Barrow March

Extinction Rebellion deliver strong message to Alok Sharma demanding immediate action on Climate Breakdown

On Thursday 25th June Extinction Rebellion marched from Tilehurst Road in Reading delivering a powerful, and pungent, message to Secretary of State Alok Sharma’s office to demand immediate action to halt climate and ecological breakdown.

The Committee on Climate Change (https://www.theccc.org.uk/2020/06/25/covid-19-can-be-an-historic-turning-point-in-tackling-the-global-climate-crisis/) had earlier in the day reported that the UK is not even on track to meet their target of carbon net zero by 2050, a date that will be too late to save most of humanity and the natural world from destruction. Chair of the CCC’s Adaptation Committee, Baroness Brown of Cambridge, said: “COVID-19 has shown that planning for systemic risks is unavoidable. We have warned repeatedly that the UK is poorly prepared for the very serious impacts of climate change, including flooding, overheating and water shortages. Now is the moment to get our house in order, coordinate national planning, and prepare for the inevitable changes ahead. The UK’s domestic ambition can be the basis for strong international climate leadership, but the delivery of effective new policies must accelerate dramatically if we’re to seize this chance.”

Despite this, and the fact that Parliament has declared a Climate Emergency, the Government has not been alert to the breakdown in the environment happening all around us, both in our own country and across the globe.

Protestors marched with wheelbarrows of horse manure and placards to emphasise their key demands: “Climate Action Now – No more Horseshit !” plus a legally binding Citizens Assembly to “Decide Together” on the way forward.

The peaceful protest was one of many demonstrations across the country to show in various ways that inaction on the climate emergency will lead to millions of human deaths, the mass extinction of species and huge suffering worldwide.

The science is clear, climate breakdown is happening as predicted. The Government described last year’s floods in the UK as unprecedented, yet as with the global pandemic, the danger was predicted. Without prompt action, the future is simply terrifying.

One rebel said “The climate’s already in crisis, wildfires in Australia and the Amazon, the poles are melting - it’s hotter in the Arctic than Rio de Janeiro! We want action, a legally binding Citizens Assembly, because right now the Government is leading us “up shit creek without a paddle”

Rebels from seven Extinction Rebellion groups took part in the "Barrow March" : Staines, Bracknell, Reading, Swindon, Wantage, Woking and Wallingford. Letters were delivered to Mr Sharma’s office and the area was left clean after the protest.