Extinction rebels warn of rising sea levels in Lancaster and Morecambe

Morecambe Bay Extinction Rebels, part of the national ‘Extinction Rebellion’ movement, brought a boat from the Preston New Road anti-fracking protest site to Market Square and around 50 activists talked to people about future flooding in the district.

Climate change protests in London, also part of the Extinction Rebellion movement, have brought traffic to a standstill this week.

Activists want to force governments to treat the threats of climate change and species extinction as a crisis.

Without worldwide action, the 2°C temperature limit, set by the Paris agreement, is due to be passed within the next decade, which could lead to a sea level rise of 15.4ft.

Blue ribbons and “Climate Crime Scene” signs were used to illustrate potential flooding levels in the lower part of Lancaster, around the bus station and Sainsbury’s supermarket, and also around HSBC and Barclays Bank.

Alistair Sinclair, a member of the group, said: “If we don’t do anything about climate change the sea surrounding us will rise. It might take centuries but large parts of Morecambe and Lancaster will become uninhabitable one day, homes and history will be washed away, lost forever”.

Faye Penny, a group member said: “If we want to salvage what we have left, we have to act now. Carbon emissions have increased by 60 per cent since scientists first warned of ecological collapse in 1990.

“Our governments have failed to protect us or the planet. It’s time for radical change.

“We can prevent catastrophe if we wake up now and work together for a better future.”

Morecambe Bay Extinction Rebels also called on Lancaster City Council to declare a ‘Climate Emergency’, set up a Citizen’s Assembly and work with the whole community to become a carbon-neutral district by 2030. Morecambe Bay Extinction Rebels can be found on Facebook.

The Extinction Rebellion website states:

We hold the following to be true:

This is our darkest hour.

Humanity finds itself embroiled in an event unprecedented in its history. One which, unless immediately addressed, will catapult us further into the destruction of all we hold dear: this nation, its peoples, our ecosystems and the future of generations to come.

The science is clear:- we are in the sixth mass extinction event and we will face catastrophe if we do not act swiftly and robustly.

Biodiversity is being annihilated around the world. Our seas are poisoned, acidic and rising. Flooding and desertification will render vast tracts of land uninhabitable and lead to mass migration.

Our air is so toxic that the United Kingdom is breaking the law. It harms the unborn whilst causing tens of thousands to die. The breakdown of our climate has begun. There will be more wildfires, unpredictable super storms, increasing famine and untold drought as food supplies and fresh water disappear.

The ecological crises that are impacting upon this nation, and indeed this planet and its wildlife can no longer be ignored, denied nor go unanswered by any beings of sound rational thought, ethical conscience, moral concern, or spiritual belief.

In accordance with these values, the virtues of truth and the weight of scientific evidence, we declare it our duty to act on behalf of the security and well-being of our children, our communities and the future of the planet itself.

We, in alignment with our consciences and our reasoning, declare ourselves in rebellion against our Government and the corrupted, inept institutions that threaten our future.

The wilful complicity displayed by our government has shattered meaningful democracy and cast aside the common interest in favour of short-term gain and private profits.

When Government and the law fail to provide any assurance of adequate protection, as well as security for its people’s well-being and the nation’s future, it becomes the right of its citizens to seek redress in order to restore dutiful democracy and to secure the solutions needed to avert catastrophe and protect the future. It becomes not only our right, it becomes our sacred duty to rebel.

We hereby declare the bonds of the social contract to be null and void, which the government has rendered invalid by its continuing failure to act appropriately. We call upon every principled and peaceful citizen to rise with us.

We demand to be heard, to apply informed solutions to these ecological crises and to create a national assembly by which to initiate those solutions needed to change our present cataclysmic course.

We refuse to bequeath a dying planet to future generations by failing to act now.

We act in peace, with ferocious love of these lands in our hearts. We act on behalf of life.