CLIMATE change protesters brought Extinction Rebellion’s international protest into Chippenham on Saturday to raise awareness of the campaign to save the environment and prevent mass extinction.

Members of Extinction Rebellion Chippenham set up a stall on The Bridge and engaged shoppers in conversation about the threat of climate change and the group’s on-going campaign.

More than 40 people from Chippenham have also joined the climate protest in London which began on October 7. The parents, grandparents, executives, business owners, engineers, IT workers and retirees are all deeply concerned that national and local governments are not acting fast enough to slow the rate of man-made global warming towards irreversible tipping points.

XR Chippenham member Alice Cundick, who lives in Corsham, was part of Saturday’s event and also spent several days at the London protest.

“This is about my children’s future, being involved with like-minded people. They come from all walks of life, young and old, working towards being part of the change,” she said.

In London Alice was part of the protest on Lambeth Bridge and in St James Park, and said the issue was so important that she was more than willing to be arrested, if that was what was needed.

Protests are taking place in 60 cities across the world in 40 countries.

“Talk is not enough, incremental change is not enough, normal protests have not worked. This is why millions across the world are taking part in non-violent civil disobedience,” said an XR Chippenham spokesperson.

“Chippenham has joined with groups across the south west to publicise the risks to our global food supply, which come from a combination of climate change and industrial farming methods that have destroyed natural habitats, released carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, destroyed soil structure, polluted waterways and destroyed pollinators and wildlife through routine use of pesticides and insecticides.

“The good news is there are solutions but we must make changes urgently.”

Extinction Rebellion, which started in April 2018, has grown into an international movement across the world. Its declared aims are for the Government to declare a climate emergency, to halt biodiversity loss and reduce greenhouse emissions to net zero by 2025, and to create a citizen’s assembly on climate and ecological justice.

For more information, visit Extinction Rebellion Chippenham on Facebook.