What Do Extinction Rebellion Want? Why Are They Protesting All Over The World?
Photo by Leon Neal Getty
October 2019
Birds, bees and wildlife are disappearing, the Amazon is burning, and soon extreme, once-a-century storms and flooding will be more likely to happen once a year.
The climate crisis is real – and yet governments aren’t acting.
Youth activist Greta Thunberg urges leaders to act now. And many environmental action groups are fighting for change.
One group that’s quite radical is Extinction Rebellion (XR for short). And it’s not just young people who’ve joined, which makes it quite unique. It’s also the fastest-growing environmental organisation in the world.
XR describes itself as an international “non-violent civil disobedience activist movement”.
What’s Different About Extinction Rebellion
What’s really interesting about XR is that so many “ordinary people” are joining in radical action. People who wouldn’t normally protest – about anything.
But they know how important government action is.
Of course, we as individuals can eat less meat and avoid single-use plastic – it all helps. Members of XR are so concerned about the climate crisis that they’re re-insulating their homes, dramatically scaling back family holidays to avoid air travel and, in increasing numbers, deciding not to have children at all.
But governments around the world must act – and being “nice” and quoting science isn’t working.
That’s why XR is a mass movement which causes disruptions – to force governments into action. But is it working?
XR Is Having An Impact
It was shortly after the “spring rebellion” earlier this year that, for example, the UK government became the first to pledge to cut greenhouse gas emissions to almost zero by 2050. Businesses around the globe are working hard to find zero-carbon alternatives to their products – the architectural and engineering industries have declared a climate emergency. So XR is having an impact.
Media cover Extinction Rebellion marches in cities across the globe. Often, the media (and governments) are critical of the disruption – bringing traffic to a standstill in major cities, for example. But the protests are raising awareness and that might be the only way to get governments to act.
What Does The XR Logo Mean?
That circle represents the Earth, and the two triangles represent an hourglass / egg-timer, which “serves as a warning that time is rapidly running out for many species,” according to the extinction symbol’s website.
What Does Extinction Rebellion Want?
Well, their demands are pretty extreme – but our situation is also pretty dire.
XR wants governments to declare a “climate and ecological emergency” and take immediate action to address climate change.
By that they mean – net zero carbon by 2025. (That’s just 6 years away!).
That’s an extremely ambitious target. Severe restrictions on flying would be needed. Diets would have to change, by drastically cutting back on meat and dairy. And there would have to be a massive increase in renewable energy, along with many other radical changes.
But those involved with Extinction Rebellion say the future of the planet depends on it. We have left it so late that we have to step up – massively.
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