Extinction Rebellion protests in London

[SleepDeprivedCabbageBrain]

Is anyone going? Has anyone been? I'd like to take the DCs tomorrow.

On holiday at the moment, but planning to protest with my older (9 year old) dd when return.

Does anyone not see the irony of protests designed to bring the city to a standstill, and therefore increase the pollution?

A bit similar to 100’s of delegates flying thousands of miles to attend a Climate Change conference.

I applaud the concept of protesting against climate change, but together with the vandalism against the Shell building, I think the way they have approached it is all wrong. It won’t win them many friends.

Totally agree @badbilly

It does seem a bit counterproductive to be blocking public transport routes. Come to think of it maybe that’s part of the reason my tube station was worse than usual tonight - I put it down to tourists at the time but it might also be bus refugees.

They weren't very impressive yesterday. A few hundred at Oxford And Piccadilly Circuses; they're having such a disproportionate impact given their numbers.

The Metro says they’re planning to disrupt the Underground today - again, all the people already on public transport. Which is unfair, annoying & pointless.

I fully support them. Climate change is an emergency. Good on them.

Absolutely climate change is an emergency. I put out far more recycling than I do rubbish & I use reusable sanpro, mesh bags instead of plastic ones for shopping, & soaps & shampoo bars instead of stuff in plastic bottles. And I don’t have a car. But we want to encourage more people onto public transport, surely? How does disrupting the tube help with that?

I've just heard that the plan is to target the Tube today - but I din't know what/when/where

How do groups such as this get people to turn out and know where they're to go? Because no one else seem to know in advance.

London is always fairly quiet during Holy Week (schools off and lots of people away) so they have chosen a time to minimise disruption - just like he the rail companies and all the closures are regular Easter features).

It is however shit if you are trying to get around for something important, and I hope that emergency services are not impeded, nor access to hospitals (some peop,e wait months and trial ling distances to get to certain centres of excellence)

They are idiots.
2 girls were trying to bring a green wheely bin onto the underground at seven sister during the rush hour made worse by a broken down train.

To be honest, while I do agree that it is frustrating and perhaps not the best idea to prevent public transport from running I don’t see how else they’re going to make enough impact to get govt to actually listen?

Climate change is terrifying, and I don’t think enough people realise how quickly we are going to see absolutely devastating weather changes. The only way to prevent this is to change how we ALL act and think, drastically.

So not driving if there is public transport, or you can walk/cycle. Avoiding plastic, reusing, recycling, just actually being aware of the damage one person can do to the planet and not thinking someone else will sort it.

If people want their children to have a planet to live on, they’ll take this seriously. I hope anyway.

If you want to make a change in this world, instead of travelling to London to gawp at some prancing twats then try and do something positive.organise a litter pick at your loc@l beach or park. I am concerned about climate change, but I have added to global warming because of these freaks. I am disabled and haven taken 8 taxi journeys so far this week to get to work because buses can’t run. In addition to the £80 it has cost me so far, all the buses that normally travel over Waterloo Bridge are queued for a couple of miles as they reach the bridge and have to turn around; engines running. It must be horrible for people who live and work on the bus route. The Air is really rank. No thought given to others, - or the planet.

I’ve just got back from spending a few hours with Extinction Rebellion at Oxford Circus. It took me a while of standing in the sidelines to get a feel of what was going on but I listened and learned and am now feeling quite inspired.

Incidentally, the Central and Victoria line was running well with no delays either way, so I'm not sure if the tube disruption happened.

Heard some speakers, one from Bangladesh, one from Niger and one from Ghana - relaying how climate change has impacted on their homes and how protests are dismissed by the companies (Shell) and governments don’t care a jot. Also from an impressive and convincing young man of mixed race - a British father and Kenyan mother - he referred to predictions of just 3 repeats of the hot, dry summer that we had last year happening in Britain would lead to massive harvest fails and real food shortages - how much worse that is in Kenya.

They are taking this action because our government isn't - we literally haven't got time to wait for them to sort out Brexit - they are making such a mess of it we probably shouldn't really leave it in their hands. Extinction Rebellion are proposing that the government set up a Citizens’ Assembly on climate and ecological justice, to lead the change.

Climate change is happening and it's very serious... it's in the hands of this (our) generation to address it - if we leave it to our children it will be too late.

I'm planning on going back when I can to help support their efforts.

