Tomorrow (Saturday 28th October), from 10am-5pm, multiple groups from all over the South West will come together to demand action on the worsening Nature, Climate and Social Justice crises, and to promote community resilience.

Extinction Rebellion South West, organisers of the protest, said: "The cost of living crisis, social injustice, the climate crisis and nature emergencies are all linked. We cannot thrive – or survive – on a planet that is overheating and suffering severe species loss, and habitat destruction. We must all come together to demand clean jobs, fair pay for all and environmental protection. Together we can create change. Join us!"

The protest rally will begin at 10am at the top of Cow Lane in Victoria Park (BA1 2LZ) in Bath, with stalls, workshops, speeches and performers – plus satellite actions nearby  – with a march through the city centre starting at 12.30, disco-bedience mass dance afterwards and then a community assembly at 2.30pm.

Multiple organisations will be coming together in Bath, including: Surfers Against Sewage, Greenpeace, Wiltshire Wildlife Trust, Climate Choir Movement, Friends of the Earth Bristol, Christian Climate Action, Frome Families for the Future, Parents For Future Bath/Bristol, Shift Bristol, Kidical Mass Bath, Stop Rosebank, Mogg Watch, Bath Stop War Coalition, BAAN (Bristol Airport Action Network), Sacred Earth Activism, Transition Bath, Climate Hub Bath and North East Somerset, Transition Bath, Bristol Climate Cafe, Unite Bristol and Gloucester Area Branch, Save the Wye, Community Farm Bristol, Transform Bristol, Nature Watch, Bath Campaigns Network, JSO, The Green Party, The Labour Party, Tipping Point, Green Stationery Company, Bath University Left Union, Edible Bristol, Dirty Water Campaign, Health for XR, Scientists for Extinction Rebellion, XR Psychologists (and more joining all the time). This action is being facilitated by Extinction Rebellion South West (XRSW).

Karen Grattage from Parents for Future says: "Parents for the Future is joining Unite to Survive because as parents we feel our place is to protect our children by acting on the climate and nature crises. Research shows if 25% of people engage with the emergency, we can reach a social tipping point to help secure a safer, fairer world for children everywhere".

James Ravine from Wiltshire Wildlife Trust says: “The Wiltshire Wildlife Trust works to drive nature’s recovery, connect all our communities with nature and empower them to take meaningful action for nature and to tackle climate change. Tackling the most pressing environmental and social crises will only be possible by working closely with other organisations in taking action locally and influencing nationally.”Diana Francis from Bath Stop War/ Rethinking Security says: “We are joining because war causes climate change, destroys nature and creates poverty, and because all these things will cause more wars.”

XRSW invite everyone from the South West and beyond to join us to protest these issues and more:Against the will of local councils and local opinion, the UK Government has green-lighted massive carbon emissions projects including the expansion of Bristol airport (which will increase annual emissions from the airport by more than that of emitted each year by ALL of Bristol's road traffic) and also a huge programme of road improvements, including a disastrous dual carriageway under Stonehenge.

Despite repeated warnings from scientists around the world, the Government has reined in Net Zero pledges and issued 100 new North Sea oil and gas licences and green-lighted the massive Rosebank oilfield. This flies in the face of advice from their own scientists and committees and means that the UK is failing to do its part in limiting the worse effects of climate change.  These projects will do nothing to bring down energy prices for hard pressed consumers in the UK as all the oil sold will go straight on to the world market. Let’s demand that the government cancel Rosebank, the West Cumbria Coal mine and other fossil fuel projects.   To keep warming within safe levels, the International Energy Agency says there must be NO new oil and gas projects.

This year has seen rapid warming events described as ‘global boiling’, meaning we are reaching catastrophic tipping points much more quickly than scientists had previously expected. Globally we are on track to hit 4 degrees of warming by 2100. Human society cannot survive at this temperature. The UK government needs to remove fossil fuel interests from every sector of the UK economy and take drastic action to decarbonise rapidly before it’s too late. 

Our continual destruction of natural habitat and rampant resource extraction is causing wide-scale biodiversity loss, as highlighted in the latest State of Nature Report 2023. Human survival is intricately connected with the health of the natural world and if we destroy natural habitat and species then ultimately we destroy ourselvesThe UK government must strengthen environmental protection laws and protect our ecosystems.  

The decimation of our democratic protest rights, the Windrush scandal, the deportation of refugees to Rwanda and the Bibby Stockholm barge moored off Portland to house asylum seekers: the list of human rights being rowed back in the UK is astonishing with further plans in the offing. On top of that, we have a widening inequality gap, a cost of living crisis affecting the most vulnerable and a manufactured energy crisis where the largest fossil fuel companies make billions in profits, whilst UK citizens choose between heating and eating.

XRSW says: "The impacts of the climate and nature crisis are likely to hit the poorest and most vulnerable the hardest. Let’s show we care and stand together in the name of equality and humanity."

This event aims to be as inclusive as possible and all are welcome. The protest will be family friendly and attract a diverse community from all across the South West and beyond. The event will be wheelchair accessible and BSL friendly, and if anyone with access needs wants to find out more please contact [email protected] or call 07773 193704