures quickly consume all the oxygen left in the water and then suffocate. The remaining oxygen-free water can sustain only anaerobic purple bacteria which require no oxygen to live; by filling up the ocean, these bacteria would also turn the ocean purple.

Anaerobic purple bacteria in a Canfield ocean produce massive quantities of hydrogen sulphide gas, which then bubbles to the surface and poisons animals on land. Hydrogen sulphide also damages the ozone layer, exposing the remaining animals and plants to deadly levels of ultraviolet rays from the sun (as a minor side effect, hydrogen sulphide from a Canfield ocean would also turn the sky green; hence the title of the book). Thus global warming has caused mass extinctions on both land and sea which can only be described as apocalyptic.

How far away is this? We don’t know exactly how much polar ice has to melt to create a Canfield ocean and another mass extinction, but we do know the following:
“Using [current carbon dioxide emission] rates, which work out to about 120 parts per million per century, we might expect carbon dioxide levels to hit 500 to 600 parts per million by the year 2100. That would be the same carbon dioxide levels that were most recently present sometime in the past 40 million years — or more relevant, it would be equivalent to times when there was little or no ice even at the poles.” (Pages 164-5)

In other words, by the year 2100, within two or three generations, carbon dioxide levels will be high enough to virtually ensure another polar melt. This could possibly set into motion a Canfield ocean and mass extinction which humanity may not survive.

Our only chance to avoid this apocalyptic future is to stop using fossil fuels like coal, petroleum and gas, and replace them completely within a few decades with nuclear, wind and solar. This is the only way to prevent further polar ice melting and a Canfield ocean-created mass extinction. Unfortunately politicians and the public are in a state of scientific ignorance and denial of climate change. Anyone who cares about the survival of humanity beyond the next century needs to take action to stir the public from it’s state of inertia.

Uncategorized

STANDING ROCK SPIRIT ON EVERY STREET CORNER

Published by:

By Thanissara Weinberg

Being in a living prayer. The art of collective resistance; carrying forward the sacred flame of Great Spirit; honouring Mother Nature and Grandmother Earth. Taking to heart Seven Lakota Values and Guidelines.

 

Standing Rock was a training ground to resist the march of eco-destruction that is now triggering mass extinction and the collapse of human civilisation. Seasoned activists taught new comers, like me, how to withstand militarised police and private militia, clean out tear gas from tender eyes, treat rubber bullets; how to huddle together, to move as one, arms locked, to circle and protect the vulnerable and those targeted first, Indigenous and People of Colour. While a real stretch from my regular safe world, it made perfect sense within the context of our dystopian future that is fast arriving. Interlocking my arms awkwardly while in a clumsy shuffle, a moment of prescience flashed, we will all likely find ourselves at a “Standing Rock” before too long. Perhaps downtown on Main Street, at the shopping mall, outside a slaughter house, protecting a forest, at a fracking site, outside a bank, in any country, at any time, on any and at every street corner.

Two years after Standing Rock, at a climate protest in London, I was handed the bold green black Extinction Rebellion leaflet. For a split second I was back on those frozen lands of North Dakota. Of course, it made perfect sense. The spirit of Standing Rock was on the streets of London, was spreading around the globe through various forms of civil disobedience, protests, acts of challenge, and clear, brave words ringing out loud. The lines are drawn, internally and externally, and the fight for nature, for existence in all its astonishing diversity, is on. The question is what will be our response and contribution?

Standing Rock brought everything to utter simplicity. There was no money to exchange or things to buy, none of our usual café’s and eating houses, no central heating or sheltered houses. It ran on sharing, on appreciation for a shaft of sunlight, a cup of hot tea, a shared meal, the warmth of human connection, and the passionate struggle for life, for justice, for a different world that we know is possible.

Mni Wiconi –Water is Life. It is an immense thing to try and understand that we are about to pull over the great planetary cauldron of life, bubbling for billions of years, and spill it into the dust. “How has it come to this?” as King Théoden said at Helm’s Deep, just before riding out, straight into the grotesque and overwhelming army of terrifying Orcs. The odds of success are low, the power of those who destroy is enormous; the seduction of money and the desire to control everything is wired so profoundly into the brain, we hardly see its insidious mechanisms. However, there is another power that shone through with great brilliance at Standing Rock. The power of the spirit, of heart, of the collective, and of a learnt Indigenous history of what it means to survive centuries of extreme oppression while keeping the sacred fire alive.

Standing Rock is an Indigenous led resistance through the power of collective prayer and ceremony. Its context is the 500-year long impact of Colonialism on First Nation People, which inflicted one of the largest genocides in human history, alongside mass invasion of Native lands, a litany of broken treaties, legislated cultural oppression including removal of children through forced Christianised education at boarding “schools”, and on-going marginalisation of Indigenous rights. This generational domination remains firmly in place illustrated by the State of North Dakota attempting to force, through intimidation and violence, the Sioux Tribe to accept what white society, a few dozen miles upriver at Bismarck city, rejected; the Dakota Pipeline through the heart of their community.

The assurance of Energy Transfers Partnership, who laid the pipeline, that there will not be an oil spill into the Missouri River, which the pipeline traverses, are empty given that that there have been hundreds, if not thousands of pipeline spills, including those from ETP pipelines. In the fierce confrontation that unfolded, Standing Rock also became a learning ground for Energy Companies who are now ramping up their strategies with more violent and insidious tactics.

Standing Rock, one of the most unique gatherings ever, also was a front line against the most powerful corporation ever, the Oil Industry. It was the first time, since the Battle of Little Bighorn in the 1800’s that Seven Lakota and Dakota Nations came together, alongside over 30 other Indigenous Nations. This gathering of Indigenous Nations from all over Turtle Island (the Native name for America) has not been known in historical memory. The tribes represented were joined by First Nation peoples from South America, New Zealand, and beyond, and allies from around America and further afield. Over two thousand military veterans who vowed to protect this courageous and determined community also joined up.

