7th October 2019 South Africa
The Extinction has begun. It is not the result of natural disasters, but the result of human actions, and therefore, preventable by our actions.
All of life is at stake. There is no more time left to wait for governments across the world to implement gradual policy tweaks. Every person living on this planet in 2019 has both the right, and indeed the sacred duty to fight for life.
Droughts, cyclones and heavy rainfalls that we have been warned about are now happening and it will accelerate if we do not act swiftly and robustly.
Our home, Africa, carries the largest impacts of climate change. Even though wealthiest 25% of the global population is responsible for more than 80% of all resource consumption and attendant pollution and emissions.
We stand here because our web of life is threatened with imminent extinction and the actions of humankind are the direct cause. Vulnerable communities have long suffered under the globalised economy resulting in the overaccumulation of wealth and the overconsumption of goods and services by a minority.
This means the death of almost all life, and the extinction of millions of species – forever. We are sleepwalking into a catastrophe where the changes required to avert the worst disasters are technically, politically and economically possible.
Shockingly the carbon emitted through human activity since 1990, when we clearly knew what we were doing to the atmosphere, exceeds all carbon emissions due to human activity through the entire history of humanity prior to 1990.
To this end a peaceful, non-violent international rebellion for life against extinction to create a better vision of the future is being declared.
The time has come to tell the truth about the scale and the pace of climate change and to act on that truth.
We refuse to bequeath a dying planet to future generations by failing to act now.
We take this stand in alignment with Section 24 of the South African Constitution, which states:
“Everyone has the right to an environment that is not harmful to their health or well-being; and to have the environment protected, for the benefit of present and future generations, through reasonable legislative and other measures that prevent pollution and ecological degradation; promote conservation; and secure ecologically sustainable development and use of natural resources while promoting justifiable economic and social development.”
We act in peace, with ferocious love of all of life in our hearts.