Operations at several oil terminals have been suspended after access roads were blocked by environmental group Just Stop Oil (Just Stop Oil/PA)
(Picture: PA Media)As the UK woke up this morning to the biggest rise in energy prices in living memory, hundreds of people blocked 10 oil facilities across the UK.
At the crack of dawn, people sat on cold tarmac, chained themselves to barrels of concrete, and climbed on top of lorries. They will stay for as long as they can and return if forced to leave. Extinction Rebellion and the Just Stop Oil Coalition are taking this action because the fossil fuel industry is driving civilisation off a cliff. According to the authors of the latest UN IPCC report, “Any further delay in concerted global action will miss a brief and rapidly closing window to secure a liveable future.” We are running out of time and the government is failing us.
You might think a protest like this is madness when oil and gas prices are predicted to leave millions in the UK unable to pay their bills but the truth is, both our reliance on fossil fuels and the cost of living crisis - or rather, the cost of living ‘scandal’ - have the same cause. That’s why we’re demanding an immediate end to all new fossil fuel investments.
Across radio stations this morning, members of the public cried down the phone to presenters as they described the prospect of hungry children and bills that leave pensioners choosing between heating and eating. All the while, energy companies are making bonanza profits, exploiting the Ukraine crisis to pursue more drilling contracts. It’s inhumane and it doesn’t add up. The UK Government is choosing to put corporate profit before the lives and livelihoods of ordinary people. It is choosing to continue relying on volatile fossil fuels that are driving climate chaos around the globe, rather than taking the climate action that our own Office for Budget Responsibility says is affordable and would create thousands of jobs.
The government is using the war in Ukraine as a political football and an excuse to expand on fossil fuel extraction. Just a few months on from the “last chance” of COP26, the Prime Minister now claims the current crisis in Ukraine and cost of living scandal require a “climate change pass”. His government is looking to “remove barriers” to increased extraction of fossil fuels from the North Sea, despite the majority of this being exported overseas and our own Energy Secretary admitting it won’t do anything to address people’s energy bills.
When you join the dots on extortionate profiteering by corporations, obscene increases in poverty, food banks that have become permanent features of communities, and people unable to afford their bills, we can see how much we have to pull together and take a stand. We know the UK public want faster climate action in the face of this cost of living scandal. So, after our blockades at oil facilities, Extinction Rebellion will be taking to the streets in London from April 9th to give fossil fuels the final shove out the door. If you’re desperate for change, please join us.
Compared to the bloodshed in Ukraine, the fight for 1.5ËC may seem abstract, but it is all too real. It is the fight for all those on the frontline of the climate crisis, in particular our children and our young people and the majority of the world’s population in the countries feeling the first and worst effects of increasing extreme weather. It is the fight for a peaceful and organised international community where we take power away from war mongers funded by fossil fuels. It is the fight for the future of humanity and for those we love.
These protests are what a people powered response to the climate crisis looks like. It is time for all of us to refuse to stand by while the selfish few buy and sell our future and say “Not in my name”.
