Issues & Support
BARNET COUNCIL'S CLIMATE SHAME
In an effort to counteract the extensive greenwashing by Barnet Council and to highlight what Barnet Could be doing if they wanted to #ActOnClimate - we've collated some of their most embarrasing shortcomings.
Barnet Council have stalled in their response to the Climate Emergency because they're stuck in a broken system. They're an example to the whole nation of why we need legally binding Citizens Assemblies (XR's 2nd Demand) and to #GoBeyondPolitics.
Climate & Ecological Emergency Bill
In 2019 the UK Parliament declared a climate emergency - but they've not taken action to match their words.
The CEE Bill (which was drafted by scientists, legal experts, ecological economists and environmentalists) asks the UK to take responsibility for our fair share of emissions and start working to rebuild the UK's ecology.
The Bill now has support of over 100 MPs across 8 political parties, from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
XR Barnet call upon the MPs of Barnet - Theresa Villers and Matthew Offord to declare their support for the CEE Bill - to show us that they're not just about words - but about actions.
So far, they have failed to step up.
Black Lives Matter
Racial justice, white supremacy and the climate crisis are inextricably linked.
The climate and ecological crisis is the culmination of the colonialist project. The same White European, colonial forces that enacted extreme violence on, and the theft of, brown bodies, also extracted from the natural world and the Earth’s resources with a similar violence.
The system we are currently living in continues to exploit the natural world, and continues to be enabled to do so by exploiting the bodies, resources, land and labour of people of colour. The same system that ranks the value of humanity according to race, class, gender, sexuality and health also values profit over all else, even the continuation of life on this earth.
We urgently need a green recovery and a just transition. This will not happen unless the current burning injustices, centuries old, are addressed. We will not heal our broken planet unless we can repair the damage done over centuries of colonial violence.
It is the responsibility of every White/non-Black POC to talk about these issues and amplify Black voices. We are not sharing this only because it is part of the fight against the climate crisis. We'd ask anyone who feels some resistance to Barnet XRXRI rebels speaking about these issues to read up on white fragility, and reflect on where that resistance might be coming from, as well as what it means.
We stand in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.
If you can please donate to the following organisations:
Against police brutality in the UK: https://www.gofundme.com/f/StopWatch-Campaign-for-Fair-Accountable-Policing
UK Black Lives Matter fundraiser: https://www.gofundme.com/f/ukblm-fund
Minnesota Freedom Fund: https://minnesotafreedomfund.org/donate
(The Minnesota Freedom Fund have been overwhelmed with donations and have linked a document of other organisations to donate to as well https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yLWGTQIe3967hdc9RSxBq5s6KKZHe-3_mWp5oemd7OA/preview )
Donate to help protesters get out of jail: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/glp-bail-funds-email-20200531
Petitions to Sign
Successive UK governments inaction on the climate emergency despite decades of petitions and letter have lead to XR's focus on NVDA to force change, however some individual petitions have worked and there's no harm in signing petitions in addition to other forms of pressure.
It's important to note that the UK Government do not consider any petitions other than on their official petitions' website.
You can find all the relevant petitions in one place here: