for legal costs for those who get
arrested. Although XR is a strictly
non-violent movement, there are
many volunteers willing to break the
law. We call them ‘the arrestables’, and
they receive training and legal advice.
When you look back throughout
the course of history, it’s only these
types of movements that have
brought about fundamental change.
If you can get just three to five per
cent of the population engaged in a
matter and are willing to stop what
they’re doing, that’s enough to bring
about change.
It should be a crime to pollute our
lands; it shouldn’t be a crime to stand
up and say that’s wrong.
This is humanity’s last shot. In
fact, there’s a group of scientists who
believe we are already passed the
tipping point where we can’t actually
claw back and slow the process of
climate destruction. But I couldn’t
live with myself if I didn’t try to do
something. Maybe, if I didn’t have
kids, I might have thrown in the
towel but, because of my children,
I can’t leave this to them.79
Report
Children protest on Blackfriars Bridge
(below) and Sarah (right) campaigning
alongside naturalist Chris Packhama Citizen’s Assembly on climate
issues. I loved the event because
I was among a diverse group of
people who cared. Taking part in civil
disobedience felt like the natural
step to alert the government that ‘I’m
going to do something bold to get
your attention’.
Then, in November 2018, XR
planned to shut five bridges in
London for a day. A suggestion was
made that one of the bridges become
family friendly, so that children
could play with each other and any of
the more arrestable actions would
take place on the others.
I thought if I’m going to commit
my life to this cause, my boys, who
were seven and nine, must come
along for the ride. It happened so
easily and fluidly. We walked around
near Blackfriars Bridge and then, at
a chosen time, everyone moved on to
the bridge. People began to sit on the
road, share food and play music.
I’ve never had any negative
thoughts about involving my
children – in fact, I was excited about
showing them that if you care about
something, you should stand up for
your convictions.
After the bridge protest, XR saw a
massive surge in members, and it
was desperate for volunteers. I really
wanted to help out full-time, so
I talked it over with my husband and
quit my gardening business to work
on crowdfunding.
It’s an unpaid role that involves
me speaking to high net worth
individuals to ask them to donate to
our cause. We need money to help
form other groups across the world,
for the stages and sanitation at rallies
and for arts and crafts, which are
a big part of it. We also require fundsTHE EXTINCTION
REBELLION
ACTIVISTSarah Greenfield Clark, 36,
is a full-time campaigner for
the movement Extinction
Rebellion. She lives in
East Anglia with herhusband and two children.
I used to be just an ordinary
twentysomething. I’d go out for
drinks with the girls and on shopping
trips at the weekend, but, today, the
thought of getting on a plane to jet off
on holiday, when I know how much
my carbon footprint is robbing
from future generations, makes me
feel physically ill.
In 2016, my husband Will and I
watched a documentary called Before
The Flood [about the consequences
of man-made global warming] and it
suddenly hit us. We just couldn’t
unsee what we’d seen and, from the
very next day, I needed to know
everything about this issue. At the
time, I was doing admin jobs as well
as running my own gardening
business so I was able to work around
the kids, but I made a decision to go
back to university and study for an
MA in sustainability.
I wanted to be a sustainable
consultant for corporations, but just
before I graduated in 2018, I realised
the crisis is too urgent. Around the
same time, Extinction Rebellion (XR)
emerged and, last year, after reading
on Facebook about its Declaration
of Rebellion rally in London on
31 October, I went along. I’d never even
been on a march before, but everything
was done calmly with compassion, and
there was clear communication.
XR laid out its demands for the
government to reduce greenhouse
gas emissions to net zero by 2025 and
halt biodiversity loss, all to be led by