Photos: Serena Shellenberg, Joao Daniel Pereira, Gareth Morris, Ilya Fisher, Chris Jerrey
The theme for the final day of our actions in Cornwall was ‘All hands on deck’ as the G7 proved to be yet another failed opportunity for change. We are clear that all sections of society must work towards creating a better world that lives in harmony with nature and respects all people.
We returned to St. Ives for a range of creative beach actions and a bit of disruption.
A group of activists declared that the G7 Summit was all mouth and no trousers. Leaders need to stop paying lip service to the climate and ecological emergency. Elly, a psychologist from London said: “I’m baring myself in public, a very silly thing to do, frankly, because there is nothing silly about a world at 2 or 3 degrees of global heating. I work with older adults as a psychologist, and in the UK alone currently for every week that we have a heatwave about thousand excess deaths occur. Higher global temperatures will kill many more of my patients, and I can’t stand by and let this happen.”
As the G7 meeting drew to a close the Big Heads blew giant bubbles representing 30+ years of hot air on climate and then lined up for their alternative summit photo opportunity in front of a sinking G7 logo. Activists stood topless with drowning in promises spelled out across their backs, while discobedience dancers performed and then fell to the wet sand in a mass die in.
A group of activists blocked the exit out of the G7 at Carbis Bay with a van, banners and a samba band. The group said that they were acting because the G7 leaders have not.
A spokesperson said: ”This weekend was a key moment. The G7, leaders of the world’s richest democratic nations have met and yet we’re STILL Drowning in Promises. We asked the leaders of the world to act now and all we’ve had are hollow words. We’re in no better position than before the G7 took place.
”This G7 conference begs the question. Is the outcome of this “event” really worth all the disruption, the carbon footprint and not forgetting the unfathomably large financial cost of all this security?”
On the third and final day of the G7 summit we focussed on the failure of G7 nations to respect the global climate commitments they made in Paris in 2015, and urging the leaders leaving Carbis Bay to act immediately to address the Climate and Ecological Emergency.
Gail Bradbrook, Extinction Rebellion co-founder,said: “These pledges for change are pathetic in the face of the collapse of the natural world- they might have been appropriate 20 years ago but not in 2021. An emergency means an emergency and our leaders aren’t keeping us safe. Tipping points are being breached and billions will die because of this inaction.
”The only thing left for people to rebel against our leaders, to rise up and pull together on the streets to take action ourselves. Because none of us are safe until all of us are safe. We’ve had enough of targets for the future, we need action now.”
Sarah Lunnon from the Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill Alliance said: “There remains a gap between the promises G7 leaders have made for emissions reduction and nature conservation and the policies that they have in place to deliver those promises.
“Now is the time for action. We need all hands on deck and we need a cohesive cross party strategy so that people in all sectors of society know what they are working towards; business, civil society, finance and government. The transition is a huge project and it needs everyone to play their part.“
The ‘Change is Now’ bus tour started in Bournemouth and toured around the South West including to Exeter, Teignmouth and Taunton. Bringing rebels and creativity and music with it, the tour was a great opportunity to do outreach. We gave out a lot of leaflets , did lots of art blocking and signed up people […]
Autonomous activists occupied the Queen Camel Oak in her final weeks on earth to extend her life in a bid to protect her. Unfortunately, this Ancient, 450 year old, Oak tree was lost to the destructive grip of the RIS2 road building scheme, a £140 million scheme to dual the road. The tree stood near […]
Rebels from the South West who held Oil Firm Valero to account for their dirty business processing fossil fuels and polluting our rising seas at our South West Summer Uprising on 17th July.
Successfully occupying the grounds of Cornwall Council in Truro, and stealthily erecting their tents overnight, activists from all over Cornwall delivered a two week programme of events, talks and workshops for the community and for councillors to attend. At first the campers were met with distrust and asked to leave, but after a few days […]
Photo credit: Gav Goulder Press Release – February 10th, 10am For Immediate release A coalition of investors, who own the Camborne constituency office of Environment Minister George Eustice, announced today that they have donated all of his rent so far to the Insulate Britain campaign. In the run up to the Extinction Rebellion protests at […]
Unofficial estimates suggest around 2,000 rebels took part in 3 days of creative and occasionally disruptive actions at the G7 summit in Cornwall from June 11-13th. Many arrived on foot or bike after epic multi-day treks. This roundup focusses on some of the actions we may have missed while preparing for or particpating in the […]
Photos: Serena Shellenberg, Joao Daniel Pereira, Gareth Morris, Ilya Fisher, Chris Jerrey The theme for the final day of our actions in Cornwall was ‘All hands on deck’ as the G7 proved to be yet another failed opportunity for change. We are clear that all sections of society must work towards creating a better world […]
Photos by: Gareth Morris, Chris Jerrey, Ilya Fisher, Tristian Herbert, Robin Markland, Joao Daniel Periera, Denise Laura Baker The theme for Day Two of the Extinction Rebellion G7 summit actions was ‘Greenwash’. Its purpose: to expose rich countries and their banking systems which talk about ‘green growth’ while continuing to prop up carbon polluting companies […]
