Extinction Rebellion calls us to the streets to demand that our governments take the necessary steps to halt climate catastrophe justly and with compassion. Extinction Rebellion calls us to uprising with uncompromising non-violent discipline and wholehearted dedication to stay until the needed change is done. All that we do through XR Durham we do in answer to this call.
The first week in July XR Durham along with Quit Carbon NC will join Declare Emergency for a week of actions demand that Joe Biden Declare a Climate Emergency. Visit QuitCarbonNC.org for details.
On April 4th, three members of our sister group, Quit Carbon NC, joined Declare Emergency in a road blocking action to demand that President Biden declare a climate emergency. The three QCNC activists were arrested along with four others after holding up traffic on one of Washington DC’s major highways (I 395) for forty-five minutes.
QCNC plans to begin similar actions in the Raleigh area on April 18th demanding that Governor Cooper declare a climate emergency in NC, and use his emergency powers to take all possible steps to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions immediately. Additionaly, QCNC demands that Governor Cooper use only approaches that do not cause further harm either to the enviornment in general or to local communities. (Note: this would include stopping methane capture at hog farms and the green washing activities of the wood pellet industry.)
For more information, or to sign up for an affinity group and/or a working group, or to register for nonviolent civil resistance trainings send a message to our sister group Quit Carbon NC here.
This time won’t come again.
You are needed.
The Main Thing to Remember
After the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, all of the work and effort of years and decades and centuries of rebellion on many fronts came together in an uprising that went global and that continues today.
The change we need in order to save life on earth from annihilation is like that. We need masses of people moving into public spaces, interferring with business as usual, and non-violently refusing to leave until the government acts to stop the climate and environmental catastrophies.
That is what it will take. Anything less is not going to be enough. Times of spontaneous uprising like the explosion of the Black Lives Matter Movement or the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s or Arab Spring cannot be predicted. But these moments of the whirlwind can be nourished and they can be prepared for.
And that is what we are up to at XR Durham. We do actions to build momentum in the direction of mass nonviolent uprising to demand action to end the climate catastrophe.
We prepare to make the most of those moments when they come, and we know that such moments will come because we know that the devastations brought by the climate and environmental crises will continue. Things will get worse. Sooner or later people will notice that the rich and the powerful are waging undeclared war against humanity. And sooner or later there will be an uprising.
You are needed!
“Deciding” – a support group for people considering not having children because of the climate crisis
Recent studies report that fears about what life on earth will be like for future generations are causing some people to decide not to have children.
“Deciding” is a discussion group for people who are grappling with whether or not to have children because of the climate crisis and other human-caused types of destruction of the earth’s living systems. The purpose of the group is to be a safe space for participants to talk about where they are with decisions around possibly not having children due to environmental concerns.
Decisions don’t get any more personal than this one. The group will be free of any expectations that a particular decision be reached or that any decision be reached at all. The fact that this level of fear exists about something so precious and personal as whether or not to have a baby calls out for deep respect and for strong support for those who face this choice.
The group will meet for three 60 minute sessions. Time to be determined by the needs of participants. For more information, please contact Cailin at <contact.xrdurham@protonmail.com>.
The Stroller Rebellion
The XR Durham Stroller Rebellion has begun! We have put together a fleet of strollers and baby carriages (or as they call them in the UK ‘prams’) And a group of local XR rebels now moves into the streets of Durham regularly to carry news about the climate crisis.
One of the great things about the Pram Rebellion is its flexibility. It can be carried out any time, by a lone individual who simply leaves a decorated and messaged stroller in a public space. It can be a group project designed to be covid-cautiously present in a high-traffic public space (e.g. sidewalk downtown at lunch time). It can be a one-time thing or a regular on-going event.
Have a look here to see what is possible with just a bit of concerted effort. Have a look here to get information on the nuts-and-bolts of creating Pram Rebellion. And imagine Durham this fall with Pram Rebellion events popping up all over town carrying messages like ‘Government Climate Failure is Killing Children,’ and finding people who are ready to join the rebellion.
To find out more about how you can get involved (or to donate used strollers), please contact: Stroller Rebellion at <contact.xrdurham@protonmail.com>.
Training in How to Participate in Non-violent Direct Actions
An experienced NVDA trainer from XR America has offered to train a group of us on-line. The time for the training will be chosen to meet the availability of participants and of the trainer.
For more information about joining the group, contact Callie at (919) 475-7786.
XR Chapelboro Red Rebels
contact.xrdurham@protonmail.com
Footer Illustration: Forest Fire
Extinction Rebellion - Durham NC 
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