By: MAX RAGOLIA, age 13
Protests are going on in New York City because of an organization that is trying to improve the environment and make people aware of the global climate crisis. Extinction Rebellion is an organization with an estimated 250,000 members who join in protests and help improve the environment. The organization was co-founded in the United Kingdom by Gail Bradbrook, who has been arrested many times for acts of civil disobedience to help the environment. Civil disobedience is when people protest in nonviolent ways for reasons that they think are right and necessary.
Extinction Rebellion NYC was inspired by Extinction Rebellion UK and nonviolent movements such as Occupy Wall Street and the civil rights movement. On May 11, Extinction Rebellion activists protested the Masters Agility Championship Finals of the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. People ran onto the stage with a sign reading “No dogs on a dead planet.” Miles Grant, an Extinction Rebellion spokesperson, told Yahoo News, “We are not protesting dog lovers, nor are we protesting the dog show. We are demanding that we all acknowledge the reality of the climate catastrophe that is unfolding before us all. If we don’t disrupt, nature will! Nature’s disruption will last much longer.” In June, they disrupted a golf tournament in Connecticut. Last year, they disrupted the U.S. Open, saying, “No tennis on a dead planet.”
Matthew and Lindiwe are two people who are part of Extinction Rebellion NYC who do many, many things to help the environment, including not buying factory meat, planting flowers in their community gardening, and recycling and composting. Conserving water by not leaving the water on while you are brushing can also help the environment, they say. If more people start doing things like these, the climate crisis could get better. Matthew says that more people from Central and South America will have to move to places like New York City because of the instability from their home countries if this crisis gets worse. The rising of temperatures, food instability and more droughts can cause this to happen. Extinction Rebellion is working on building a movement that anyone can participate in or be a part of. No matter how hard it is, they say, we need to address the world’s emergency.