NarcissistMum

Just for context - I do pick litter on a daily basis in Epping Forest and from the grass verges near my home and I became vegan to reduce the impact my diet has on the planet (and for the animals, but that's a different matter). I'm a 49 year old midday assistant at a local school and I'm the only vegan (and litter picker) in my family, I try to be neighbourly and kind at all times, to all people. The point I'm trying to make is that I don't think I'm a freak, just someone who is concerned for the health of this planet, like everyone else who is attending the protest in central London (there were also teachers, lawyers, architects, doctors, nurses and students).

I'm genuinely sorry that the protests have had such an impact on you personally but your opinion about the air being really rank is kind of the point....

Climate change is an emergency. We will all be experiencing more than minor disruption to our lives if we don't make radical changes - changes that our politicians don't have the balls to do left to their own devices and the comfort of being at the top of the pile . The pressure has to come from the public - and needs to be as severe and prolonged as necessary. It is of course relatively good to use public transport but we are going to have to think more inventively than that - those who are able bodied are going to have to walk and cycle for the majority of journeys. That will actually be pleasant when we remove all the toxic fumes. We are going to have to stop buying "stuff" and only use essentials. Recycling isn't good enough and uses large quantities. We are going to have to reuse, or preferably not use.

We went today to all the sites and had a brilliant time. My oldest made a banner and there were lots of friendly people praising him. He was delighted. Marble Arch seemed especially suited for families to visit given the proximity of Hyde Park. It was funny watching the DCs reaction to being able to walk in the road. DS thought it was amazing and made us stop the buggy at red lights . It was easy to spot police massing and move on to avoid arrest as I wouldn’t be prepared to be arrested in sole charge of kids. But I’d encourage any other families who are interested to go. I feel that climate change is the biggest issue for our children, even going for a few hours seemed better than not doing anything. It helps politicians see that a cross section of people really care about the planet’s future.

I'm planning to take DS tomorrow - we are planning to start at Oxford Circus & walk along to Marble Arch. Are there toilets available?

The delights of a traffic free environment Sleep

I am so proud of the extinction rebellion protests, the governments are putting big businesses interests above the planet and people's. They say they are making strides yet co2 emissions have risen, we are missing our paris accord missions targets by miles. The system needs to change and I hope they achieve that.

In the beginning I was a bit put off by their tactics and all the singing and mother earth stuff but I attended a few meetings and spoke to the activists. I have read some of the IPCC report and I am genuinely scared. Business and government have known this was coming for over 30 yrs and have done nothing but play lip service to tackling climate change. Late last yr they agreed to open a new coal mine ffs. I can't be at this one but have taken part locally and will be at the next one.

Xr say themselves they are sorry for the disruption but 30 yrs of writing letters, donating to greenpeace and going on marches has achieved very little. We need to act as if our house is on fire, because it is.

I support them. I think they are trying to get Government to declare climate change as a proper emergency. Recycling is not going to cut it anymore. Legislation needs to ban plastic coffee cups, plastic bottles and force companies to cut back on packaging. It really scares me. We all need to cut consumption drastically, reduce flights, stop buying cheap clothing, give up or reduce meat/dairy etc but short term interests often trump long term survival of planet!!! So by the time the consequences are too serious to ignore, we are all screwed. I guess the irony is that Earth will eventually recover but humans and animals not so lucky.

They’ve blocked Parliament square for the whole day today. No cars and a pretty happy vibe. I’ve worked there for ten years and seen a lot of protests but this one was the best yet.

I think it probably the only way now to cause the change needed to do what's needed.

The headlines about them causing chaos and bringing London to a standstill are BS. Londoners are used to transport delays and finding alternative routes. It's lovely and quiet and clean around the protest sites. No cars/trucks/buses polluting the road.

It wasnt quiet, the other evening, really dreadful wailing singer, and normal people commenting what idiots they are. That was 10.30 at night. Earlier on i saw quite a few dodgy characters with face masks that looked scary fot kids
What sort of mentality brings a compost bin on the tube in rush hour. It was ridiculously dangerous trying to get that down the stairs when they knew there was a problem and more crowded than normal.
The organisation i work for are involved in anti pollution measures , and nobody there has any sympathy for them. They are hardly even making the news

They are hardly even making the news

I'm surprised you say that as they have been discussing it a lot on the radio station I listen to but it is a London one.

I think if our Government appeared to be taking the issue seriously then perhaps activists would not feel the need to do this. I think the time for half measures is over.