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Extinction Rebellion groups across mid Wales have been holding protests and events in conjunction with COP26 in Glasgow.
The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference was held in Glasgow from 31 October to 12 November.
For nearly three decades, the UN has brought together almost every country on earth for global climate summits, or COPs, which stands for Conference of Parties.
Extinction Rebellion activists from Machynlleth, Borth, Aberystwyth, Dolgellau and Llanidloes travelled to the Glasgow summit to take part in “what is thought to be the biggest Climate March ever with an estimated 100,000 participating”.
Victoria Bamford, a Machynlleth activist taking part in the protest, said: “The group were raising awareness of species losses and, in bird costumes, gave out information about some common birds suffering catastrophic reductions in Wales. Curlew are down 81%, Turtle Doves extinct, Starling down 71%, Golden Plover 80% and Yellowhammer 64%.”
XR activists from Cardigan also travelled to Glasgow “to make their feelings known at the COP26 Climate Summit”. Other Cardigan campaigners attended a protest in Cardiff on 6 November, as part of the COP26 Coalition Day of Action for Climate Justice.
Peter Weldon, who carried a letter from Cardigan Town Council “urging world leaders to take action needed to keep our world safer”, arrived in Glasgow after travelling from his home in Cwm Cou by bike.
Others travelled in a minibus, fuelled by vegetable oil, carrying food and equipment for the Welsh Kitchen – “which has become famous at Extinction Rebellion events for providing tasty, nutritious and plentiful food to hungry protestors”. Some Cardigan protestors are staying in a mobile home near Glasgow for the duration of the COP26 conference. Some have also been demonstrating outside JP Morgan, “which provides major finance for fossil fuel companies”.
Jane Mansfield, who went to Glasgow, said: “Profit is a mirage if you can’t live in the future and give your children and grandchildren what they deserve – a world which is habitable, which can produce reliable crops for them to eat, and provide clean air for them to breathe. Anything else is a nonsense.”
On 6 November, Zero Carbon Llanidloes held an event in the Minerva Centre, Llanidloes, to raise awareness of the ongoing Climate Emergency.
From 10am various stalls were hosted in the centre and at 11am, Mayor Janet Crisp gave a “brief introduction to her perspective on the Climate Emergency”.
Duncan Burwood added: “Other speakers stressed the seriousness of the Climate Emergency, suggested some actions we could start to take in Llanidloes and about the environmental destruction taking place in the Palestinian Territories.”