At the heart of this resistance is a commitment to break the cycles of violence born of a colonial mind-set, which feels entitled to extract for self-benefit regardless of the impact. This mind-set is now the front line everywhere, within and around us all. Increasingly, our choices are influenced by a colonising, psychopathic corporate agenda servicing extortionate amounts of wealth for a tiny percentage of the global population (26 people now own as much as 50% of the world’s poorest). But we can also make different choices. Mindful choices that aid a necessary resistance upon which our survival now depends. At its core, Standing Rock rooted itself in an indigenous template for wise choice informed by seven Lakota values around which the community orientated itself. These values speak to collective resistance as both an inner training as well as guidelines for family, community, society, and business. This is how I heard them.

1. Prayer: Honour and respect the sacred within all life, which includes nature, the earth, the elements of fire, water, air, and those living beings that are not two legged. (The reductive term animals is not in indigenous language, instead the term ‘our relatives’ is used.) Purify the heart, connect with ancestors, and the overall indwelling spirit of creation while aligning within community through ceremony. This involves resistance as ceremony.

2. Respect: Respect begins with deferential listening, and from that, a willingness to shift into new ways internally and behaviour externally. It means not pushing ego agendas and strategies. Instead be willing to listen to wise elders, to feedback, to what is needed for the overall good of the community.

3. Compassion: Take care of one another. Be compassionate towards ones self, and to self and others when making mistakes. The stronger let the physically weaker go first, for example, at meals, the elders, women and children go first. As a practice, step aside from assuming entitlement due to race, gender, class, wealth, and instead tune into the needs of the marginalised and vulnerable.

4. Honesty: Be true and authentic with each other, while being self honest about our conditioning and how that plays out in ways that generate harm, even subtly, to others and the environment.

5. Generosity: Put in more than you take out. Generosity is not just sharing physical goods, but is essential to generating sustainable life for all. It is the direct opposite of colonisation, which is based in domination and ownership at the expense of others.

6. Humility: Be grounded in your own being, while checking your expectations of others and what is around you. Hold off from pushing your agenda, particularly if it is dominating the space with “I have a better way” or “My idea is best.” Be sensitive to internalised colonised conditioning, and be willing to own it.

7. Wisdom: We all carry wisdom within us, but within the context of Indigenous or Elder wisdom spaces, listen and be guided by the understandings offered. Resist an “extractive” mind-set, or cultural appropriation of what is not offered. Be respectful of elders and learn to listen to all voices, even those you don’t agree with.

Bring it Home! Not everyone can get to Standing Rock, and not everyone at Standing Rock can go on the front lines. But every one of us must now pay heed to what unfolded there, because we all need to play our part to ensure a liveable planet for future generations. We are on a precipice and the lights are going out. We are losing the Arctic, the Great Barrier Reef, the great forests, most wild life, and we are being threatened by a craven political and corporate agenda that cares for no one, except it’s own profit. Those who crave money will find out soon that they cannot eat their money. But, as said the Elders, those at Standing Rock stand for them too, and for their children and their grandchildren.

At the heart of this sacred, prayerful and ceremonial resistance at Standing Rock is a commitment to complete non-violence. My understanding of this, from what I witnessed, heard, and experienced, is that there is an invitation to align with a deeper power. This power, articulated as guidance of ancestors, forces of nature, and the overall guiding intelligence of the Great Spirit, pulses within us. At Standing Rock, the heart was stripped down to its essential rawness. In place of socialisation strategies, what arose was strength of authenticity, of sharing, of camaraderie, and a wonder at the resilience of human beings rising up.

Here’s what I heard from an Indigenous man who is a Water Protector and leader of the heart and spirit.

“What should be remembered about Standing Rock is that it began with children calling us to pray with them. Elders too. We must mean and do what we say. Fighting from violence disrespects the ancestors. The ancestors are fighting the battle also, and they need us to be here without violence. You must pray for yourself, to take out your pain and have love put in your heart instead. As we unify with nature, she will heal us. Respect Mother Earth.

He also said,

One day, at the height of the Iraq War, an Elder Grandmother prayed to the ancestors at the sacred fire to ask that the war stop. They responded by saying to her that her prayer was a good prayer, but it was not enough. That everyone must pray to stop war. We are at a precipice. Everyone must now pray.

Water is Life. This meme is the underlying stream of consciousness at Standing Rock. The pipeline threatens the clear and beautiful waters of the Missouri River. Every morning, as day broke with its icy chill, the pre-dawn circle around the sacred fire, buoyed by shared wisdom from Elders and water protectors, enacted a ceremonial and collective walk to the frozen bank of the river. There, offerings are made. Sometimes we saw formations of geese fly across the limpid snow grey sky over the still glass waters and sometimes we felt spirit of the Missouri respond. It was felt as a subtle jubilant uplift within the heart. This earth is alive and she feels our intentions, our actions, and our hearts. The evocative experience of this living prayer was an invitation for us all to reclaim a sacred relationship to water, air, earth, fire, and to be attentive to our indwelling consciousness.

Everyday we use water. We depend on it for life, and yet we entirely take it for granted. One late afternoon, a woman spoke at the sacred circle fire. She had come from Flint, Michigan to join forces. She spoke of poisoned water in her city, of people drinking and having their teeth dissolve, of people getting sick, dying, and of her own infertility and pain at not being able to mother children due to the poisoned water.

Standing Rock is not just about Standing Rock. It is about everywhere and our struggle to reclaim the sacredness of water, of the elements, and of Grandmother Earth. It speaks to our need to reconnect with each other in more direct, generous, authentic and respectful ways, and it speaks to our true spirit, which seeks to release from the mechanistic, disassociated, drudgery of a desacralised life by undertaking acts of loving service and sacrifice. We do this for all of us. Chief Arvol Looking Horse asked us to join together at Standing Rock in prayer and ceremony. To do so can help to help avert our catastrophe. We must continue to honour his request.

Standing Rock and its blazing heart lives on, through the voluminous, potent seeds that were planted long ago, as I was told, by the ancestors of that very land who knew these times would come. The seeds are now fast growing as collective resistance. The Indigenous People are showing the way, as have many oppressed people throughout history, and for this, words of gratitude seem paltry. The gift of Standing Rock bequeathed a clarified, strong, heart burning with a light of commitment and passion in the face of such wanton destruction, hate, and ignorance. This then, is our offering of gratitude. To pick up that flame of hope, and to carry it long into the shadowy night that is fast circling us all.

