Climate protests hit Nottingham

Today, 20^th September 2019, thousands of people around the world went on strike to change how the world is. See below for more detail

In Nottingham, there were 2 different protests in the town centre- we visited one of them- they were in front of the city hall. The idea was to increase awareness for people who are oblivious to this modern issue. They were working with extinction rebellion. We spoke to the woman who organised this particular protest. She said that she wanted to increase the profile of the protesters but it was very small to start as you can see in the image on the right. However, when we revisited later, it grew in size throughout the day. Many people held up boards with powerful messages. The woman also said that it was just a small gathering whereas “other people are lying down in banks…”

Another man we spoke to criticised the government for plans to expand Heathrow Airport and continuing plans of HS2, the high speed train from London to Manchester. “As of now, the climate is pretty bad, really bad, but it’s not irreversible YET” was what we heard from a man who wanted no more plastic to be used. People seem to think it is very desperate- “more needs to be done to stop the crisis.” The word crisis shows the pure desperation of the public.

Fracking is extracting gas from shale which is another fossil fuel. “They’re backing fracking” was what somebody said about the government. Many people we spoke to criticised not only the British government but many other countries all over the world. An example would be Donald Trump’s appalling attitude regarding climate change. He has made many ludicrous comments such as “we need global warming because it’s too cold”- this was said when temperatures reached -30C in America. “We don’t take the government seriously when they say they care.” Boris Johnson’s tory government has not done a great deal about climate change. However, it is hoped the protests will get a reaction from leading Politicians.

So what did they gain? “If it keeps being in your face you can’t ignore it anymore.” This is what protesters thought would help get people to stop using excess plastic and electricity.