Demonstrators were arrested in a wave of US protests that are part of a global week of action by the UK-based group
Oliver Milman reports for The Guardian in New York Last modified on Mon 7 Oct 2019 17.09 EDT
More than 20 people were arrested by police in New York City’s financial district after Extinction Rebellion climate protesters poured fake blood over the famous Charging Bull statue, a symbol of American capitalist might.
The protesters launched a wave of disruptive protests in the city on Monday. A smaller number of arrests were made at a “die in” outside New York’s stock exchange, with protesters subsequently blocking a nearby road to traffic.
Protests are also taking place in other US cities, including Washington DC and Chicago, as part of a global week of action by the UK-founded activist group, which is seeking to make its first major mark in America.
Climate crisis activists demonstrate in New York City where Extinction Rebellion organizers expect several thousand to congregate this week. Photograph: Shannon Stapleton/Reuters
Extinction Rebellion organizers expect several thousand people will congregate in New York’s Washington Square Park for a week of protests and speeches that are expected to involve actions that will prompt further arrests.
“There will be broad disruption of business as usual,” said a New York-based Extinction Rebellion spokesman. “Frankly we don’t have time to wait for an opportune moment. Climate breakdown is under way and we can’t afford to wait.”
Extinction Rebellion has a philosophy of nonviolent direct action aimed at pushing governments to confront the climate crisis. A key demand is that planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions are reduced to net zero within six years.
A climate crisis activist covered in fake blood is arrested in New York City during the Extinction Rebellion demonstration. Photograph: Timothy A Clary/AFP via Getty Images
The activist network has gained a high profile in the UK, following successful attempts to shut down parts of central London. Activists are hoping for a similar impact in the US, despite concerns over a more aggressive style of policing and an unsympathetic federal government, led by Donald Trump, that actively promotes fossil fuels and is regularly derisive of climate science.
“We need to account for the damage caused by fossil fuels because we have the chance of losing it all,” said Jim Navarre, a protestor from New York’s Long Island who help up a sign reading “You can’t comb over climate change” with a picture of Trump’s hair atop the globe.
Climate crisis activists gather in Battery Park during Extinction Rebellion demonstrations in New York. Photograph: Timothy A Clary/AFP via Getty Images
Yana Landowne, also from New York, said she was inspired to join the protests by British friends. “I see this as a movement I need to get behind, I realized I had to bring my whole being to this movement,” she said.
The stock exchange protest featured a mock funeral with people strewn on the ground, covered in blood. Tombstones mentioning hurricanes and fires made worse by the climate crisis were held aloft, along with a coffin with the words “Our future” written on the side. A New Orleans-style funereal band played for the several hundred protestors.
“It’s a powerful message,” Landowne said. “But more than death I fear living amongst the terror of people killing each other for water and food.
If you liked this post you’ll love our daily newsletter, EnviroPolitics. It’s packed with the latest news, commentary and legislative updates from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware…and beyond. Don’t take our word for it, try it free for an entire month. No obligation.
Kevin Rector reports for the Baltimore Sun Oct 7, 2019 | 5:30 pm
A Baltimore City Council committee sided with retailers and against environmentalists in amending a proposed ban on plastic bags so that it only applies to particularly thin bags. In this file photo, a plastic bag is shown along a Virginia road.
A Baltimore City Council committee sided with retailers by voting Monday to amend a proposed ban on plastic bags so that it only applies to particularly thin bags, a move that upset environmentalists and the bill’s sponsor.
The amendment reduced the proposed threshold for banned bags from 4 mils — a mil is one thousandth of an inch — to 2.25 mils.
Retailers say bags that are 2.25 mils are reusable, and so should not be banned.
Environmentalists say such bags are barely distinguishable from the thinner grocery bags that can be found strewn throughout the community, and often enter the waste stream after a single use — just like the more common, thinner bags that still would be banned.
Democratic Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke, vice chairwoman of the Judiciary Committee, called the proposal “ridiculous” and asked that it be tabled so that members could have more time to consider it. She was particularly concerned she hadn’t heard of the proposed change before Monday’s meeting. Democratic Councilwoman Shannon Sneed asked committee members to delay any vote until they could examine bags of different thicknesses.
But Councilman Eric Costello, the committee chairman, was joined by councilmen John Bullock, Leon Pinkett and Robert Stokes in a 4-2 vote approving the change, which Costello said was also supported by Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young and Council President Brandon Scott. All are Democrats.
