On October 17, Extinction Rebellion Sacramento joined the October International Rebellion when it held a funeral procession, eulogy and die-in at the North Steps of the State Capitol in Sacramento.
The direct action began at 11:15 a.m. at 1100 L St. with a funeral procession of over 40 people, followed by the eulogy and die-in back at the Capitol’s North Steps.
After the die in, people marched down the Capitol Mall to the Highway 5 overpass, holding their signs and banners over the freeway so folks in cars and trucks going by could see them. Many people honked their horns in their cars and trucks for support.
According to a statement from Extinction Rebellion Sacramento read at the event:
“We are facing a planetary emergency. The biggest challenge humanity has faced is a threat to our very existence. We have already experienced losses of animals, plants, habitat and humans. Emergency is not a future problem, for many it is a crisis of now. It is a fact of life for people and communities across the world.
Our empathy is here at home and also travels across the globe where those who suffer the most also pollute the least. Water shortages, crop losses, desertification, fires and displacements are just a small part of the litany of climate effects.
California continues to mourn the devastation of fires throughout the state, especially the loss of Paradise and almost 90 of its residents. They are not forgotten, and neither are the continuing impacts of the fires, the toxic cleanup, the polluted water system, disrupted power, unavailable insurance and all the challenges of starting over. The costs of the destruction are unbearable and the yet benefits of a rejuvenated economy are great.
Some things never return and are slowly and much too silently slipping from our earth. We have lost more than 40 percent of our pollinators and insects, over half of our songbirds like wrens and finches and blackbirds. The degraded health of the ocean is challenging the survival of all species that depend on it for survival both in the seas and in surrounding communities. And the forests have experienced tree death beyond anyone’s predictions.
The losses are many, but the answer is clear. We must all work together to rebuild a sustainable world and to stop the destruction that threatens our very survival. Governments must act now, and we call on everyone now to rise up and join us in fighting for our lives.
We join together and hit the streets; if you have been watching the rebellion from afar, now is the time to come together and bring your family and your friends to immerse yourselves in our mass participation movement. In the midst of Rebellion, we will express our profound grief for Extinction through a unifying march.
Extinction Rebellion Sacramento joins the October International Rebellion to demand four things of the governments of the world. These demands only represent XR US but are similar to the international demands. They are still in the process of development.
(1) That the Government must tell the truth about the climate and wider ecological emergency, it must reverse all policies not in alignment with that position and must work alongside the media to communicate the urgency for change including what individuals, communities and businesses need to do.
(2)The Government must enact legally-binding policies to reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2025 and take further action to remove the excess of atmospheric greenhouse gases. It must cooperate internationally so that the global economy runs on no more than half a planet’s worth of resources per year.
(3) We do not trust our Government to make the bold, swift and long-term changes necessary to achieve these changes and we do not intend to hand further power to our politicians. Instead we demand a Citizens’ Assembly to oversee the changes, as we rise from the wreckage, creating a democracy fit for purpose.United Nations General Antonio Gutierrez stated in a recent interview with Covering Climate Now that “What I want is to have the whole of society putting pressure on governments to make governments understand that they need to run faster, because we are losing the race.” This is what we are doing today, taking time to share our grief for the many losses we are experiencing on the only earth we inhabit.
(4) We demand a just transition that prioritizes the most vulnerable people and indigenous sovereignty; establishes reparations and remediation led by and for Black people, Indigenous people, people of color and poor communities for years of environmental injustice, establishes legal rights for ecosystems to thrive and regenerate in perpetuity, and repairs the effects of ongoing ecocide to prevent extinction of human and all species, in order to maintain a livable, just planet for all.”
Must-Read Articles:
Sacramento News & Review: On Extinction's Edge: www.newsreview.com/…
Daily Kos: Extinction Rebellion Activists Target Western States Petroleum Association Offices in Sacramento: www.dailykos.com/...