For the first time, on June 22nd, I decided to join a march. With notable exceptions I am not sure how much they tend to achieve, but this was a glorious, colourful, peaceful and happy demonstration, in spite of the seriousness of the message.
Led by Chris Packham, with Dame Emma Thompson another notable figurehead, over 60,000 people marched down Park Lane and Piccadilly before heading down to Parliament Square. Being a “march virgin” as someone described me, I had not expected the inevitable stop/start walking. I was meeting friends later in the afternoon so I bailed at the end of Piccadilly after a couple of hours, thinking that I already knew I was going to agree with the speeches to be delivered later. That was indeed the case but when I watched them the next day on screen I found them without exception moving, powerful and inspiring. Each one brought tears to my eyes both because they were so passionate but also as they told of what could so easily be achieved, and what we have so abjectly failed to do
The march was unique in that it brought together over 350 organisations from what might be seen as either end of the ‘respectability’ scale, such as Just Stop Oil, Extinction Rebellion, the Hunt Saboteurs (great to see them represented), the Red Rebel Brigade, Wildlife Trusts, the National Trust and the RSPB.
I particularly liked this arrangement at the entrance to St James’s Church on Piccadilly.
Amongst the speakers was Liz Bonnin on whom I seem to have a bit of a ‘crush’. Sorry Liz. Dale Vince, the green industrialist who founded Ecotricity was impressive, arguing that we should stop farming animas completely on the grounds of sheer inefficiency if nothing else. His company is making burgers from grass and has developed the Ecojet, an electrically powered aeroplane. We don’t necessarily need to give things up completely – but we do need at least to make a start and do things differently.
Feargal Sharkey of The Undertones, now a vociferous clean water campaigner, was full of righteous fury at what has been happening to our streams, rivers and seas, and the £72 billion pocketed by the water companies at our expense.
Sarah Finch, a representative of the Weald Action Group explained how she and her colleagues had taken on Surrey County Council and won. Thanks to their recent historic legal victory, oil, coal and gas companies will now have to take into account not just the immediate effects of new fossil fuel exploration and exploitation, they will also have to take account, in their Environmental Impact Assessments, of the future damage to the planet caused by burning those fuels.
I was also impressed by Nadeem Perera, whom I had not come across before. A wildlife presenter of Jamaican heritage, he founded Flock Together with the aim of appealing to and including people of colour to a greater extent in appreciating and becoming involved with nature and wildlife.
Nemonte Nenquimo, an indigenous speaker from the Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest spoke forcefully, through an interpreter, of battles against the government to protect the environment there: “If we don’t respect Mother Nature, she will destroy us … Climate change is the tears and voice of Mother Earth.” We must turn eco-anxiety and despair into hope.
There was also talk of the People’s Plan for Nature which “calls for urgent, immediate action – from governments, businesses, charities, organisations, farmers and communities – to protect and fundamentally change how we value nature. “
Home | People’s Plan for Nature (peoplesplanfornature.org)
We have lost 38 million birds in the last 50 years and one in six species of UK wildlife is in danger of extinction. We know what the solutions are but sadly have to fight our politicians who are interested only in short-term gains for themselves and their friends and allies.
The speaker for Extinction Rebellion made this beautiful point: Extinction Rebellion is … love.
Blame for the current crisis was laid mostly and squarely at the feet of those involved in industrial agriculture, There are over a billion animals in factory farms in the UK, and rising. 1.7 million animals are caught in snares each year. Entitled sadists take pleasure from watching foxes being torn to pieces … But rewilding is happening and it works.
As peregrine falcons flew over the square, Chris Packham ended the proceedings in rousing fashion: “We can, we will, we must.”
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