Earth Day: Climate activists urge action to avoid ‘dystopian’ future

London, April 22

Climate change campaigners gathered outside Britain’s parliament building ahead of Earth Day to urge action on global warming, while volunteers worldwide geared up to plant trees and clear trash to mark the 54th annual celebration of the environment.

Earth Day this year, officially on Saturday, follows weeks of extreme weather with temperatures soaring to record highs in Thailand and a punishing heatwave in India, where at least 13 persons died of heatstroke at a ceremony last weekend.

Average global temperatures could hit all-time highs in 2023 or 2024, climate scientists have warned.

“Climate impacts are here,” Areeba Hamid, co-executive director of Greenpeace UK, said on Friday as climate change activists walked down the street outside parliament, some dressed in green costumes and green paint.

Hamid said when she now visits her hometown of Delhi, it feels like “putting your head in the oven” and that London’s 2022 heatwave was like “a dystopian film”.

Activists led by the Extinction Rebellion group have gathered in London to kick off a four-day action, billed “The Big One”, to coincide with Earth Day.

About 30,000 people have signed up for family-friendly rallies and marches, marking a change in strategy for a group known for its disruptive tactics, including blocking roads, throwing paint and smashing windows.

Globally, there has been a flurry of activity in the run-up to Earth Day, with events being planned in Rome and Boston and major clean-up campaigns at Lake Dal in India’s Srinagar and Florida’s hurricane-hit Cape Coral.

In Peru, shamans made an offering to the “Pachamama”, or Mother Earth. Holding yellow flowers and rattles, they walked around a papier-mache globe. — Reuters

‘The big one’: 30,000 participants

• Activists led by Extinction Rebellion group have gathered to kick off a four-day action, billed “The Big One”
• About 30,000 people have signed up for the family-friendly rallies and marches for the cause
• Earth Day this year, officially on Saturday, follows weeks of extreme weather throughout the world
• Temperatures have soared to record highs in Thailand and India has witnessed a punishing heatwave