School Strike for Climate XR Youth

Youth of XR #1

Published by:

This speech was planned to be read during the Youth Strike 4 Climate, in Exeter on February 15th. Youth Strike for Climate is an international movement that is gaining traction and support all the time. February 15th was the first mass countrywide UK action. Exeter was one of the biggest events. XR unequivocally supports Youth Strikes. Some Youth Strike members are also XR Youth members, including in Exeter. Thanks to ‘Jack’ for the YouTube video above. Jack, please get in touch -one of our editors would like to create some content with you!

Greatest Power

by Molly Bovet, 17 years old

To those with the
greatest power, from those who must break the system to claim it:

There never should
have been a ‘time for waiting’, and now even those stolen years have run out.

Your
generation has failed to keep us safe in this time, and now we, your children,
are left to pick up the pieces and provoke you into action. The promises that
have been made and the plans that have been discussed so far are too vague and
too idle.

We
have, at best, twelve years left before the state of our planet becomes catastrophic
and we run out of time for action; that is not time that can be wasted like the
politicians and major companies of the world have wasted the years leading up
to this.

You
are the ones who have created this mess and now we are here to force you into
action. You are the ones with the power to help us.

Children
are raised to be quiet when they’re angry and to do as they’re told, but this
is one issue that we cannot be silenced on.

In
just the past twenty five years, you have emitted more CO2 than the entirety of
the human race before you. The climate we have been born and raised in, the
climate that you have created, is born of obliteration.

We
may even see climate collapse as soon as within the next five years, and if we
don’t amend that, cultural collapse will inevitably follow within our
lifetimes.

Even
these horrific facts are things that we have had to seek out ourselves; our
schools do not equip us with the knowledge and ability to mitigate the worst-case
scenarios. Nor do they teach us about the direness of our climate situation or
how we can live low carbon lifestyles.

We
do not want to live in fear but you give us no choice. We trusted you, the
adults, to keep us safe but you have failed to secure our future.

You want to raise good kids, people who will be kind to one another and the world around them, work passionately and take their educations seriously. These kids are here, begging at your feet to spare us a future in flames. We will care for this earth and its creatures. We will love every precious second that we are here; just as long as you do the same.

La tierra transformada, Joaquín Clausell (1910) 



This is my only planet 


by Holly Errington


*


This is my only planet 


I must defend it


This is your beautiful planet


You must help us 


*


Tired of endless excuses


Governments saying “We’ll fix it later” 


And walking away with a smirk 


*


Their pockets full and our planet empty 


No, 


We will not settle for later 


Yes,


We don’t care if you think we’re crazy 


*


We can band together 


Rise up 


Join forces 


Stop this 


*


Climate change 


Habitat loss


Ocean acidification 


are happening now


*


Do not let others pollute your vision 


Be a protector of precious life  


Let us hold hope by the hand 


Pray that we will be sitting amongst wildlife


In years to come


Talking about our defiance 


And victory


Against this ecological destruction








We Have the Facts, We Will Have Climate Justice 


by Lauren Fenton, 18 years old


In a world where governments care more

about money than the environment, it has been left to the people to decide

which shade of green we want for our planet.


With an estimated 18 billion pounds of

plastic waste entering the world oceans from coastal regions annually and

Donald Trump looking to re-open coal mines in the USA, it is now down to the

people to make the change. 


But we need the support of the government, we need them to wake up and take responsibility and write legally binding agreements to cap the global temperature rise by less than the tipping point.


Limiting global warming to 2 degrees Celsius is not good enough.  A two-degree increase in the average global temperature means that mountain glaciers and rivers will start to disappear, 10% of the world’s population will be displaced due to sea level rise and A THIRD OF ALL LIFE ON EARTH WILL FACE EXTINCTION! 


As a population we need to band together to

pressure the officials to enforce a mandatory cap in temperature rise at 1.5

degrees C above pre-industrial levels and become carbon neutral by 2030. By the

time we reach 2050 It will be too late. 


In 2014, only 5 countries accounted for 70%

of global CO2 emissions: China, the United States, the European Union, the

Russian Federation and Japan. This sparked the launch of the “land mark

agreement” to combat climate change in 2015 – COP 21, The Paris agreement,

Which THE USA HAS NOW PULLED OUT OF.


China is so far the only country to make a

major difference, announcing plans to invest over $USD 3 Billion in renewable

energy. Whist the EU’s aim is become carbon neutral by 2050 and cut energy use

by 20% below business-as-usual projections by 2020. This is NOT good enough! We

are the 3rd largest contributor to CO2 emissions globally and our

member states are among the wealthiest countries in the world. With these stats

there is NO EXCUSE for not making more of an effort to become carbon neutral!

Because of our governments idleness we are now on track for a global

temperature rise of 2.7 degrees C, 0.7 above the tipping point. 


Despite all these

statistics, there has still been no legally binding agreement to combat climate

change since 2009. And there are still countries refusing the latest agreement

(Katowice 2018), including the USA, Russia and Saudi Arabia. Knowing this, how can

we rely on governments who are not willing to make a sacrifice to save the

planet? If the temperature continues to rise there will be no trade, there will

be displacement of people and there will be extinction! 


We have the facts.

We have the power. We will have Climate Justice. 


    

  • By Lauren Fenton 
    • 












                                            

                                

        


        


        

                                

        
    

    


				

    

                


                        

                

	Climate Journalism Science




            

            

                Disrupting Earth’s climate is to awaken a sleeping beast
            

                        

                                Published by:   
            

        

        
        

            

                                    


                                        

                        


By Zeeshan Hasan










Fixing Climate; The Story of Climate Science and How to Stop Global Warming by eminent climate scientist Wallace Broecker (who unfortunately just passed away)and his co-writer Robert Kunzig is an informative look at the science of global warming as well as a summary of the options for solving it. Wallace Broecker was professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University, and through his research first discovered one of the primary regulators of the planet’s climate; namely the “thermo-haline conveyor,” the network of ocean currents which circulates hot and cold water over much of the Earth’s surface.


