Direct action protesters are right to demand that the environmental emergency is taken seriously

The efforts of Extinction Rebellion, Just Oil and Insulate Britain have caused discomfort for some across the country. The environmental activists have been deploying direct action tactics to draw politicians and the public's attention to the climate and biodiversity crises, engulfing the earth. The activities vary from blocking roads, locking onto public buildings to taking action against those companies seen to be perpetuating the crisis. The protesters say that the world is in an emergency, with action needed now to stop a catastrophe unfolding. They do not believe that traditional forms of protest such as lobbying politicians, going on marches etc are having the required impact. Hence, the need for more direct activity. The protesters argument has no doubt been aided by the actions or should that be inactions of the politicians over recent months. So, as Just Oil were blocking roads and locking onto bridges, politicians from across the world gathered for latest COP (27) meeting. Headline news that rather than cut emissions, the world is racing ever more quickly toward catastrophic levels of warming. Meanwhile, the COP participants discuss why the actions agreed 12 months earlier had not happened. A major cause being the First World countries failure to come up with the money pledged. Mood music from the domestic arena sees the Conservative Government pledging billions to develop a new nuclear power station at Sizewell. Not only is nuclear power expensive and dangerous but it will also take more than a decade to come on stream. Not exactly in the spirit of the emergency now facing the world. Then the latest inexplicable act of waving through a new coal mine in Cumbria. The protesters are right to take the actions they have. The report of the International Panel on Climate Change in 2018, warned that there were 12 years to address the crisis. So far, the first four years have been wasted. Emissions and habitat destruction has continued and even accelerated. It is as though the world is caught in some sort of giant bubble of denial What no doubt irks the protesters is that all humanity has recently witnessed how the world does react to a real emergency – namely the Covid pandemic. That was accepted very quickly as a real emergency and some very draconian actions were taken to deal with it. Having seen how humanity reacts to a genuine emergency, can anyone wonder that those passionately concerned about our planet suggest that the environmental emergency is not being dealt with by a similar level of seriousness? Ofcourse the actions have inconvenienced people and many of those effected share the concerns over the planet but the protesters have been driven to these extremes by the lack of action. The government response has been to legislate to make it more difficult to protest. They do not seem to understand this will just drive people to greater extremes. The only feasible response is to actually take the protesters concerns seriously, recognise that this is a very real emergency and treat it as such. This will mean substantial changes in the way humanity lives on the earth. The changes need to happen now, not when it is politically convenient for the ruling elite. Emergency must mean exactly that at every level of government - until that happens people will rightly keep protesting in whatever form they consider necessary to obtain the fundamental changes required to save the planet.