2115. The Bearpit (180)

Here we have an artist doing what he does best. The passionate and politically active Object… is a champion of all that we should care about; homelessness, fair distribution of wealth and the environment.

This piece in The Bearpit is one of about twenty or so that appeared a week or two back to promote the movement ‘Extinction Rebellion‘. The movement is making three demands of the British government:

1. The Government must tell the truth about the climate and wider ecological emergency, reverse inconsistent policies and work alongside the media to communicate with citizens.
2. The Government must enact legally binding policy measures to reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2025 and to reduce consumption levels.
3. A national Citizen’s Assembly to oversee the changes, as part of creating a democracy fit for purpose.

I have some sympathy with these demands, but worry that will not land well because of the astonishing mess of Brexit.

We have a divided nation, and broadly speaking environmental activism lands very badly with the Brexit narrative, and we have a Government dominated by the hard right whose interests are never shared with safeguarding the environment. Take for example the ex-Secretary of State for the Environment Owen Patterson who described the environmental movement (and indeed scientists and his own civil servants) as ‘the green blob’ – a derogatory term intended to belittle, mock and bully people who care about their environment, but his words chime for those who are comfortable or self-interested and wish to maintain a status quo (safe middle Britain).

I feel an essay coming on, but I have to make a chocolate panattone bread and butter pudding.