XR or Extinction Rebellion By Dean Thorpe

XR or Extinction Rebellion are a peaceful, non violent protest group who are trying to wake the world up to the global warming crisis we are all facing. A minority of people still don’t believe global warming exists, but it’s hard to argue that the world isn’t changing for the worse! How many times over the last decade has the new said the hottest day on record, the coldest day on record, extreme flooding, biggest storms, typhoons, earthquakes and so on. Global warming is not just about it getting hotter, it’s about the changes that causes, the melting of the ice caps, destruction of the ozone layer, coastal erosion, rising sea levels are all linked to it. 

The day before writing this the government put a ban on protesting in London by Extinction Rebellion, to me that is a sign of fear! We have a right to protest, the right to have our voices heard and a ban may change some of the protests, but there is no chance of it stopping them completely. The treatment of the protesters by the Police has been dreadful, taking away wheelchairs and other forms of support from disabled protesters, making thousands of arrests of peaceful protesters, they even arrested two delivery people who were just trying to deliver a portaloo to a disabled camp! I have had many good experiences with dealing with the Police in the past, but the ones causing problems up there are either very bad ones, the ones who have no choice about following the orders or a mixture of the two. I do honestly believe most Police officers choose that job for the right reasons, to help and protect those in need, but some really are just power hungry bullies. 

Extinction Rebellion will not give up easily as they do (and so do I) believe that the time we have left to heal the damage to the Earth is getting very limited. They need to concentrate on affecting the people who NEED to listen, NEED to change their ways before it’s too late for us all. I have friends and family who have had babies recently, I want them to grow up breathing fresh air, drinking clean water, having access to all the things they need.

It's a circle for the Earth and a timer symbol on it to show time is running out for our planet, simple, but to the point! There are lots of variations going around too.

Some protesting I don’t support! There has been cases of people climbing onto the top of trains and planes, that is very dangerous. Planes I can understand being a valid target in some ways due to the amount of environmental damage they do, but public transport needs to be encouraged, not disrupted as that is better for the environment than cars. 

People can make a difference, we all need to try hard to recycle etc. but it’s not the average person on the street that can make huge differences. We need companies to change their priorities, move away from greed and towards becoming more eco friendly. I’m not saying not to make money, but multi million pound bonuses for people running companies making billions from selling things that could be made more environmentally friendly in exchange for just a percentage of those profits are the biggest problem. Another problem is the whole replacement culture that the media forces down our throats 24/7. Buy the new iPhone 14, a few months later “Don’t be seen with an old fashioned iPhone 14, dump that and buy the iPhone 15 if you don’t want to look uncool!”, “Still wearing last Summer’s trainers, chuck them in the landfill and get these new ones instead”. They are funding by the big corporations, adverts online and in print, product placement on TV and so on.

Some people seem to think Greta Thunberg, the young climate and environmental activist with Autism (like me)  that has generated a huge following of fans and haters is nothing more than a fame hungry young girl being told what to say. I don't think that is the case, I think she is genuinely concerned with the future of the planet and creating a better future for her generation and the generations to follow. If she is false, then I still support her! Why??? I would much rather see a generation of followers worshipping her and trying to save the human race than worshipping people like the Kardashians and other reality "stars" that only promote a lifestyle of extreme luxury, consumerism and waste. We need people like her getting the message out there. She has faced a lot of attacks already, including against her looks and Autism, probably from people not smart enough to argue the science of climate change with her.

Extinction Rebellion like many other eco activist groups want people to move away from coal and other ecologically bad sources of our electricity and instead only have renewable sources such as solar power. People in the coal industry obviously think that is bad and that we should fight to keep it no matter how bad for the planet it is! People will lose their jobs, but what point is there in having jobs on a dead planet. 

When slavery was abolished people lost their jobs, it was a big money making industry, but luckily the world changed, we realised that slavery could not continue. The same with fossil fuels, it's a change that must happen, it must become a thing of the past and the sooner the better.

What if we reduce pollution output, increase air quality, clear up the litter,remove all the man made toxins from the seas, switch completely over to renewable energy sources like solar and wind, get more people walking and using public transport, but after all that we find out climate change was a lie and global warming isn't happening? 

We and our children will be living in a much better world!!!

Please keep it peaceful - Please keep it non violent

Cause chaos for those who seek to destroy the planet

Please try not to mess things up for the rest of the people

Try to get the support of the public, don't make them hate you

Extinction Rebellion like all things like that do have good and bad points, mostly due to the good and bad people who get involved, but the message XR are spreading is a good one, an important one and that we all need to hear . . . before it’s too late!

Save our Planet!!!