A recurrent theme in Broecker’s writing is his view of Earth’s climate as a sleeping beast which we awaken at our peril. The relative stability of climate for the past ten thousand years (since the end of the last ice age) is exactly what allowed humans to develop agriculture and create civilisation. Thus, we have greatly benefited from the long sleep of the climate beast. However, the carbon dioxide emissions created by our modern society’s dependence on fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas risk disrupting the climate and waking the climate beast. The consequences could be sudden and drastic.


Whereas we may think of climate change as being gradual and taking place over centuries or millennia, climate science has shown that drastic changes have happened very quickly in the past. A prime example is the end of the “Younger Dryas” ice age, a cold period which lasted from 12,800 to 11,500 years ago.


“The [ice] measurements … had shown that the warming at the end of the Younger Dryas had been abrupt … the ice layers were suddenly half as thick … most of that change had taken place in just a few years” (page 141).


So the scientific evidence is that climate change of sufficient magnitude to end an ice age can occur naturally in “just a few years,” not centuries or even decades. This bodes ill for our future, as our burning of coal, oil and gas is now changing the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere faster than any time in history. If a similarly quick global warming were to happen now, humanity would have little time or ability to adapt to it. The results would be catastrophic in terms of increased desertification, reduced food production and famine.


Aside from temperature rise, the biggest threat to Bangladesh in particular is from sea level rise. This is another area where research in climate science has made it clear that big changes can happen at a frightening pace.


In the 1980’s a colleague of Broecker’s, Richard Fairbanks, thought he could pinpoint a time when sea level rose twenty metres in a single century (page 171).


The above is indeed a stark contrast with the scientific conservatism of the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) assessment of sea likely sea level rise being 59 centimetres by 2100.


The IPCC scientists specifically did not take into account the recent observations of accelerated ice loss from Greenland and Antarctica — essentially because they didn’t know what to make of them (page 183).


The problem is that scientists are generally cautious by nature, and unwilling to talk about possible worst case scenarios until that outcome is virtually certain. Unfortunately, if we wait until the worst case global warming scenario is inevitable before we start doing anything, it will be too late; the climate will have already changed, and humanity will have to suffer the awful consequences. Scientific conservatism in this case is lulling the public and world governments into a misplaced sense of security. So what is to be done? The answer is clear.


Which brings us to the one absolute certainty; no significant solution to the [carbon dioxide] problem can emerge until governments worldwide, and especially that of the United States, follow the lead of Norway and the European Union and impose either an emissions cap or a direct tax on [carbon dioxide] (page 266).


Broecker’s conclusion is shared by most climate scientists. To prevent dangerous climate change, carbon dioxide emissions must be reduced by replacing fossil fuels rapidly with nuclear, wind and solar energy. This will require huge investments, and the only way the money can be raised is through a carbon tax. Those of us who care about what the future holds for our children need to start thinking about how to bring about this colossal change in the world economy. The only way to solve the climate crisis is to put continuous and increasing public pressure on politicians around the world to transition away from fossil fuels.





                                            

                                

        


        


        

                                

        
    

    


				

    

                


                        

                

	Poetry




            

            

                Stop the clocks, planetary version
            

                        

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Stop all the clocks, put away your mobile phone


Take a good look at your loved ones


Silence the noise and think for a moment


Take heed of the fact, this world is done.


 


Note the aeroplanes with jetplumes,


Tracing white lines in a bright sky


The stars and the planets whose beauty belies


The fact our home will soon be gone.


 


It is our north, south, our east and west,


Our place of birth, our place of rest,


Your source of all eternity, and so much beauty


We thought the world would last forever: we were wrong.


 


The planet will not last long now, with what we’ve done


Behold the sun, the moon the stars,


We’ve poisoned the ocean and burned up the woods


And seize what chance to try to save what’s good.

                                            

                                

        


        


        

                                

        
    

    


				

    

                


                        

                

	Archived XR Newsletters Uncategorized




            

            

                Newsletter #13 – Back in Action
            

                        

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Welcome to the 13th Extinction Rebellion newsletter!


Extinction Rebellion is back on the streets. Months of preparations are now bearing fruit, with actions in Britain’s major cities and all over the world.


 


But April’s International Rebellion takes us into the countryside too. On April 15th, our March For Life will see rebels walking across the fields and the hills to take a stand against climate inaction, while before that we’ll be re-connecting with nature and each other at the Spring Uprising festival on March the 16th. But we’re also mobilising in cyberspace: this new Facebook group gives us a collective voice – one that can’t be ignored – to demand that the BBC gives the ecological crisis every moment of attention it deserves. And the design for a new window-poster (best printed on coloured paper) means our rebellion will be brewing not just on the streets, but above them!


There’s a lot more to come, and not just from us: on Friday the 15th, the globe-spanning Youth Strike made a phenomenal start in the UK, with 10,000 children across 60 towns showing adults how it’s done. With growing momentum for an American Green New Deal, and major NGOs shifting to support civil disobedience, it’s clear that we’re part of a rapidly rising tide of protest. 


 


It’s time for a turning-point. The next few months could be a crucial moment in human and ecological history. To join the momentum, please see our volunteers page for available roles or get in touch with your nearest XR group. If you can’t spare time, but can donate money instead, please see our fundraiser page.


Check out what’s on near you with our full list of upcoming events, available to view on our website rebellion.earth/events. Or create your own event by filling in our talks and trainings form. If you’re new, or haven’t already seen it, remember to check out our Campaign Overview Document.


If you’d like to look back through the newsletter archive, you can find it here.


 


Contents


 


    

  • Recent Activity
    • 

  • Upcoming Activity
    • 

  • International Highlights
    • 

  • Announcements
    • 

  • Extreme Weather
    • 

  • Latest News and Data
    • 

  • Recommended Content
    • 

  • Regenerative Culture / Good News Stories
    • 





 


Recent Activity


 


First National Youth Strike for Climate – February 15th




On Friday 15th over 15,000 children left school to take part in the UK’s first Youth Strike for Climate. In more than 60 towns and cities, children gathered with teachers and parents to demand that the government take action on the ecological emergency.


In London, the turnout far exceeded organisers’ expectations with thousands of children gathering to block traffic in Parliament Square, on Westminster Bridge and outside Downing Street. The deployment of police horses did nothing to dampen the jubilant spirits. And nor could the helicopters drown out the children’s calls for justice.


