My first Publication Overtime November 2019 Merged PDF | Page 7

NG
F TIME
With Extinction Rebellion growing
into a global movement, the
protests are proving controversial.
We spoke to representative
Luke Flegg to find out more
Words Cameron Dudley
E
xtinction Rebellion, the revolution group
against the climate crisis, has now gone global.
With over 65 countries joining the protest and
national arrests climbing well into the thousands,
everyone seems to have an opinion, whether critical
or supportive.
To gain a better understanding of Extinction
Rebellion we spoke with Luke Flegg, who is
one of Extinction Rebellion UK’s founders and
representatives in Brighton, as well as part of their
strategy stewardship team.
Flegg began by saying no matter what Extinction
Rebellion does, the government isn’t making enough
change. “We have tried so many different things from
marching and demonstrations to E-petitions, and
also on the more extreme end of the spectrum violent
protests and smashing stuff up. The time has really
come to say, let’s try something different.
“There is a criminal government in action. It’s not
talking to the populace about how big this emergency
really is. We need our government to recognise we are
in an emergency.”
Flegg believes that government and education in the
UK share the same naivety towards the environment.
“I know that I have so many friends that have gone in
with big visions and dreams for what education should
be like and [they] get crushed by the most painful
absurdly dysfunctional education system. I feel like our democratic system is similar in that way, in that
it is so ‘short-term’ in toeing the party political line.”
Flegg supports his point with his belief the worst has
already begun by saying, “A lot of people don’t realise
that about half of England’s produce comes from the
global south. Every choice we make has some impact
including a negative impact on people we don’t know. “I think it’s too late to avoid untold suffering which
is already happening in much of the global south in
Kenya and Cambodia. Disasters like droughts, floods
and erratic climate changes tend to hit regional
climates more than they hit the UK and USA, which
is unfair because we are the countries with the most
money and resources to protect ourselves.”
However, he does congratulate The Guardian.
“Media outlets like the Guardian have actually
restructured their team so they have more expert
journalists around climate crisis and have also
changed some of their language from climate change
to climate crisis.” Flegg also thanked Brighton and
Hove City Council. “Having meetings with local
councils to set up here a citizen assembly, I personally
felt really excited by how not just cooperative but
proactively enthusiastic some members of the council
have been in Brighton.”
Extinction Rebellion does suffer harsh criticism
itself, but Flegg encourges doubters. “Some people
love what we are doing and some people are critical
and I just want to reach out to people on the fence
or outside our bubble and say we are really up for
conversation as long as you are interested in listening
as you are speaking, that’s the only requirement.
“It’s not a time to stand on the side and make
remarks and be doing nothing, like our government.”
are tiny pieces of plastic that are frequently used in
many rinse-off cosmetic products such as face scrubs,
shower gels and toothpastes. Their purpose is to
exfoliate and deep clean, however they have many
harmful effects on the environment and do more
harm than good.
Microbeads are not biodegradable, so they will
not break down once they go down the drain. These
microbeads are so tiny that they can easily enter
animals, and therefore can enter the food chain. They
can then store up in marine wildlife and block their
digestive system.
Many campaigns, such as Beat the Microbead, have
protested for microbeads to be banned, and it worked
since microbeads have been banned in the UK since 9
January 2018 and the Microbead-Free Waters Act of
2015 was introduced in the USA. Palm oil is an ingredient that is rapidly gaining
popularity within the beauty industry and is used
in many products that we use every day, such as
shampoo, soap and lipstick, but it is very controversial
because of the negative side effects growing oil palms
has on the environment.
The more palm oil is sought after, the higher
deforestation rates increase. This also affects the
population of orangutans, who spend most of their
time up trees.
Parts of rainforests are burned down to make room
for oil palms to grow which negatively affects local
people and the wildlife who need the rainforest to
survive. This contributes to a lot of animals becoming
endangered. The WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature)
also reports that burning forests to create more space
to grow oil palms emits high levels of carbon dioxide, which is ‘polluting the air and contributing to climate
change’.
However, oil palms also provide millions of people
with jobs and the WWF states that it also helps ‘the
GDP of emerging economies’ to grow. Furthermore, in
comparison to other vegetable oils, the WWF reports
that palm oil produces more oil per land area and also
‘supplies 35% of the world’s vegetable oil demand
on just 10% of the land’. Therefore it doesn’t need as
much land to produce a large amount compared to
other vegetable oils.
Therefore, the next time you use a face scrub with
microbeads, or buy a plastic toothbrush, you may
consider a more environmentally friendly alternative.
The switch to a wooden toothbrush or shampoo bars
isn’t a big one, however the benefits for the planet and
the animals living on it are huge.
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