had this horrible creeping feeling, like nothing was getting done and it was for the creation of a Citizens’ Assembly on climate change and for legislation companies (the school eventually agreed). Together, the group drafted a series of ambitious goals: They wanted the UK government to acknowledge that climate change had already begun, that it was getting worse, and that we would see unprecedented change within our lifetime. They also asked getting worse,” Bradbrook says. “It was a relief to feel the spirit of people to help the country reach net zero—a state in which the emissions produced by humans are balanced by emissions removed from the atmosphere—by 2025. “So many of us who’ve been thinking about the ecological crisis have COSTUMED PROTESTERS BLOCKED LONDON’S WATERLOO BRIDGE DURING AN APRIL 2019 SPREE OF DISRUPTION.
was synonymous with a new attitude toward climate change—one that ur-for what they called a Declaration of Rebellion. Mweeks after the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a landmark report declaring the world had only 12 years left to make the changes needed to avoid catastrophic warming. Some 1,000 protesters (a total that far exceeded expectations) descended on London’s Parliament Square willing to be in the streets.”received massive media attention, and soon the name Extinction Rebellion Houses of Parliament, they linked arms, forming a massive blockade that stopped traffic for hours. It was a bold unveiling, and it worked: The group gently demanded action. Their formal—and loud—introduction to the world came in October 2018, oving to a road outside the
members, many of whom argue that law and order itself must be thrown ultimate badge of honor.them—blocked five bridges crossing the river Thames, again halting traf-fic. Eighty-five people were arrested, and the into chaos before governments will respond, getting arrested is seen as the many as 6,000 people—children, the elderly, and artist Gavin Turk among the largest acts of British civil disobedience in decades. Among the group’s Members capitalized on the early momentum. The following month, as Guardian deemed it one ofin order to be effective, they need to mobilize 3.5 their way. The U.S.-based Climate Emergency percent of the population, the number Harvard political scientist Erica Chenoweth says is needed for civil resistance movements to succeed. At the rate the organization is growing, they’re well on is also a major donor). Their efforts have been Fund, founded by documentary director Rory Kennedy, celebrity philanthropic adviser Trevor Neilson, and philanthropist Aileen Getty, pledged $350,000 to their campaign (the band Radiohead Extinction Rebellion’s founders believe that
and Emma Thompson. Stella Msays. There are now 485 chapters worldwide, and multaneous protests throughout London, in-cast some of the members as models in her fall 2019 campaign. “It’s been quite a thing to go from [15] people to 72 countries in a year,” Bradbrook publicly supported by Benedict Cumberbatch over 3,000 member arrests have been logged in the UK alone. over 11 days last April when members staged si-cluding a “die-in” (in which activists pretended The most high-profile action to date took place cCartney even
LSTEP^ :AAMAZON WILDFIRES (PREVIOUE SPREAD): JOÃO LAET; KOA yelled a member as he threw black paint across the were singled out: “Shell [is] morally bankrupt!” middle of a street. Mparked themselves on a hot-pink sailboat in the demonstration in Oxford Circus, where members to be dead) at the Natural History Major environmental offenders useum and a
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