BREAKING: London: 8 young people locked on to Parliament to plead for climate and ecological justice - Extinction Rebellion UK
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BREAKING: London: 8 young people locked on to Parliament to plead for climate and ecological justice

May 03, 2019 by Extinction Rebellion

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NEW – What emergency? https://rebellion.earth/the-truth/the-emergency/  

In scenes reminiscent of the suffragettes, 8 courageous young people from Extinction Rebellion Youth in the UK, aged between 16 and 20, have locked themselves to railings outside Parliament in London. They have a banner that says “Our futures are chained to your actions.”

They are demanding young voices be heard and their futures protected. Having witnessed previous generations reaping the rewards of polluting, climate changing and species devastating lifestyles, the youth are demanding the Government act now for climate and ecological justice.

The Climate Change Committee (CCC) report, released on Thursday, is charged by Prof Kevin Anderson, Tyndall Centre, University of Manchester of “passing a significant burden for reducing today’s emissions onto our children – and subsequently their children. These future generations will need to invent and deploy planetary-scale technologies to suck 100s of billions of tonnes of ‘our’ emissions out of the atmosphere.

Extinction Rebellion Youth UK Letter to MPs:

“During question time on the 24th April the government failed to acknowledge our actions over the past few weeks, and in turn disregarded the demands and needs of those over whom you govern. On the 30th April, Michael Gove also failed to respond to our representatives appropriately, focusing only on what the government are already doing, not what more could be done. We, the youth, are writing to make it clear that this will not be stood for. We acknowledge and appreciate the steps that have been taken in meeting with us, as well as in declaring an environment and climate emergency, but this is not enough. Desperate times call for desperate measures. We are working against a ticking clock and the time for discussion has passed, action is essential if we are to ensure any prospect of a future.

By declaring an environment and climate emergency, you have come part way to meeting our first demand, and this is only meaningful if followed by action:

  1. Tell The Truth – Government must tell the truth by declaring a climate and ecological emergency, working with other institutions to communicate the urgency for change.
  2. Act Now – to halt biodiversity loss and reduce greenhouse gas emission to net zero by 2025.
  3. Beyond Politics – create and be led by a Citizens’ Assembly on climate and ecological justice.

The government’s inaction up to this point has compelled us to act, and although we do not want to be doing this, we feel we have no choice. By meeting our demands, a future could be secured for not only our generation but all those still to come, but not doing so will condemn us further. We are currently locked onto your gates and in doing this, hope to highlight our dependency on the government’s actions and our desperation. We will be here for three hours; in this time, we hope you will hear us and choose to act appropriately. Declaration is only the first step of the many necessary to secure our futures, and we will not stop fighting until we see these steps implemented. If we do not see change in the coming weeks, we will have no choice but to escalate our actions further.

We have little time left and the world is watching, we are watching, and we are asking; seize this chance, honour the platform and power you have been democratically given and implement the urgent action necessary to save our futures.

With hope and determination,

Extinction Rebellion Youth.”

Talia Woodin (19), Isla Sandford Hall (16), Delilah Powell (19), Sylvie Convery (13), Nathan Hunter (16), Sid Black (23), Lavinia Carey (20), Ella Eastburn (15), Daniel Walsh (17), Ivi Hohmann (17), Peter Green (16), Meg Campbell (17), Grace Sheldon (17)

Notes to editors

About Extinction Rebellion

Time has almost entirely run out to address the ecological crisis which is upon us, including the 6th mass species extinction and abrupt, runaway climate change. Societal collapse and mass death are seen as inevitable by scientists and other credible voices, with human extinction also a possibility, if rapid action is not taken.

Extinction Rebellion believes it is a citizen’s duty to rebel, using peaceful civil disobedience, when faced with criminal inactivity by their Government.

Extinction Rebellion’s key demands are:

  1. Government must tell the truth by declaring a climate and ecological emergency, working with other institutions to communicate the urgency for change.
  2. Government must act now to halt biodiversity loss and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2025.
  3. Government must create and be led by the decisions of a Citizens’ Assembly on climate

Get involved

Get involved in Extinction Rebellion’s other events

UK website: https://rebellion.earth/

International website: https://xrebellion.org/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ExtinctionRebellion/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ExtinctionR hashtag #ExtinctionRebellion

Declaration of Rebellion: https://rebellion.earth/declaration/

About Rising Up!

Extinction Rebellion is an initiative of the Rising Up! network, which promotes a fundamental change of our political and economic system to one which maximises well-being and minimises harm. Change needs to be nurtured in a culture of reverence, gratitude and inclusion; whilst the tools of civil disobedience and direct action are used to express our collective power.

Website http://www.risingup.org.uk/;

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/RisingUpUK/;

Twitter https://twitter.com/RisingUpUK

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