Where we are at this time: A point of view.

XR POTENTIAL MESSAGING

2022 (for collective consideration)

OBJECTIVE:  REITERATE WHY EXTINCTION REBELLION [COLLECTIVE MASS DISRUPTIVE ACTIVISM] IS NECESSARY AS EVER TO CALL PEOPLE TO ACTION.

TELL THE TRUTH.

The UK Government is not being honest:

#1  There is no where near enough action to reduce carbon emissions now to try to avert climate catastrophe.

#2  The scale and pace of the changes need to be so much faster that any of than any of the current UK plans and strategies

#3.  The reliance on technologies that do not yet exist is reckless and foolhardy and squanders the opportunity to reduce CO2 now.

#4. Just switching all our cars to electric vehicles is not a net zero plan;  the truth is that the amount we travel and the way we travel needs to change radically right now.

#5. Getting all homes to net zero needs ‘retrofitting’ to happen at a rate of over 2000 homes per year – the current government grants will only help at the rate of 100s per year to do a partial job.

#6.  Emergency response?  We’ve had emergency declarations by governments at all levels in the UK but no actual emergency response.  It’s a phony response with ‘plans’ but with little or no resources.

#7.  The current development fueled economy will destroy us. Continuing the rate of new building and extensions/modifications to homes and commercial buildings using fossil fuel derived materials is at the heart of the problem.

#8.  The tough climate problem needs tough choices:  UK government lies when it says the rate of consumption does not need to reduce.

#9.  Our rapacious appetite for stuff – cars, tech, clothes, refurbishments, luxury…out with the old/in with the new culture is wasting the precious remaining carbon budget.  Our government is failing to tell the truth about how little budget is left and how fast it is running out.  No amount of recycling or ‘circular’ economy will save us – the data is clear.  Refuse, re-use, repair, and regenerate.

#10.  Our current leaders and representation do not yet have the knowledge or skills or willpower to make serious progress on preventing or slowing ecological and climate collapse.  They are still accepting, endorsing, financing and making happen projects and plans that are destructive.

ACT NOW – A CALL TO REBELS & FUTURE REBELS.

#1 Youth, students, young people, where are you?  If not you then who?  The actions taken by governments now, the big decisions that have a chance of averting climate catastrophe in 20 years’ time, need to be pushed forward by your voices; your actions en masse.

#2  Unless there are millions of us saying really clearly that rapid climate & ecological action is necessary, the status quo will continue, and crisis will become catastrophe.

#3  Let’s not get distracted

There are thousands of causes of climate and ecological breakdown all around us everyday – weed killers, tree surgery/felling for development, road surfacing, cars idling, fast fashion, litter… that are all painful to see and be part of.  The Rebellion is concerned about these but focuses on the big systemic change needed to change course for humanity and the whole ecosystem.  Campaigning, parading, and traditional protesting on its own is not enough.

COLLECTIVE INFORMED DECISION-MAKING IS CRITICAL (AKA CITIZENS’ ASEMBLIES)

#1.  Light touch regulation and market driven changes (-the UK government’s preferred route) will not meet the climate and ecological challenge fast enough.  History shows us (eg sanitation, medicines, road and fire safety, food standards…) that tough regulation on fossil fuels, greenhouse gases and biodiversity is necessary now.

#2.  We are at an ‘Everyone-everything’ moment. Climate and ecological breakdown prevention will not have a single technological or golden solution.  Everyone and every type of intervention need to be considered and pursued in an informed and collectively decided way that is as fair as possible.

#3.  Nobody is going to do this for us.  The status quo will deny this possibility and waste the valuable time for possible action.

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