Author: XR Dorking

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The Climate and Ecological Emergency (CEE) Bill was introduced to Parliament as a Private Members Bill on 2nd September 2020.  Guided by the current science, this Bill has been written by an alliance of scientists, lawyers academics and campaigners, in the hope of securing a sound strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and restore the natural world, to try to prevent catastrophic climate change

Nature is our life support system – it provides food, water, medicine, pollination, helps regulate the climate and flood prevention, and boosts our mental health.  it is essential for our wellbeing.   But we have been living beyond the means of our planet and eroded natural resources, to such an extent, that habitats have been destroyed or polluted and wildlife is struggling to survive.  Scientists fear that the sixth mass extinction is underway.

In the UK alone:

• 41% of all UK’s species have declined since the 70s (hedgehogs have declined by 95%)
• 26% of the UK’s mammals are at a very real risk of becoming extinct
• A third of the wild bees and hoverfly species have sustained losses, likely due to pesticides, habitat loss and climate change
• 97% of the UK’s wildflower meadows have been lost

(State of Nature report 2019)

The CEE Bill requires urgent action to reduce the negative impacts that human activities have had on the health of soil and biodiversity and restore and enhance nature, so that it wildlife and ecosystems can thrive.  When they are healthy, living systems such as forests, peat bogs, saltmarshes and the sea bed, support life and absorb carbon from the atmosphere, which can help tackle the climate emergency too.  The Bill also outlines new targets for the UK to reduce its real fair share of carbon emissions, in line with the spirit of the Paris Agreement. You can read more about it here.

For the Bill to suceed it will require cross-party support and all MPs to unite behind it.   We need to all come together, to act for the common good.  The future of our children, their children and countless species is in the balance.

Please write to your MP asking them to support the CEE Bill.

Overnight on Friday, 4th September, over 100 rebels blockaded newspaper printers overnight, successfully preventing The Sun, Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail and Times from reaching newsstands all over the country.

In one of Extinction Rebellion’s most coordinated and disruptive actions to date, rebels simultaneously took site in Broxbourne, Liverpool and Glasgow with fantastically effective roadblock structures.

The media has a vital role to play in telling the most urgent story of our time – the climate and ecological emergency. We desperately need them to stop spreading hatred and lies, and instead take a real lead to help us come together to hold our government to account.

‘Priti Patel has accused us of making an “attack on free press, society and democracy”. That’s hyperbolic for sure. But let’s not get distracted. Our free press, society and democracy is under attack – from a failing government that lies to us consistently, is becoming increasingly authoritarian, and is leading us towards 4 degrees of warming.

Priti Patel and her government are part of a political system that does not want and does not benefit from a free press. Instead our leaders have allowed the majority of our media to be amassed in the hands of five people with powerful vested interests and deep connections to fossil fuel industries. [1] Powerful vested interest has led to the appointment of Tony Abbott – a friend of Rupert Murdochs, a climate change denier, misogynist and homophobe – as a UK Trade Envoy. Our leaders are allowing these powerful few to deny the young the information they need to plan for their futures and defend themselves. ‘ (from XR Press release 5.9.20)

A free press is vital. But UK mainstream media is not ‘free’ press. It is owned by a few billionaires whose agenda is not holding government & powerful institutions to account for their negligence in failing to act to protect its citizens.

For democracy to work, people need to be in possession of the facts.

[1] BBC documentary The Rise of the Murdoch Dynasty. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m000kxw1/the-rise-of-the-murdoch-dynasty

Local rebels joined a Mad Hatter’s Tea Party outside Gatwick Airport yesterday to protest against the high carbon footprint of the airline industry.

Less than 10% of the world’s population has ever been on a plane. Yet the airline industry is the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions.

Rebels in fancy dress were joined by a former pilot who left the airline industry, for which he had worked for a number of years, as he felt that he could no longer support the carbon-intensive industry.

The Rebel Riders, en route from Brighton to London, arrived to the sight of rebels performing Discobedience in the centre of the roundabout!

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On Friday we joined Extinction Rebellion groups across the country in a nationwide banner drop, as part of a fossil fuel-focused day of action.  Six banners hanging on three bridges across the M25, spread our message to thousands of travellers, in the constant stream of heavy traffic throughout the day.

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