LLANSTEFFAN BEACH, CARMARTHEN.

On WEDNESDAY JUNE 24th supporters of Carmarthen Extinction Rebellion assembled on LLANSTEFFAN beach, Carmarthenshire, where, in the beautiful and dramatic setting against the backdrop of the iconic castle at High Tide, 100s of pairs of shoes were placed on the high water mark. “The shoes are donated by people of all ages who support the Demands of Extinction Rebellion Cymru and UK for Emergency Action on Climate Change Now.

The empty shoes symbolise the going forward into a potentially catastrophic future unless cross party Emergency Action is taken NOW locally, nationally and globally.

The shoes of children dramatically represent the impact of Climate Change on the people of Wales both now and in future generations.”

This action comes more than a year after the Welsh and UK Governments and Carmarthen Council declared a Climate Emergency.

The catastrophe of COVID added to the Climate Emergency horrifyingly demonstrates the precariousness of our unsustainable systems.

Several weeks ago the Senedd and Government of Wales failed to agree a cross party resolution to establish a Citizens’ Assembly to engage the people of Wales in the process of going forward through and beyond COVID in a societal and environmentally sustainable way. We demand that the Senedd goes “Beyond Politics”, puts down party political differences and works urgently and cooperatively with the peoples of Wales in this dual emergency.

Through these Actions, it is the intention of the Extinction Rebellion Carmarthen group to raise awareness of the Climate Change Emergency and to support the Three Demands of Extinction Rebellion:

Tell the Truth by Government declaring a Climate Emergency and to work to communicate the urgency for change.
Act Now to reduce greenhouse emissions to net zero by 2025.
Go Beyond Politics – Government must create and
work with a Citizens’ Assembly and use the
agency of citizens to develop solutions to mitigate
the effects of Climate Change.

The scientific evidence is now clear that it is extremely unlikely, if not impossible, that we will be able to maintain temperature rises below 1.7 degrees centigrade above preindustrial levels. Despite Covid-19 lockdowns worldwide, in May this year (2020) the concentration of CO2 reached 417.2 parts per million in May – 2.4 ppm more than last year.

The last time CO2 concentrations were this high was during the mid Pliocene epoch 2.5 to 5 million years ago when global temperatures were 2 to 3 degrees centigrade higher than they are today. Sea levels were at least 25 meters higher and there was no sea ice in the Arctic. Given current developments it seems certain that temperatures will rise to 2 degrees and beyond that of preindustrial levels partly due to the release of methane and other locked in gasses and the long time lag necessary for the planet to reach equilibrium. In order to reach 380 ppm we must STOP CO2 production immediately and go into REVERSE.

We simply do not know yet how to recapture greenhouse gasses in sufficient quantities to achieve this reduction in concentration let alone achieve the apparently impossible level of 280 ppm of pre-industrial time. This is the SCIENCE and this is why we in Extinction Rebellion have taken these actions and declared an EMERGENCY.

The rise in temperature will be catastrophic for Wales and globally. Already we have had May temperatures higher than ever in recorded history and by 2050 we will see significant displacement of people in Wales due to rising sea levels caused by polar ice melt and increasing severe weather events.

# RHAID NEWID NAWR – DIM TROI

# CHANGE IS NOW – NO GOING BACK

# GWEITHREDWCH NAWR! # TIME TO ACT!

# CITIZENS’ ASSEMBLY NOW
# CYNULLIAD I’R BOBOL NAWR

# BUILD BACK BETTER

# ADEILADU BYD GWELL
# BUILD A BETTER WORLD

TO GET INVOLVED in CARMARTHENSHIRE: FACEBOOK xrcarmarthen
email carmarthenxr@gmail.com
telephone 07971 098244

To find out more about Extinction Rebellion in Wales:
www.xrcymru.wales
www.xrwales.org

https://rebellion.earth/act-now/resources/citizens-assembly/

https://e360.yale.edu/features/how-the-world-passed-a-carbon-threshold-400ppm-and-why-it-matters

https://mn350.org/understanding350/