Democratic Councilman Bill Henry, the bill’s sponsor, worried retailers “could just continue to use plastic bags” under the amended language. He also said the added thickness of the permitted bags would not be enough to encourage their reuse by customers — leaving the city much in the same position as it is now.
“Nobody is going to keep one of those slightly thicker plastic bags in their trunk so they can go back next week and shop with it again,” said Henry, who is not a member of the committee.
“Nobody is going to keep one of those slightly thicker plastic bags in their trunk so they can go back next week and shop with it again.”
Henry said he would do additional research on the issue.
Representatives of retailers and grocery chains in the city who attended the work session said that bags that are 2.25 mils thick are reusable, which is why the “industry standard” for plastic bag bans nationally is a 2.25 mils threshold.
Kate Breimann, an advocate with the organization Environment Maryland who also attended the hearing, said the amendment was bad policy.
“The term ‘reusable plastic’ is a misnomer,” she said, and the amendment “really compromises the integrity of the bill.”
She said she was frustrated that she and other environmental advocates were not asked to testify, while industry representatives were asked to do so.
The committee remains hung up on other aspects of the legislation, including a proposed fee for customers who choose paper bags at checkout and how much of that amount retailers could keep.
If you liked this post you’ll love our daily newsletter, EnviroPolitics. It’s packed with the latest news, commentary and legislative updates from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware…and beyond. Don’t take our word for it, try it free for an entire month. No obligation.
Developer says truck traffic will be around 360 vehicles a day, in line with Army Corps projections. Sierra Club says it will be closer to 2,200.
Environmentalists on Monday renewed their attack on plans to build New Jersey’s first terminal for the export of liquefied natural gas (LNG) on the site of a former DuPont explosives factory at Gibbstown in South Jersey.
Around 30 people attended a public meeting in nearby Cherry Hill to call on regulators to halt the plan by Delaware River Partners to add a dock at the proposed Gibbstown Logistics Center where at least 360 trucks a day would load the potentially explosive material on to ocean-going tankers.
The company wants to build the terminal as an addition to an earlier plan to trans-ship goods including automobiles, refrigerated cargo and natural gas liquids (NGLs) such as propane and butane. The original proposal was already opposed by environmental groups including the Delaware Riverkeeper Network and Environment New Jersey, in part because it would involve shipment of products from fracking.
LNG drives up the environmental ante
But the LNG component — which was exposed by Delaware Riverkeeper through a Freedom of Information Act request in June — creates a “completely new ball game” that requires increased regulatory scrutiny, detailed health and safety analysis and much greater public review and input, the DRN said.
Environmental groups under the anti-fossil fuel organization Empower NJ have accused the port developer of giving inconsistent information about the project to state and federal regulators — some of whom, critics say, are operating in “silos” rather than coordinating their evaluations.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, for example, said the LNG terminal would be served by up to 360 trucks a day around the clock, while a consultant for Gloucester County estimated there would be “nearly 1,650” daily truck trips to and from the site, according to documents.
Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, told the meeting the number of trucks is likely to be closer to 2,200 a day, based on the capacity of the ships. He said former Gov. Chris Christie rejected an earlier plan for an LNG terminal off Asbury Park seven years ago, and said the current administration of Gov. Phil Murphy should do the same.
The trucks would arrive at the port with LNG from a planned liquefaction plant in Bradford County, Pa., one of the “sweet spots” of natural gas production in Pennsylvania’s gas-rich Marcellus Shale formation. The truck trip would be approximately 175 miles.
Tracy Carluccio of the DRN said the lack of clarity confuses the public and raises questions about whether the developer is being candid about its plans.
Keeping public ‘in the dark’
“Facts are obscured, information has been kept hidden, agencies don’t communicate with each other and the public is left in the dark,” she said. “It seems to be a tactic by the company to keep the truth from being understood by the public and even the agencies that will make the key decisions.”
Liz Thomas, a spokeswoman for the DRP, said the number of trucks serving the facility would be in line with that stated by the Army Corps in an amended Public Notice in July.
“The anticipated number of loaded and empty trucks entering and leaving the terminal are specified in the Public Notice issued by the Army Corps of Engineers on July 16, 2019,” Thomas said in a statement. “The new bypass road on which they would enter and leave the terminal has been permitted and expected to open next year, but the number of trucks in the Public Notice would not be seen for at least two years.”
Noting that the project will be regulated by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and other state and federal agencies, Thomas said it will comply with all laws.
