September 1st is going to be a big day for climate activists. Extinction Rebellion has declared this as the next day of action, with occupations planned for London and several other cities.
I sort of get it, from a tactical point of view, but I sort of don’t. Feels like a re-run of actions in 2019, with the same old focus on the same old politicians, who we all know are going to be responding in the same old way with a view to doing the same old little as possible. I seriously hope I am proved wrong, but I worry that XR is struggling to get its mojo back after six months enforced inaction.
And that’s a blow for all of us. I keep trying to put myself in the shoes of any one of the 70 young climate activists whom I’ve been in touch with over the last couple of months. To celebrate my 70th birthday, I asked a number of colleagues to nominate young climate campaigners they really admired, so that I could send each of them a copy of my new book, Hope in Hell, just to thank them for the inspirational work that they’ve been doing. I honour all of them – see below.
My principal reason for writing Hope in Hell was the new-found sense of purpose that the Schools Strike movement and the XR protests had given me in the first half of 2019. Greta Thunberg stood so powerfully (she still does, by the way!) for a different quality of leadership, a speaking-truth-to-power authenticity that cut through so many of our weary campaigning tactics.
This surge of new energy reminded me, quite painfully, of what I felt like nearly fifty years ago. That was my very own ‘Tell the Truth’ moment, revealed through the compelling words of The Ecologist’s Blueprint for Survival and Fritz Schumacher’s Small is Beautiful. (Books were pretty much all we had to go on in those days!)
For me now, fifty years on, it’s all about intergenerational justice: what older people now owe young people to ensure not only that their world is nothing like as bad as it seems it might be (because of worsening climate and ecosystem impacts), but that it could still be so much better than things are today.
Hence the dedication in Hope in Hell:
For all those
ready to embrace more radical responses
to today’s Climate Emergency.
For young people today
already stepping up
with the kind of conviction, courage and compassion
on which our future now depends.
And for all the rest of us, who now know where our duty lies.
Ahlyah Ali
Lilia Adetoro
Cecilia Alfonso-Eaton
Tayayyibah Aziz
Mya Bambrick
Aaron Befekadu
Louisa Bell
Sacha & Lois Bigwood
Joe Brindle
Sam Butler-Sloss
Francesca Corrieri
Maude Cullen-Mouze
Arjun Dutta
Sophie Eastwood
Tanya Esteban
Ajuub Faraji
Jessica Farrow
Lily Fitzpatrick
Heulwen Flower
Lizzie Freeborn
Rebecca Garner
Emma Greenwood
Tolly Gregory
Aden Harris
Jake Heitland
Tanya Hill
Ummi Hoque
Zamzam Ibrahim
Beth Irving
Blake Jeffcott
Jem Johnson
Kabir Kaul
Anna Kernahan
Jasmine Ketibuah-Foley
Bella Lack
Charlotte Lastoweckyi
Grace Madrell
Betty Pearl Mayo
James McCulloch
Elijah McKenzie-Jackson
Samantha Miles
James Miller
Sarah Moyes
Serena Murdoch
Rachel Osbourne
Dominique Palmer
Hasan Patel
Catriona Patterson
India Pearson
Sophie Peters
Monika Poppy
Kaitlin Price
Jordan Raine
Zoe Rashbash
Joe Redfern
Georgie Riach
Eilidh Robb
Mark Robinson
Abdul Saddiqi
Pip Sayers
Moji Shorrock
Milly Sibson
Mary Skuodas
Anna Taylor
Shiden Tekle
Tori Tsui
Scarlett Westbrook
Besma Whayeb
Alex White
Abi Whitefield
Jake Woodier
Talia Woodin