Bing Jones, a member of XR, was in Sheffield: “300 to 400 kids turned up. We provided a PA system and a focus and I spent 2 and a half hours doing nothing but guiding kids to come forward and speak: say your name and school and off they went. They spent an average of about a minute each. They were articulate and informed and electric. It was one of the best days of my life. We had more than 100 speakers, cheered every time. Only a handful of adults spoke. Electric.”


Given the day’s success, it’s likely that the next strike on the 15th of March – planned as both national and global – will be many times bigger. In the meantime, XR and Youth Strike will be co-hosting an event outside London’s Department of Education (see below for more.)


See here for a debate on the strikes with XR spokesperson Clare Farrell; see here for Youth Strike organiser Anna Taylor on BBC Newsnight


 


Day of Regional Rebellion – February 16th




On Saturday, hundreds of rebels across the UK united to let those in power know that our numbers are growing, as is our willingness to act. In Bristol, hundreds united in shutting down the city centre with a street party, using dance and song to pressure the local council into greater action on the ecological emergency. In Cardiff, over a hundred rebels gathered to sing and speak to the public, gathering signatures to provide a big boost to their petition to the Welsh government. Over a hundred rebels in Cornwall blocked roads and marched in a funeral procession through the streets of Looe in honour of coastal communities. There was an eleven-minute silence, as well as speeches, poems and songs. Even more actions took place in Nottingham, Brighton and Gloucester.


 


Swarming Fashion Week – February 17th


 


The fashion industry is unquestionably one of the world’s most powerful and polluting industries. So on Sunday 17th February rebels disrupted the opening of London Fashion Week’s by swarming the streets outside key venues and calling on fashion to wake up to the climate and ecological crisis, and to use its influence to help create a just and sustainable world.


In mourning for the daily extinction of hundreds of species and the human lives lost as a result of the natural world’s collapse, rebels dressed as though for a glamorous funeral. We were joined by some of the catwalk models who posed in front of our banners, and the disruption was filmed by international TV channels and featured in the national press – including the fashion industry’s flagship magazine, Vogue.


 


Local Actions


 


Hackney Street Party


On Saturday 9th February, XR London rebels held a peaceful street party and blocked the road outside Dalston Kingsland station in Hackney. This was the first of a number of creative roadblocks planned in the build up to International Rebellion Week starting 15th April. Activists enjoyed a sunny day filled with great speakers, friendly discussion, delicious vegan food – provided by the Turkish Gözleme stall in Ridley Road Market – and a jam-packed schedule of music and spoken word poetry. The event was MC’d by Marv Radio and saw spoken word from Dizreali and Earthman Bob, live music from All Things Mata and Zantagola and Samba provided throughout by the Baque de Axé Drummers. Hackney local DJ Dgo opened and closed the event with Reggae, Roots, and Dub.


Amongst all the music was an array of amazing speakers promoting local causes. Sam Smithson from Sustainable Hackney brought their campaign for Hackney city council to declare a climate emergency to the crowd’s attention. Only 200 signatures are needed for this to be discussed in an official forum so please sign here. Other speakers included Janie Mac from the Refugee Community Kitchen, Bettina Maidment for Plastic Free Hackney and Katie Hodgetts from the UK Youth Climate Coalition. Pastor Dave from Victory Outreach also spoke for his campaign, ‘Stop the Violence London’ to bring people out of a life involving gun and knife crime, and promote Non-Violence.


The aim of the day was to create an open and positive atmosphere of light hearted, non-violent action, with discussion centred around environmental issues. The community-building action saw activists interacting with passersby throughout the day, discussing the movement and the growing threat from climate change locally and across the globe. 


Thank you to everyone who came along and helped make this day a success.


See video coverage here


 


Norwich 


Monday 11th February XR Norwich shut down the Norfolk County Council budget meeting for 4 hours. The local XR group had previously asked both Norwich City and Norfolk County councils to declare a #ClimateEmergency. They also demanded the council drop its plans to spend £200m on building a carbon-guzzling road through a special area of conservation (SAC) with SSSIs and wildlife sites. The group had been juxtaposing and linking the two issues – you can’t declare a Climate Emergency and continue high-carbon, economic growth system, vanity projects.


Twenty-five Rebels entered the Council Chamber and stayed there until the police intervened: four were arrested for refusing to leave the chamber. The action was covered by both regional BBCand ITV, with Rupert Read appearing for a face to face interview  on the late evening BBC news.


This powerful action testifies to the continuing evolution of the movement around the country at a grassroots, local level. 


 


Glue-ons in Stroud


Stroud Rebels followed Norwich’s lead on the 13th February, disrupting a Gloucestershire County Council budget meeting with singing and chanting in the public gallery: two Rebels glued themselves to their seats, demanding “the council’s budget acknowledges climate change.” 


While the Rebels continued to call out the Council’s criminal negligence for failing to take any action in the face of impending climate and ecological collapse, the meeting was adjourned and the police called in. 


The more we in XR are willing to take such actions holding local leaders to account, the more powerfully our message will hit home, forcing those in power to re-assess their priorities and put the climate where it belongs: at the top of the agenda. 


Article here


 


Oxford Roadblock


Rebels in Oxford blocked a road earlier this month – then eloquently explained why with this article in the Oxford Times


 


Local contributions


 


Decentralisation is a central part of XR’s ethos, and this applies geographically too. So while high-profile actions will often take place in the big cities, we’re eager to celebrate all the amazing actions across the country and the world every week. If you’re involved in your local XR scene, whatever the country, and if you’ve got a story to share, please email xr-newsletter@protonmail.com with ‘Story Contribution’ in the headline.


 


Upcoming Activity


 


Climate Truth for Schools – DfE, February 22nd


The National Curriculum is failing to inform young people about Climate Change, yet it is today’s schoolchildren who will be left holding the can. For this reason XR will be following up on the Youth Strike of 15 February by protesting at the Department for Education on Friday 22nd February. Please print and sign a copy of the letter with our demands, and if you have young children, stamp it with their hand prints and post it to Department for Education, 20 Great Smith St, Westminster, London, SW1P 3BT. Please share as widely as possible and tell your friends to share too. And join us on Friday 22nd (12pm at Old Palace Yard by Westminster Abbey and then on to the Dept for Education). Thank you. For more details and updates see our FB page: 


 


The Blood of our Children: an Act of Civil Disobedience, March 9th  


Join our bloody but non-violent civil disobedience at a central London government location. The science is done. We are in a climate and ecological emergency. We’re on course to send our children to an early death likely to involve mental breakdown, starvation and war. There are no words to describe the horrors we risk if we do not make governments act immediately. Every parent, every adult, everyone has a responsibility and duty to take action. Even if that means breaking the law.


