A Nottingham Trent University student has skipped a week’s worth of classes in order to join the climate change activism protests in London organised by Extinction Rebellion.
Bronwen Rees, 20, a furniture and product design student at Nottingham Trent University, stayed with a friend in London from October 9, missing a week of University in order to prioritise the importance of battling climate change.
Thousands of climate change activists gathered for the protests in London, with 1,457 campaigners arrested by October 15.
In her time there, Bronwen helped block several roads, stopped the police from seizing a camp kitchen and attended several talks about scientific facts and rebellion tactics.
Bronwen said: “There is so much dedication to making a difference and spreading information about ecological and climate crisis.”
“I’m feeling inspired and optimistic, as well as a lot of rage,” she added.
Many members of the public have said that they agree with the XR movement but believe they are causing too much disturbance and therefore risk keeping people on their side.
Bromwen said: “To the people affected I know it can be a massive disturbance and they end up being against XR, however legal protesting such as marches clearly hasn’t worked so far and so civil disobedience is the next step.
“It is out of desperation not preference.”
Increased climate change concern has recently circulated due to flooding, with many areas in Yorkshire and the Midlands reaching high levels of water with months worth of rain in a few days.
Sea levels have risen 5-8 inches worldwide since 1900 and the reality of the situation means that XR have increased their urgency on demands for change in society.
In protest, XR sailed a brick house down the River Thames which eventually sunk.
It is a common opinion that XR’s demands are unrealistic as is the immediacy of the demands.
“I think some aspects of what they are demanding can be unreasonable in term of financial and material resources and not all countries can afford to focus on that due to much more urgent crisis,” Bronwen admitted.
“However, I would argue these countries will face more dire crisis down the line if they do not act now,” she added.
Next on the agenda for these climate activists is the ’12 days of Christmas’ which will be a protest in London from December 1-12.
This protest will be aimed at politicians rather than the public, but the location is currently unknown.
Alongside her studies, Bronwen is president for the Extinction Rebellion society within the University and has been organising events for students in Nottingham who want to get involved.
The events so far have involved a day trip to the London protests, environmental talks in the local area and banner making workshops.
After a memorable moment at the protests, Bronwen is eager to recruit across the University.
She said: “I listened to a group of scientists for Extinction Rebellion talk about their research and say that after a career of searching for the most effective way to battle climate change, they believe XR is the answer.”
For more information about the society visit the University’s society page on Instagram: ‘@xrnottinghamtrent’.
By Amie Stenson-Pickles
All images credit to: Bronwen Rees