EXTINCTION REBELLION
Extinction Rebellion (XR for short) wants governments to declare a "climate and ecological emergency" and take immediate action to address climate change.
It describes itself as an international "non-violent civil disobedience activist movement".
Extinction Rebellion is an international movement that uses non-violent civil disobedience in an attempt to halt mass extinction and minimise the risk of social collapse.
The world is in crisis. Life itself is under threat. Yet every crisis contains the possibility of transformation. Across the world, heralded by the young, people are waking up and coming together.
Extinction Rebellion was officially established in the United Kingdom in May 2018. The movement wants to rally support worldwide around a common sense of urgency to tackle climate breakdown and the ongoing sixth mass extinction.
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Their demands:
1. Tell the truth.
Governments must tell the truth by declaring a climate and ecological emergency, working with other institutions to communicate the urgency for change.
2. Act now.
Governments must act now to halt biodiversity loss and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2025.
3. Go beyond politics.
Governments must create and be led by the decisions of a Citizens’ Assembly on climate and ecological justice.
XR does not say what the solutions to tackle climate change should be. Instead, it wants the government to create a "citizens' assembly", made up of randomly selected people representing a cross-section of society. Its members would decide how to solve the climate crisis, with advice from experts.
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Geta Thunberg, a 16 year old teenager is credited with inspiring part of the international movement to fight climate change. She is noted to have said at one of the thousands of XR protests that "Humanity is standing at a crossroads" and that protesters "will never stop fighting for this planet".
The vast number of protests that have occurred across the globe turned XR into a movement of global significance, with scores of XR groups springing up in cities around the world, as well as in towns and cities across the UK.