So whatever your age, beliefs, or background, Extinction Rebellion is calling for you to come and pour (artificial) blood on the ground outside a key government location. We’ll make the gravity of the crisis viscerally clear and show that we’re prepared to make the sacrifice of our own freedom by being arrested. This is now what’s required. We also wish to apologise to the next generation for our complicity in this the greatest of all crimes – to leave a legacy of hell. A future defined by the climate and ecological breakdown.


The event page is here. Say you are “going” or “interested” on this page and we will message you with a full briefing. Please share and spread the word. If you have any questions, email us at boocxr@gmail.com.


 


Spring Uprising – Festival – March 16th




WINTER IS OVER, WAKE UP – THERE’S A REBELLION ON


LET’S GET TOGETHER, CELEBRATE XR, GET TRAINED, GET ORGANISED


AND HAVE A DAMN GOOD TIME DOING IT


So we are throwing a 3000-person Indoor XR festival!


Set to feature music, talks, political discussions, art workshops, trainings, and much much more – the Spring Uprising will be the perfect preparation for our coming Rebellion


See the website for details – and bookings!


Facebook event-page here


 


International Highlights


 


France


Not only was the weekend of 24th/25th January an important one for action in the US (see newsletter 12) but in France, in a day of action organised by various French environmental groups, more than 140,000 people took to the streets in no less than 120 cities. In Perpignan there were marches, assemblies, human chains, flashmobs, die-ins and non-violent actions. 


In the Place de la République, Paris, 8500 people gathered for an ‘agora’ (public political meeting). Brest was the scene of a human chain, and Orleans of a die-in. In Lyon, 5000 people mobilized to denounce air pollution. In Dijon, 1200 people found themselves in front of the town hall hands painted in red to symbolize the climate emergency. Read more (in French) here.




Canada


XR Canada are organising a Rebellion Week, to run from February 10 to 17, from Vancouver to New Brunswick. Organisers are urging rebels to join their local groups and organise their own actions (following, of course, the spirit of XR). There will be a die-in followed by road blockages in Halifax, Nova Scotia on Saturday 16th, and the Forest Protectors are on stand-by in Lockeporte for snap action against clear-cutting of the forest. Rebels can also join the women’s rally for missing and murdered women which traditionally takes place across Canada on Valentine’s Day, but are asked to carry out any actions at a different time to these rallies. For more details see 


 


Australia


There will be a Melbourne Central Extinction Rebellion ‘Die In’ on 04 March, 2019 at 12:00 PM.This will be a peaceful demonstration at the Melbourne Central Shopping Centre.  We will assemble at the State Library for a briefing on the action, before proceeding across the road to carry out the action. The action will involve people symbolically ‘dying’ in the shopping centre. RSVP:  Share with your friends on Facebook: 


 


Announcements


 


March for Life


Still thinking of travel plans for April 15? How about walking?


The Extinction Rebellion March For Life will see XR branches setting off from all across the UK, joining up with other groups on the way, and arriving in London with minds full of the nature we seek to protect. This could be a once-in-a-lifetime experience: a chance to spend time outside, to get to know your fellow rebels before shutting down London together, and to receive extra training en route. It’ll also save money – and emissions – on coaches!


If you aren’t up to walking all the way to London, there are still loads of ways you can help: offering accommodation/facilities, food and drink, publicity, or logistical support, at your location or in London.


 


Land Respite


The Land and Respite Working Group seeks more Open Homes hosts from around the country. We especially seek hosts along the routes of the planned marches to London beginning in March, and also clustered within a 30 mile radius of London, as more hosts will be required when more citizens join the marches towards London. Additionally we are building a ‘city support belt’ of land-based projects circling London which initially will serve the function of gathering, grounding and respite. These could include land squats as well as privately owned projects. Please get in touch if you know of such projects, especially to the north and west of the city. For Open Homes hosts and city support belt write to xr-landandrespite@protonmail.com


 


Talks and Trainings in your area


Looking to bring the Rebellion to your local area? Fill in this form, and we’ll provide you with all the resources you need!


 


XR Blog


XR Blog seeks submissions on an ongoing basis, from rebels from all walks of life. Minimal writing experience is required. If you’re stuck for content we can provide a variety of writing briefs. Please contact us on xrblog@protonmail.com


 


Arts – print your own window posters!


Beautify your window and get your neighbours to rebel in April with this new window-poster! For best results, print on coloured paper.


 


Legal – expenses


Dear Local and Affinity Groups,


Ahead of actions please make sure that Rebels who might get arrested have enough personal finances to cover travel to court in the event that they are charged. You may wish to ensure these financial resources by fundraising as a group so that the ones who are putting themselves on the line can feel safe that their court travel costs are covered and will be able to defend themselves in court. Also, please keep in mind that if your Rebels are arrested away from your local area they will need to travel to where they were arrested at least 2-3 times to attend hearings and court dates.



Central XR Finances don’t pay for court travel costs. XR Legal Support has a small hardship fund for court travel costs. Please contact xr-legal@riseup.net.


 


Finance – correction


We need to correct an item in our last newsletter: XR at a UK national level does not make a commitment to pay for arrestee support because: a) local fundraising is a way to share our information and garner support, b) we are concerned that this cost could grow beyond what we can cope with, c) there are currently insufficient funds. We are investigating the possibility of a hardship fund. We can offer support to help groups get crowd fundraisers off the ground locally- they were written about here some time ago. In exceptional cases of financial hardship, XR Legal supports rebels to pay for their travel to court (xr-legal@riseup.net).