“Delaware River Partners will comply with all laws and regulations applicable to the handling of any hazardous materials at the facility and such laws and regulations will ensure that any handling of any such products will be done safely and without incident,” she said.
The DRP, which purchased the site in 2016, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Fortress Transportation and Infrastructure Investors LLC, parent of New Fortress Energy which plans the Pennsylvania liquefaction plant.
The LNG plan was approved in June by the Delaware River Basin Commission, which had been accused by the DRN of concealing the plan.
But after a request from the DRN, the interstate water regulator said in September that it would reconsider the application at an “administrative hearing”, a trial-like proceeding in which both sides are represented by counsel, and the presiding officer reports back to the full commission. No date has yet been set for the hearing.
The DRBC, which has jurisdiction only over the construction and dredging aspects of the project, said its agreement to hold the hearing doesn’t mean its original ruling was in error, and is “merely giving the requester an opportunity to show that the decision should be changed.”
Loading LNG a mile from nearest houses
The Army Corps, which is required to evaluate the proposal on environmental, aesthetic, historical and a host of other grounds, said in July that all loading and unloading of LNG would take place at least a mile from the nearest residences. Since then, it has received more than 100 pages of information about the project from the public and the applicant, said spokesman Steve Rochette on Monday. He said the Corps is working with other federal agencies to “try to bring this matter to a conclusion.”
The United States began exporting liquefied natural gas in early 2016 in response to a surge in domestic production caused by hydraulic fracking of shale reserves, including those in Pennsylvania. Most export terminals are on the Gulf Coast but they also include one at Cove Point in Maryland.
Carolyn Carbone, 74, a psychologist from Haddonfield, said that although she doesn’t live close enough to Gibbstown to be harmed by any explosion, she was alarmed by the projected number of trucks and the broader environmental effects of the proposed plant, and so will be protesting to her elected representatives including Gov. Phil Murphy.
“I didn’t realize how bad it was and how much danger we are really in, and how it’s going to affect so many different aspects of our life,” she said after the meeting. “I’ve always been an environmentalist, but I feel much more motivated now to take action.”
The project has received some permits from the NJ DEP but needs others from the Army Corps, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Department of Energy, and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. It also needs several permits from local authorities.
If you liked this post you’ll love our daily newsletter, EnviroPolitics. It’s packed with the latest news, commentary and legislative updates from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware…and beyond. Don’t take our word for it, try it free for an entire month. No obligation.
Georgina Gustin reports for Inside Climate News Updated Oct. 6 with Pope Francis’s comments as Synod begins.
Pope Francis convened nearly 200 bishops, climate experts and indigenous people from the Amazon on Sunday for an unprecedented meeting in Rome to discuss the fate of the Amazonian rainforests and the world’s moral obligation to protect them.
The meeting, or Synod, is the first of its kind to address an ecosystem, rather than a particular region or theme. It comes as fires continue to consume the Amazon rainforest, destroying a critical tool for stabilizing the climate, threatening the homes and health of indigenous people and drawing global concern.
“When peoples and cultures are devoured without love and without respect, it is not God’s fire but that of the world,” Pope Francis said in his opening Mass for the Synod.
The three-week Synod presents an opportunity for the pope to listen to representatives of the nine countries in the Amazon region who will inform his thinking and church teaching, and it has drawn the ire of the Brazilian government, which has essentially told the Vatican and worried countries to stay out of its affairs.
Critics have blamed the spike in fires this year and deforestation on the easing of environmental rules by Brazil’s right-wing president, Jair Bolsonaro, who openly criticized plans for the Synod and the Vatican.
Brazil has the largest population of Catholics in the world, and Brazilian media have reported that the Bolsonaro administration is concerned about the Vatican’s “leftist agenda” and is monitoring Synod documents.
The Synod, which the pope called for two years ago, represents his latest effort to urge Catholics and people of all faiths to take meaningful steps to forestall climate change. Since becoming pope in 2013, Francis has emerged as a leading global figure on climate change, making environmentally-focused appeals in an attempt to move the Catholic Church—and its 1.2 billion members—into an understanding of “integral ecology,” the idea that humans and nature are interconnected.
“We’re at a very, very important moment,” said Father Peter Hughes, a Catholic missionary in Latin America who works with the Pan-Amazonia Ecclesial Network (REPAM), speaking ahead of the meeting. “Just like Greta Thunberg, we need to start a movement.”
