Forum Topic

Heading for Extinction (and what to do about it)

In case anyone is interested.... There is a talk titled 'Heading for extinction (and what to do about it)' happening tomorrow (19th) at St Marys church, 7-9:30pm.The talk will be given by two local green campaigners and will discuss the science of climate change and the three extinction rebellion demands.Entry is free and all are welcome, especially sceptics!

Matt Palmer ● 2611d18 Comments

@Matt. Unfortunately can't make this as already signed up a while ago for something else this evening but just interested as to who is organising and who is speaking.

Michael Ixer ● 2610d

Hi Michael, Andrew Medhurst and Diana McCann are hosting it. There's a link to some info about Andrew at the bottom. Diana is a local green party member/campaigner.As far as I know its a standard presentation created by Extinction Rebellion, they are doing these up and down the country and there are a good few happening in London. If you'd like to attend another I can find out some dates/places.https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/climate-change-why-it-made-me-quit-my-job-316532b0e330

Matt Palmer ● 2610d

Are they going to park up boats on bridge so we are all late for work and economy suffers like they’ve done all over UK.Are they going to hand out plastic bottles of water like they did in central London. Yes they did they sat on oxford Street doing sweet FA eating and drinking from plastic and leaving rubbish everywhere Are they going to waste police officers time at a massive costI do lot of recycling, as much walking and avoid as possible use as little plastic as possible. Don’t need these Greens to tell me what to do.

Nick Gulliford ● 2610d

@Matt. Thanks. I'd be interested in how it's being presented by them - I've seen talks by Prof Joanna Haigh and Sir Brian Hoskins (of IC) about the science (and even heard Piers Corbyn's alternative views!) - so if there are other dates I'd be interested if it's not too much trouble - is there a link to meeting dates?@Nick. I was told ER cleared up all their rubbish? Anyway, I think there are two issues here. Climate change and pollutants. They are related and interlinked but distinctly different. A runaway greenhouse - unreversible process - from CO2 would render the planet completely uninhabitable whereas pollutants might lead to many extinctions, including humans, but probably not to life itself, and might more easily reversible if action is taken. One probably has to distinguish between the core members who are fully aware of both and other associated issues, and those recently attracted by the movement who are not fully aware of their actions?

Michael Ixer ● 2610d

There were other marches at the same time weren't there?Business as Usual is a big problem as it  is used as an excuse to avoid tackling the changes we need to make to ameliorate and find solutions for the bigger problems of climate change.

Philippa Bond ● 2610d

Hi Nick, In answer to all your questions, no, its a presentation in a church :)I thought it was quite clear but i guess not.

Matt Palmer ● 2610d

@Michaelhttps://xrlondon.org.uk/events/scroll down a bit and you will see the upcoming ones for the talks. Next one is in Hammersmith on the 24th by the looks of it

Matt Palmer ● 2610d

@NickIf you take the time to read the article below you'll see that XR fully cleaned up after themselveshttps://metro.co.uk/2019/04/26/extinction-rebellion-clean-climate-protests-finish-9321704/

Matt Palmer ● 2610d

Fair enough Matt but they still cost us tax payers thousands of pounds in police costs. They made city centres standstills across the UKIt is not only me they peed off, their hypocrisy defies belief as well. Handing out plastic bottles of water and most of them fly round the world and are spoilt little brats.They are probably better off going to work like the rest off us and paying a bit of tax.Maybe a thoughtAlso having a wash more than once a week.

Nick Gulliford ● 2610d

I dont remember seeing anyone handing out plastic bottles of water. At two events i went to recently they had refill stations where people could fill their bottles up.I'm a active member of XR, i also have a job, pay my taxes and have been known to occasionally shower.