 


Extreme Weather


 


Bushfires in Tasmania


At least 173 hectares, or 2.5% of Tasmania’s world heritage forests have burnt in a crisis which has overwhelmed Tasmania’s firefighting capacity. Matthew Newtown travelled into the exclusion zone alongside the Tasmanian fire service. View his photographs here.  (Tasmanian Richard Flanagan has written a moving piece about these fires “Tasmania is burning. The climate disaster future has arrived while those in power laugh at us”.)


 


Thousands of homes flooded in Queensland


Yet another “one in one hundred years” event, as days of torrential rain has saturated Townsville and parts of north Queensland and over a thousand residents were evacuated. See the early reports from ABC here and the Guardian here. In the aftermath, hundreds of thousands of cows and other livestock have been found dead.


 


World’s Driest Desert Floods as Extreme Weather Hits Chile


‘Rains high up in the Andes mountains have led to torrents of water pouring into the Atacama desert below, sweeping away houses and roads. […] heavy rains devastated the country’s El Loa province. Flooding caused six deaths and destroyed nearly 100 homes […] The disasters are part of a pattern of increasingly extreme weather in the country’ – Bloomberg report


 


Latest News and Data


 


Plants and soil absorb less carbon dioxide under a warming climate


We all have an image of the Earth becoming more lush as carbon dioxide levels rise. However, worryingly, a study recently published in ‘Nature’ suggests the opposite. Researchers found that under a warming climate, rather than absorbing more greenhouse gas emissions, plants and soil may start absorbing less, accelerating the rate of change.


 


Cause of the ‘Little Ice Age’


 


A study by UCL scientists just published in Quaternary Science Reviews presents the case that the ‘Little Ice Age’ of the 16th century was in part caused by the mass killing (mostly by disease) of native Americans, leading to substantial forest regrowth and absorption of CO2. CO2 in the atmosphere declined by about 7-10ppm over the century, lowering temperatures globally around 0.15C. The article is “Earth system impacts of the European arrival and Great Dying in the Americas after 1492” by Koch, et al. (forthcoming in March, 2019); a popular (and free) rendition of the content is available via CNN.


Another remarkable example of this effect was the forest regrowth after the Mongol invasions of Asia and Eastern Europe in the 13th and 14th centuries which ‘stockpiled nearly 700 million tons of carbon absorbed from the atmosphere. This is equivalent to the world’s total annual demand for gasoline today.’


 


Insect Apocalypse


 


In case anyone has missed it, a recent study in Biological Conservation suggests insect populations are collapsing around the world. The rate of extinction is eight times faster than that of mammals, birds and reptiles, and could lead to an insect-free world within 100 years, leading to a nearly complete ecosystem collapse. The Guardian’s reportgives a good overview. (On a tangential, but important, point, a new study has found evidence that an organic diet will quickly and substantially reduce the amount of pesticides in your body.)


 


Pressure on fast-food chains


 


Agricultural emissions, including those from meat and dairy, are on track to contribute around 70% of the total allowable greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 that would the keep rise in the world’s temperature under 2C this century.


In a letter to major fast-food chains, a coalition of investors are calling on the firms, which include McDonalds and KFC, to put in place clear requirements for suppliers of animal proteins to report and reduce their greenhouse gases and their freshwater impacts. 


 


Will this lawsuit bring down ExxonMobil’s culture of climate deception?


This article written by the Union of Concerned Scientists highlights how for many years ExxonMobil has lied about its support for climate change denier groups. Not only that, but the company has been deceiving its investors, falsely assuring them that its oil and gas reserves would not become unusable for economic reasons. The New York Attorney General has now filed an important fraud lawsuit against the company.


 


A third of Himalayan icecap doomed


 


Campaigners call for transport overhaul to tackle pollution


In this article in The Guardian the campaign group Friends of the Earth has called for an increase in public transport investment in the UK to combat emissions from cars. 




Gigantic Cavity in Antarctica Glacier Is a Product of Rapid Melting, Study Finds


‘The cavity is about two-thirds the area of Manhattan and nearly 1,000 feet tall, according to a study released Wednesday by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The hulking chamber is large enough to have contained about 14 billion tons of ice — most of which the researchers say melted in three years.’


Thousands of birds at risk as wetland is threatened by overexploitation


‘Doñana National Park, in Spain, is a crucial stopover point for thousands of migrating birds. However, over-intensive irrigation is threatening these valuable wetlands.’


Lemurs in Crisis: 105 Species Now Threatened with Extinction


‘At least 95 percent of Madagascar’s beloved primates are now at risk, conservationists warn.’


Campaigners accuse Redbridge Council of breaking promise to protect wildlife from lorry through road


‘Redbridge Council has backtracked on its pledge to save birds, badgers and other protected species from a road that threatens to tear through a woodland strip of Fairlop Waters Country Park, campaigners say.’


Endangered sharks being served up in British fish and chip shops, study reveals


‘Hammerhead sharks and dogfish were among the vulnerable varieties on offer in British outlets. Scientists found 90 per cent of products sold as huss, rock salmon and rock eel at chip shops were in fact the globally threatened spiny dogfish.’




Dozens of hungry polar bears have found their way to a remote Russian island in search of food. The polar bears have been feeding off rubbish in a local dump and even walking in to houses, causing a state of emergency to be declared. Experts have been deployed to sedate and remove the bears. Shooting them is prohibited by law. Officials warn, however, that a cull may be necessary to ensure the safety of the local population, if attempts to remove the animals fail. 


 


Recommended Content


 


We have heard a lot about food insecurity in the UK relating to brexit and supply chains from Europe but climate change is a much bigger threat to our food supply system. This blog post from Wicked Leeks details a report and campaign from Climate Coalition regarding how climate change is impacting agriculture in the UK.


-Matthew L.