Pope Has Made Climate Risks a Top Concern
While Catholic leaders, including the pope’s predecessor, have said that climate change poses a threat to humanity, Francis is the first to make climate change a central issue of his papacy.
In 2015, he became the first pope to focus an entire encyclical—an authoritative papal document—on the environment. That encyclical, called Laudato Si’ or “On Care for Our Common Home,” was released shortly before the Paris climate negotiations and addressed the climate crisis in detail.
Pope Francis’s 2015 encyclical explained that preventing the destruction of the natural world should be a religious and moral obligation. Credit: Franco Origlia/Getty Images
“The climate is a common good, belonging to all and meant for all,” it read. “Certain places need greater protection because of their immense importance for the global ecosystem, or because they represent important water reserves and thus safeguard other forms of life. … Let us mention, for example, those richly biodiverse lungs of our planet which are the Amazon and the Congo basins, or the great aquifers and glaciers.”
The encyclical explained that preventing the destruction of the natural world should be a religious and moral obligation.
“The encyclical was groundbreaking,” said Bill Bradlee, a director with Interfaith Power and Light, a group that organizes congregations of all faiths to work on climate change. “The Synod is groundbreaking. This kind of focus on biodiversity, on indigenous cultures, by the pope—it’s huge that that’s happening. It’s very significant and impactful around the world.”
At a meeting with top executives from the world’s biggest oil companies earlier this year, Pope Francis declared a “climate emergency” and reiterated the warnings of scientists: Time is running out, he said. He has publicly discussed the targets enshrined in the Paris climate agreement and potential strategies for meeting them, including cap-and-trade systems and carbon taxes.
Documents released by the Vatican in preparation for the Synod called the Amazon rainforest a region that is “wounded, its beauty deformed, a place of pain” where “violence, chaos and corruption are rampant.”
“The pope is speaking from an informed perspective on climate change, and he relates that to a Biblical responsibility toward God and toward creation,” said Fred Van Dyke, executive director of the Au Sable Institute, a Michigan-based non-profit that works with Christian colleges on environmental education.
Critics: Worry about Souls, ‘Not Saving Trees’
Pope Francis, who is from Argentina and the first pope from South America, has met with criticism from conservative leaders within the church.
The organizing document, which serves as a guide to the Synod, says the Synod will discuss some controversial topics, including the ordination of married priests in the Amazon and giving more official church responsibilities to women. Some conservative leaders within the church have also criticized the pope for incorporating indigenous spiritual concepts into his statements, saying those go against the theology of the Catholic Church.
Some have also said his climate-focused pronouncements stray into church doctrine and government policy. That’s a position shared by the Bolsonaro administration.
“When the church adopts this environmentalist attitude, it’s really adopting the leftist agenda,” Ricardo da Costa, a history professor at the Federal University of Espírito Santo who advises Bolsonaro’s education agency, told the Religion News Service. “The clergy should worry about saving people’s souls, not saving trees.”
The Catholic Church has worked in the Amazon region for decades and has a long history of working with indigenous people to protect the rainforest.
“The Catholic Church has a very good environmental record in Brazil,” Van Dyke said. He noted that priests and nuns have been assassinated for working on land reform issues in the rainforest. “The church can quite literally say it’s given its blood for the poor and land reform.”
Its relationship with indigenous tribes is particularly important to the church as it loses members to Pentecostal and other Christian faith groups. The pope has called for a church with an “Amazonian face.”
“The church is getting more deeply involved in protection indigenous people,” said Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, United Nations special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, who called them the “key players in the global struggle against climate change.” “There’s a growing body of evidence that indigenous people are the best guardians of the land,” she said.
‘Almost a Recognition of the Rights of Nature’
While many major world religions and religious groups have made pronouncements on climate change, calling for their members to embrace policies and positions that address the climate crisis, some notable ones have not.
The most recent climate-related statement by the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant group in the United States, contains a number of climate denial talking points, including stressing a lack of scientific consensus—even though the consensus among publishing climate scientists that human activities are causing climate change is near 100 percent.
The pope’s voice on climate change has influenced U.S. Catholics. Bradlee said that after the 2015 encyclical, Interfaith Power and Light saw more interest from Catholic groups and congregations.
“It’s almost a recognition of the rights of nature,” he said. “It feels like this recognition of non-human life and the importance of nature intrinsically and a recognition of how interconnected we are.”
