An international climate change group has come to Lincoln as it prepares for action later this year.
The Extinction Rebellion group organise protests across the globe, with previous action including the disruption of council meetings and road closures.
Yesterday morning, Lincoln’s branch of the group were seen protesting outside the city’s magistrates’ court after two of its members were arrested.
Meanwhile, last night, the group met on Sibthorpe Street to plan future action.
Rosemary Robinson was the organiser of last night’s event, and explained the aim of the meeting.
She said: “We’ve already had a couple of meetings in Lincoln, we had our inaugural meeting last December.
“Tonight, we’ll be organising ourselves into action groups to start planning some really serious non-violent direct action over the coming months.”
In Nottingham, the local group pressured its city council to declare a state of ‘climate emergency’ and pledge to become the UK’s first carbon-neutral city by 2028.
Rosemary said that something similar could be happening in Lincoln.
She said: “Quite a lot of us have already written to our city councillors, county councillors and our MP to ask them to declare a climate emergency.
“We also have e-petitions on both the county council and the city council websites asking people to sign up for a climate emergency.”
Recent Government surveys have found that three quarters of the UK population are ‘very’ or ‘fairly’ concerned about climate change.
But Rosemary said that the attitude in Lincoln is mixed.
She said: “Some people are really spot on and they say yes, this is something that needs to be done.
“A lot of other people are fairly complacent really, I don’t think they are really aware of just how serious the situation is.
“Of course that will be one of our aims over the next coming months – to raise public awareness as well as pressuring the Government to do something.”
At a speech last year, the Government’s Environment Secretary, Michael Gove, said:
“Collectively, collaboratively, we have the potential to protect and enhance our environment.
“The answers lie in support for greater scientific investment and innovation.
“Throughout history, the endeavour and imagination of scientists has redefined the limits of what is possible, and it is only by heeding scientific warnings more keenly than ever before and supporting scientific research more strongly than ever before that we can safeguard our planet and our species’ survival.”