 


Another nail in the coffin of the fracking industry’s claim to be cleaner than coal: ‘New NASA Study Solves Climate Mystery, Confirms Methane Spike Tied to Oil and Gas’. Interestingly, they find that global fires and their corresponding emissions have been at a historic low, burning ‘roughly 12 percent less acreage during 2007 to 2014, compared to the prior roughly half-dozen years’, apparently due to more effective fire suppression. Meanwhile, methane emissions from the oil & gas industry have increased substantially, accounting for 68% of the 25 teragrams added to the atmosphere every year since 2006. This increase ‘correlates closely with the U.S. fracking boom […] Leaking and venting of unburned gas — which is mostly methane — makes natural gas even worse for the climate than coal.’ – Ian


 


A good talk & booklet by Jane Morton, bringing insights from her profession of clinical psychology to how we talk about climate change. She argues that public messaging should move on from only using dry, conservative scientific findings and not be afraid of tapping into emotional responses which have a deep, fundamental role to play in decision-making. Basically, we shouldn’t shy away from describing this as an emergency, articulating the fears many feel already by telling the full truth, and using this to spur collective political action. – Ian


 


Some signs of a gradual breakthrough in honest reporting: Why it’s time to panic about climate change – an honest report from The Scotsman, and This is a crisis: Facing up to the age of environmental breakdown – a paper published by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) – Jon


 


Five maps that reveal the world’s remaining wilderness – some excellent visuals here showing the global impacts of the dominant culture on wild ecosystems. By their reckoning ‘just 23% of the planet’s land surface (excluding Antarctica) and 13% of the ocean can now be classified as wilderness, representing nearly a 10% decline over the last 20 years.’ Furthermore: ‘Between 1993 and 2009, an area of terrestrial wilderness larger than India — a staggering 3.3 million square kilometres — was lost to human settlement, farming, mining and other pressures.’ For me it shows the importance not only of conserving the remaining areas and stopping further destruction, but also the huge scale of work needed to repair the damage that has been done and the challenges of reintegrating human beings into that rewilding effort. – Ian






Regenerative Culture / Good News Stories


 


Baby tortoises spotted


After more than a century without a single baby tortoise sighting on the Galapagos island of Pinzón, a small group has been spotted. It is hoped that these youngsters may help to pull the critically endangered species back from the brink of extinction. More details here.


 


New Rewilding Project in Australia


Inspired by rewilding projects around the world, especially in the Yellowstone National Park, an ambitious project on the Yorke Peninsula in South Australia will attempt to restore a small pocket of Australia to its former ecological glory.


In total, about 27 of 29 mammal species are believed to have disappeared from the peninsula, including keystone species which help shape the ecosystem.


In Australia, the rewilding movement is steadily gaining momentum with groups like Rewilding Australia advocating for the reintroduction of Tasmanian devils to the mainland. Research suggests that introducing devils to the mainland could help knock cats and foxes off the top-predator pedestal in places where dingoes are culled or are in low numbers.


It is hoped that re-establishing ecosystem structures will be key to curbing Australia’s alarming extinction rate.


 


Pope Francis offered $1m charity donation to go vegan for Lent


This article in The Guardian details how the vegan campaign ‘Million Dollar Vegan’ has offered to donate money to charity if Pope Francis goes vegan for lent, the 40 day period leading up to Easter in which many christians practice fasting or abstain from types of food such as meat or sweets. The pope is known for his stance on climate change through statements such as:


“Climate change is a global problem with grave implications: environmental, social, economic [and] political,” he said in his 2015 encyclical. He also told the UN in the same year: “The ecological crisis, and the large-scale destruction of biodiversity, can threaten the very existence of the human species.”


 




 


“Now is not the time for speaking politely, or focusing on what we can or cannot say: now is the time to speak clearly… You say nothing in life is black or white, but that is a lie – a very dangerous lie. Either we prevent 1.5° of warming, or we don’t.”


Greta Thunberg, speaking at Davos


 


Thank you for reading this, our 13th newsletter. We’re super excited about the coming months and what they might hold. We’re also excited to welcome a whole host of new members into the newsletter team. We’re looking forward to our new writers bringing with them some fresh changes in style, tone and format – keep an eye out for changes and improvements in the coming issues!


That said, the team is still far from full-capacity – if you’d like to get involved in helping put together future editions, join the newsletter hivemind by emailing xr-newsletter@protonmail.com.


Get in touch with the same address if you have any questions or queries.


 


This newsletter was written collaboratively by a hivemind of 12 rebels.


 




 


As we enter this crucial and potentially final phase in human history, our Rebellion will need money to make sure our message is heard. Anything you can give is appreciated. Please visit our Fundrazr page.


Alternatively, standing orders or money transfers should be made to our Triodos Bank Account (Sort code: 16-58-10 Account No: 20737912) in the name of Compassionate Revolution Ltd (the holding company for Rising Up!).


Alternatively, if you’re a PayPal user (or more comfortable with PayPal), PayPal payments can be made to info@risingup.org.uk.


For queries contact Dave Nicks (dave.nicks@btinternet.com).

                                            

                                

        


        


        

                                

        
    

    


				

    

                


                        

                

	Around The World With XR Arts Regenerative Culture




            

            

                Poetry Anthology #1
            

                        

                                Published by:   
            

        

        
        

            

                                    


                                        

                        
Author:  Greg Cumbers


Almost Midnight 

Confused by the rhythm
And still, he stands up to dance
With Godheads and their hi-tech threats
Orange bleeds into red


He doesn’t wear a watch
Instead, he stares straight at the sun
Like a rabbit in the headlights
Beyond the point of no return


Confused by the rhythm
She sits down and puts the world to rights
A frightening place with nowhere to hide
The clock strikes closer to midnight


Tired, she’s so tired of waiting
For the sirens to start singing
Wound up like a spring with rage in her eyes
She crosses her heart and hopes to die


These are the days it never rains but it pours
You can run, but you can’t hide forever
The weather will have its way with you!  


——————————————————————————————————————–


Author: Santosha Tantra


Excerpt from the poem “One True Tribe“


This is the time and the need for the One True Tribe to recognize itself and begin living.
Who is in this One True Tribe? 
All Hearts everywhere 
We cannot, not know each other. 
There are no places we haven’t seen
And no one can live apart from the other, from how the other somewhere else affects everyone here.
We know of everyone’s suffering and everyone’s needs.
Our hearts are all the same, with the same impulse – to live and live well.


To live well all must know their own heart and recognize everyone’s heart.
The heart – the place and the knowing of love – the recognition of all as love.
Love is the impulse to serve without selfishness, to give so all can live with dignity.


Love makes happiness, purpose and enjoyment, 
love does not cause suffering for others.
This is the time and the world has the need, for all of us to see itself as
One family, as the One True Tribe.