If you liked this post you’ll love our daily newsletter, EnviroPolitics. It’s packed with the latest news, commentary and legislative updates from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware…and beyond. Don’t take our word for it, try it free for an entire month. No obligation.
By KCRG-TV9 News Staff | Posted: Mon 7:48 AM, Oct 07, 2019
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – President Donald Trump has announced an agreement over biofuel blending in the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).
Photo: Pixabay
Under the deal, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will seek comments expanding biofuel requirements to ensure more than 15 billion gallons of conventional ethanol is blended into the fuel supply while also accounting for exempted gallons for small refineries. In the most recent compliance year, EPA waived the obligation of 31 of those refineries.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the EPA released statements saying the agreement supports American farmers and provides energy security.
The EPA intends to take final action on this front later this year. Saying it also will start up a rulemaking process to streamline labeling and remove other barriers to the sale of E-15.
Iowa’s leaders have long called for changes to the Small Refinery Waivers, estimated to have cut the ethanol mandate in 2019 from 15 billion gallons to 13.6 billion.
Iowa Senator Joni Ernst calls the announcement great news for Iowa, “President Trump is following through on his commitment to our nation’s hardworking farmers and biofuels producers. The RFS is essential to the livelihoods of folks across our state.”
Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says, “The solution outlined by President Trump, Administrator Wheeler and Secretary Perdue is exactly how the RFS is meant to function according to the law as written by Congress.”
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds says it is critical to a healthy ag economy in Iowa, “Today’s announcement is a reflection of the strong, united front from the renewable fuels industry as well as strong leadership from Senators Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst. The President clearly heard us when we said 15 billion gallons means 15 billion gallons, and this deal proves it.”
The Iowa Renewable Fuels Association says the proposal does include the reallocation of exempted gallons, which were taken out of production by Small Refinery Waivers.
It’s Executive Director Monte Shaw says the economic devastation caused by those exemptions must be stopped, “We welcome the proposal to restore integrity to the RFS by prospectively accounting for those exemptions using a three-year rolling average of actual refinery exemptions granted.”
He says they will continue to work to make sure the 15 billion gallon RFS promised will actually be that way.
If you liked this post you’ll love our daily newsletter, EnviroPolitics. It’s packed with the latest news, commentary and legislative updates from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware…and beyond. Don’t take our word for it, try it free for an entire month with no obligation.
How has this happened AGAIN? Fury as ‘outnumbered’ police simply look on as – despite publishing a full list of targets and Boris Johnson ordering officers to use ‘the full force of the law’ on the crowds
Climate activists shut Lambeth Bridge and Westminster Bridge in London at start of fortnight of protests
Celebrities were seen in Trafalgar Square, where the group are holding their protest ‘opening ceremony’
Demonstrators also block Whitehall, Trafalgar Square, Downing Street and Victoria Embankment today
Key traffic routes in Westminster face major congestion as buses are diverted and motorists are delayed
Thousands are ready to face arrest, go to jail and go on hunger strike in attempt to curb global warming
Fury has erupted after ‘outnumbered’ police simply look on as Extinction Rebellion protesters shut down London for a second time – despite the group publishing a full list of targets and Boris Johnson ordering officers to use ‘the full force of the law’ on the crowds.
A stone’s throw from Parliament on Westminster Bridge a solitary officer was filmed merely standing and watching as demonstrators planted a shrubbery across the road to bring traffic to a standstill.
Around the capital at more than a dozen protest sites hundreds of protestors easily overran a relatively modest police presence, prompting onlookers to suggest police were unable to cope with the huge numbers of activists.
On Millbank, outside the headquarters of MI5 in London, a group built a wooden house and climbed on top when the police attempted to pull it down
But the group’s intended locations and tactics were published in advance and this morning the senior officer in charge of the force’s response insisted: ‘Where behaviour is unlawful, and obstructing the highways for significant periods of time … we will deal with – and we will deal with robustly.’
This evening the Met has yet to confirm how many officers it has deployed, or why their numbers were insufficient to keep routes open and traffic flowing in the face of XR’s stated aim of a protest five times bigger than that in April, which saw more than 1,100 arrests.
Climate activists from Extinction Rebellion lock together to stop traffic on Whitehall in Westminster as police (bottom of frame) stand and film the scene. The Met has been criticised after small numbers of officers were swamped by protestors1.00Extinction Rebellion protesters built shrubbery in LondonLoaded: 0%Progress: 0%0:00PreviousPlaySkipMuteCurrent Time0:00/Duration Time0:09FullscreenNeed Text
Today was the first day of a planned fortnight of disruption by Extinction Rebellion, bringing chaos to London as they shut down key routes in the city.
