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What emergency? | Extinction Rebellion in Numbers | This Is Not A Drill: An Extinction Rebellion Handbook.

#ActForAmazonia #ExtinctionRebellion #RebelForLife #DefendaAmazônia

• Today from 11am – 7pm several hundred people from Extinction Rebellion UK are expected to gather outside the Brazilian Embassy in London to call on President Jair Bolsonaro to Act Now to protect the Amazon rainforest.
• Extinction Rebellion UK protests come as people gather outside over 22 Brazilian Embassies and consulates around the world, and in 52 cities in Brazil calling “SOS Amazonia”
• Yesterday French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted: “Our house is burning. Literally. The Amazon rainforest – the lungs which produces 20% of our planet’s oxygen – is on fire. It is an international crisis,”
• Worldwide Rebellion: starting on Monday October 7 Extinction Rebellion groups across the world will gather in key cities to rebel for life on earth

Extinction Rebellion UK will gather outside the Brazilian Embassy in London today from 11am – 7pm. Several hundred people are expected to attend the protest against the Brazilian Government’s environmental policies which aggravate the deforestation of the Amazon, and highlight the murder of Indigenous people killed protecting their land. Indigenous leaders of the Huni Kuin Kaxinawá will join and share their prayers and chants, and speak to the public. Extinction Rebellion Families will join the protest and hold a celebration of the trees.

Deforestation of the Amazon increased sharply in the last month. According to a report co-authored by Carlos Nobre, chair of Brazil’s National Institute of Science and Technology for Climate Change, the area risks reaching an irreversible ecological “tipping point” at which point it would move from tropical rainforest to degraded savanna. Extinction Rebellion UK are calling for governments around the world to make Ecocide – the destruction of the natural world – law. 

According to Brazil’s space research centre INPE, in the first eight months of 2019 the country has experienced an 83 percent increase in the number of fires, compared with the same time period last year. 

The protest today comes after six people from Extinction Rebellion UK were arrested outside the Brazilian Embassy in London on Tuesday August 13. The activists daubed red paint and sprayed messages on the embassy building to protest against the destruction of nature and murder of Indigenous people in Brazil. 

Quotes:

Peter McCall, 31, a pub landlord  from London taking part in the protest says: “I’m taking part because the Amazon is so vital to all life on earth, including ours. I’m scared that if we lose it then there won’t be any hope for our survival and yet the Brazilian government are actively encouraging its deforestation and exploitation.”

Nicholas Till, 64, a professor at the University of Sussex taking part in the protest says: “We are in serious danger of moving beyond the point of no return. The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (Cams) estimated that wildfires within the Arctic Circle between June 1 and July 21 2019 emitted almost the equivalent of the carbon output of Belgium in 2017. More warming means more wildfires, and more wildfires will in turn cause further warming – the world must act now or our children will pay the price.”

Charity sector worker and mother Lucie Brown, 41, attending the protest with her two sons age two and four, says: “I am coming with my young children in grief and disbelief that we have allowed this to go on for so long. We stand with the people of Brazil who face this terror today, we ask governments to stop deforestation and we hope that we continue to better understand the impact of our actions.” 

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, global pollution, 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 and ecological justice.

What emergency? | Extinction Rebellion in Numbers |This Is Not A Drill: An Extinction Rebellion Handbook.

Get involved:

• In the UK, come to one of our events, join the Rebellion Network and let us know how you can help out.
• Start a group where you are: in the UK or around the world.
• Find your local group.
• Check out the International XR website, with links to the French, German, Italian and UK websites.
• And while your time and energy are of most importance, if you are financially able to donate money, see our crowdfunder.

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 while the tools of civil disobedience and direct action are used to express our collective power.