Matt Palmer ● 2610d

You really should treat the stories (or non-stories) in The Sun with more than a pinch of salt!  Many people have taken time off for the recent demonstrations. There was the annual global pro-cannabis march at about the same time where it was reported that a lot of litter was left.  I remember because of the discussion over what a giggle that might be.  (Not that it is the same thing nowadays as it was in the past - it is supposed to be more dangerous.)If it is tax you are looking for then you want to find a government that taxes us all fairly and doesn't  give sweetheart deals to big international corporations or allow so much secretive offshore banking while the majority of citizens on PAYE have little choice but to pay their tax!Most people don't have international careers where they need to fly either.  Anybody can have double barrelled names.

Philippa Bond ● 2610d

Matt, sorry if I offended you and I respect you protesting. Afraid I don’t believe in what the majority have done closing down major city centres and wasting tax payers money with extra policing needed, of course no one has referred to this????? Do you side with the individuals that glue themselves to objects and waste police officers time as well, this isn’t in the sun, which i don’t read I see it with my own eyes as they were all in the west end earlier this year! Handing out plastic bottles as well.

Nick Gulliford ● 2610d

Hi Nick, You haven't offended me at all :)Yes I fully agree with their actions. I appreciate it's really unpopular with some people but the fact is governments have been talking about 'dealing with climate change' for 20 years and it's had very little effect, atmospheric C02 continues to rise.The policy of XR is to use non-violent direct action to cause disruption to the level that it has economic impact. We believe that is the only way to force the government to take the issue seriously.You and I will hopefully die of old age, our children or grandchildren may not.History will be on our side.

Matt Palmer ● 2610d

Cheers Matt,See you in Spencer one day again. I am hoping some of these improvements and funds to Putney High Street will help us locally RegardsNick

Nick Gulliford ● 2609d

Agreed :)I'm off up Ben Nevis now, have a nice weekend!

Matt Palmer ● 2609d

Thanks for the link, Matt. I'll keep an eye on the site as I can't make the Hammersmith date either 😞 although I suppose it's good in a way my diary's always busy; already getting busy 2020 with SNT and Astrofest in February and London Formula E in July plus a few other opera & astro things!

Michael Ixer ● 2609d

There's some more detail on the marijuana event leaving the litter ad ER cleaning i up from today's Guardian:-https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/sep/21/climate-strikes-hoax-photo-accusing-australian-protesters-of-leaving-rubbish-behind-goes-viral"On Friday, an estimated 300,000 Australians, and millions of people around the world, took part in protests against inaction on the climate emergency.Hours later, an Australian pro-coal page reposted the photo, which originated in April. It was captioned: “Look at the mess today’s climate protesters left behind in beautiful Hyde Park.”However, the photo is not from a climate strike, not from Friday and was not taken in Australia. It is from a marijuana-based festival called 420 held in London in April 2019."I wonder how the Australian pro-coal lobbyists justify to themselves such blatant lying. Some sort of idea of some greater good?

David Ainsworth ● 2608d

Yes sorry Nick if it wasn't the Sun.  It isn't simple.  There is a lot of lobbying goes on.  There is also a pro plastics lobby.  Plastic is useful for lots of things and it is cheap so long as oil is as it is a by-product but it brings with it a lot of other problems as there are so many different types.  I was interested that there was an attempt at the Boat Race to reduce the amount of single use plastic 'glasses' and I tried to find out more.  Many festivals are now using plastic glasses which you either buy outright and reuse and keep as a souvenir or you pay a returnable deposit.  I understand though that there was sponsorship by a bottled water company which won't have helped in the aim of reducing the plastic. I wondered whether it wasn't some sort of bottled water company promotion also at the XR event.  When there is a water main problem Thames Water will also give out bottles of water. So many charities have been involved in trying to reduce our use of single use plastic and it getting into our water systems and  www.citytosea.org.uk is just one. There is also a European Directive on Single Use Plastic  The EU has recently introduced the Single-Use Plastics Directive https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2019/904/oj  which also stipulates the percentages of recycled rather than virgin plastic that should be used in plastic bottle manufacture - which would have helped encourage recycling.

Philippa Bond ● 2608d