Extinction Rebellion have announced they will be two street theatre actions across the G7 weekend.
The environmental protest group will be performing two separate pieces of street theatre in Falmouth and St Ives to protest the continued extraction of dirty fossil fuels during a time of ecologcal crises as well as the roles played by banks in financing these activities.
The first event, 'Drowning in Oil,' will be held at 3:30pm on Friday 11 at Porthminster Beach, on the north end of Harbour Beach, in St Ives, with climate activists from Bath Extinction Rebellion travelling to Cornwall to join the local chapters.
The theatrical protest performance will focus on the symbolic “drowning” of three young people who represent our future and will be systematically and theatrically drowned in crude oil by characters representing the big oil giants: Shell and BP.
The group says the character's “deaths” represent "the shameful legacy that is being left for future generations by the continued extraction and burning of fossil fuels."
Chrissie Aslett, of Extinction Rebellion Bath, said: "I felt it absolutely essential to go to Cornwall, as we need to show the world leaders the depth of feeling that surrounds the Climate and Ecological emergency we are currently facing.
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"Governments need to ACT NOW if we are going to prevent irreversible damage to our planet."
Stephanie Laslett, of Extinction Rebellion Bath, said: "Around 40 of us from the Bath area have come down to Cornwall to join climate activists from all over the UK, putting pressure on the G7 leaders to speed up their responses to the climate crisis.
"These rich G7 countries are responsible for 85% of excess emissions in the atmosphere.
"We are drowning in their promises and the global south is already bearing the brunt."
The second theatrical protest, 'Dirty Scrubbers,' will take place at 11:30am on Saturday 12 outside Barclays on Killigrew Street and HSBC on Market Street in Falmouth.
The protest will see Extinction Rebellion activists, armed with mops and dusters, scrubbing down the shop fronts of the two banks and warning people to "keep clear of the blood, oil and greenwash."
According to the group, a report published by a coalition of NGOs in March 2021 stated that "the world’s biggest 60 banks have funded fossil fuel companies to the tune of $3.8tn since the Paris Agreement and Barclays has actually increased its fossil fuel expansion, fracking, coal, arctic and offshore oil and gas, and tar sands."
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Sarah Webb of Extinction Rebellion Wallingford said, "We’re washing the blood, oil and greenwash out of Barclays and HSBC’s dirty money because we want their customers to know the dirty truth about their bank.
"We want them to know that Barclays provides more money to finance fossil fuels than any other bank in Europe.
"Since the Paris Agreement in 2015 when we signed up to drastically reduce all climate warming activities, what have Barclays done?
"They’ve actually increased investment, by a whopping $145 billion."
Extinction Rebellion Bath activist Stephanie Laslett said, "It’s shocking that these banks are hellbent on continuing with business as usual.
"The former Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, has called for systemic change but these banks are ignoring what’s blindingly obvious when you read the science.
"Barclays are directly responsible for the destruction of the living world by funding fracking, arctic oil and gas extraction and industrial animal agriculture.
"Our planet is in the midst of a major mass extinction event, the first of its kind caused by humans.
"Barclays is actively bankrolling this process.
"In 2019 alone Barclays financed activities linked to biodiversity risk to the tune of over £70 billion."
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