Protesters were joined by eco-luvvies Daisy Lowe, Mark Rylance, Ruby Wax and Juliet Stevenson in Trafalgar Square as they shut down the landmark.
Actor Mark Rylance joined Extinction Rebellion protesters in The Mall today where supporters of the environmental group invaded during the Changing of the Guard
For the next two weeks XR – which has posted details and maps of its planned disruptions in advance – intends to cripple the capital with 148 protesters arrested already since the protests began at 7am today.
One senior member warned ahead of the protests that if police shut them down: ‘We have other plans that are more disruptive’.
Commuters vented their fury about long delays and miles of queues as they criticised the XR ‘hypocrites’ causing more pollution by forcing cars to sit idling, while others blasted the ‘nuisances’ who had ruined their journeys.
Today streets around Westminster were packed with police threatening to arrest anyone blocking roads – but witnesses said they were being swamped because of the number of eco-zealots gathering on streets and bridges.
One group locked themselves inside a car parked in the middle of Whitehall close to Downing Street and the Cenotaph – others chained themselves by the arms and head to a hearse parked in Trafalgar Square and glued themselves to scaffolding poles.
Social media users have complained that the protesters were taking up huge amounts of police resources in London today
It has become common for the detained protesters to be carried by police, because they try to cause maximum disruption by refusing to walk to the van – meaning it can take up to six officers for each arrest.
Police remove a protester from the Extinction Rebellion protest at Trafalgar Square in London this afternoon Police carry away a protester by the arms and legs on Westminster Bridge, which was blocked by XR members including some doing yoga XR supporters pitched tents outside Westminster Abbey as they promised two weeks of chaos and gridlock to save the planet
MailOnline has asked the Metropolitan Police for comment about their handling of the protests.
On one end of Lambeth Bridge protesters started to build a house before climbing on top when police tried to dismantle it while Smithfield Market, London’s largest meat market, was ‘occupied’ by 500 people starting with a minute’s silence for the dead animals there and around the world.
Describing the scene close to Westminster Abbey, one onlooker told MailOnline: ‘Half of them are smoking weed, have cheap fold up tents that will just get binned and there is a bunch sitting in Pret’. Others wearing XR badges and carrying XR flags were seen getting lunch in McDonald’s on Whitehall.
Extinction Rebellion posted this graphic online before the protests began, showing where their intended targets would be
TV stars were at the environmental group’s ‘opening ceremony’ under Nelson’s Column as thousands closed major bridges, blocked numerous roads and even invaded The Mall during the Changing of the Guard where Rylance helped carry a giant banner saying: ‘extinction or rebellion’.
Lowe posed next to Big Ben with friends including actress Jaime Winstone, popstar Eliza Caird, best known as Eliza Doolittle, and TV producer Emily Ann Sonnet who said: ‘Life is already extinct. It’s just a matter of saving what life we have left’.
Ministers are understood to be looking at whether protesters who damage parts of London can be held financially responsible. In an Extinction Rebellion stunt last week, fake blood was sprayed over the Treasury – although much of it ended up going back over the demonstrators themselves.
One government source suggested a mechanism could be bringing a civil action to hurt demonstrators ‘in their wallets’. ‘There is discussion about whether we can ensure they are bearing the cost,’ the source said. ‘Democratic protests is one thing, but you cannot wreck listed buildings.’
Daisy Lowe (second left) posed next to Big Ben with friends including actress Jaime Winstone (far right), popstar Eliza Caird, best known as Eliza Doolittle (centre right), and TV producer Emily Ann Sonnet (far left) today
However, actress Juliet Stevenson called the protests ‘wonderful’, adding: ‘We can’t any longer allow governments to do this so we have to make it clear that there is no more time.
‘There’s a long tradition in this country of people saying governments are not acting, we have to make them realise how urgent this is.’
She told MailOnline that said she had been swayed to join the protests as she wanted a future for the planet and her four children. She siad she felt a duty to do what she could to help stop environmental damage and climate change.
Stevenson said: ‘My children are saying they are not sure they want to have children when the planet is in such danger. I have a one-year-old grandchild too and I want to help ensure all of their futures.’ We have 12 years before the planet is irreversibly damaged. The scientists have warned about it.’
