Extinction Rebellion Wigan
You may hear that “climate activists” have blocked streets around London, or poured fake blood down steps outside the headquarters of big oil companies that are directly changing the climate. But XR is about more than climate. It is about trying to stop the horrific rate at which humankind is wiping out whole species of plants, animals, insects and fungi.
There are two main drivers for this – one is taking the land where the animals/plants used to live, i.e. habitat loss, and two is poisoning the environment. The poisoning may be incidental for instance factories discharging waste directly into the drainage system which feeds into rivers, or it may be on purpose, such as spraying insecticides on food crops. The insecticides kill insects – the name says it all – not just the “pest” species, but all the other bugs in the area, bees, butterflies, beetles, ants, etc, etc. These pesticides are sprayed year after year after year, then they wonder where all the bees have gone.
The bigger driver however is habitat loss. We humans are hogging all the land. We can see the Amazon being burned down and think how terrible that is – but our Amazon was lost centuries ago. In 1980 native woods covered just 3% of the UK, (plantation forestry covered 6%). Because of massive efforts by people like the Woodland Trust tree cover is up to 13%. But plantation woods are all one type, usually sitka spruce because it’s fast growing) and the newly planted woods, even though native species of tree are, well, new. This means that all the mosses, fungi, insects, etc needed to make it natural is not there yet. This makes saving our few remaining “ancient” woods imperative.
The High speed rail project known as HS2, is building a direct line between London and Birmingham, and then to Manchester (and potentially Liverpool and Leeds). Direct lines don’t go around things – they go straight through them. In this case 108 ancient woods, losing irreplaceable habitats. This is a tragedy and many Extinction Rebellion members have joined with others to protect local woods along the line, with several camps. Brave tree protectors climb large trees in the area about to be cleared, and using ropes, bits of wood and tarpaulin construct tree houses which they may stay in for days, supported by people on the ground sending up food and drink, keeping spirits up.
Find out more here
https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/protecting-trees-and-woods/campaign-with-us/hs2-rail-link/
Locally there are Extinction Rebellion groups in Wigan and Bolton, and Leigh even held a printing workshop before Leigh Spinners Mill was closed down.