Growing climate protest movement is “saying no to human extinction”

Climate activist Janine O’Keefe. (Dave Russell/Radio Sweden)
Extinction Rebellion, a fast growing environmental protest group from the UK, which advocates non-violent, disruptive direct action to force governments to treat climate change as an emergency, is gaining support in Sweden and other countries.

The grassroots movement, which was formed last year, first hit the headlines when protesters blocked bridges and streets in London, disrupting traffic, leading to several arrests.

Its methods of direct action aim to get policy makers to enact legally binding measures to reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2025. For Extinction Rebellion, governments have been ignoring what they regard as the environment emergency for too long.

But the controversial method of non-violent civil disobedience, which is against the law and can lead to police arrest, has led critics to claim that actions such as blocking a street stopping people going to work are not the way to solve the problem and that the demands of zero carbon emissions by 2025 are unrealistic.

Outside the Riksdag in Stockholm, Radio Sweden met Janine O’Keefe, a member of the Swedish chapter of Extinction Rebellion, to find out why she believes peaceful disobedience is the right way to protect the planet.

Related stories from around the North:

Canada: Interactive Canadian ebook seeks to make Arctic climate science accessible, Eye on the Arctic

Finland: Finland ninth, Sweden first in EU climate efforts: enviro group, YLE News

Norway: December sea ice levels in Arctic Europe at record low, The Independent Barents Observer

Russia: Arctic coastal town of Dikson is fastest-warming place in Russia, The Independent Barents Observer

Sweden: New UN climate agreement “not strong enough”, says Swedish NGO, Radio Sweden

United States: New study predicts ‘radical re-shaping’ of Arctic landscape by 2100, CBC News

David Russell, Radio Sweden

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