Shropshire residents joined Earth Day march in London
Dozens of residents from across Shropshire joined thousands of people on the streets of London on Saturday for a Unite For Nature Rally and Biodiversity March.
It was the second of four days during ‘The Big One’ in Westminster as over 200 groups joined Extinction Rebellion to call on the UK government to act on the climate and ecological crisis.
As TV presenter Chris Packham addressed the crowd, people gathered in the streets to demand action on the accelerating nature crisis. The protest was scheduled to coincide with Earth Day, the annual anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970.
During the march protesters circled around key government departments in Westminster before ending in Parliament Square for a mass ‘die-in’, a symbolic spectacle where participants lay down in silence, in memory and mourning for the heartbreaking 70% decline in wild animal populations since the first Earth Day in 1970.
A recent study showed that the ecosystems we depend on for our survival are vanishing quicker than in any of the previous five mass extinctions that have struck our planet.
Residents from Shrewsbury joined the procession with a handmade banner featuring Charles Darwin, the iconic loop of the River Severn, and various insects and mammals that are under threat from extinction. They were joined by Salopians from Bishop’s Castle, Ludlow, Newport, Oswestry, Telford and Wellington.
Sam Devine Turner, a wildlife educator from Shrewsbury, said: "Nature in the UK is in crisis. Due to a fast changing climate, habitat destruction, intensive agriculture and an attitude that we can continue to exploit nature's resources and systems without consequence, over 40% of our wildlife has declined since the 1970s. I’m a co-chair of the Shropshire Dormouse Group and since I began volunteering in Shropshire’s ancient woodlands five years ago I have watched hazel dormice numbers decline right under my nose.
"As someone who was brought up to respect and cherish wildlife and nature and who feels deeply connected to the natural world, my heart breaks to see all the wonderful signs that wildlife is around us disappearing right before my very eyes. Where are the clouds of insects, pollinating flowers and providing abundant food for other species? Where are the badger paths, worn bare and covered with footprints from years of habitual use? Where are the cuckoos, and the curlew, and the lapwings? I mourn for them all.
"I call on the UK government to do everything within their power to halt the impacts of climate change, to stop building new roads and destroying veteran trees, hedgerows, and biodiverse habitat in the process, to invest in building a future which is bright for all life on earth. We must act now to save our wildlife."
Mike Bastow, a learning and development specialist from Oswestry, said: "I’m here because we depend on nature and biodiversity to pollinate our crops and sustain us. The UK is one of the most wildlife deprived counties in Europe and every year more species are added to the endangered list.
"Our politicians are addicted to an agenda of eternal growth and profit above all else and their policies are destroying everything that is precious and valuable to us. I’m sure most people want change, but the government won’t listen unless we pressure them. That’s why I’m marching today with lots of other Shropshire residents."
Around 50,000 people are expected to take to the streets during the four days of protest in Westminster. Extinction Rebellion has called on the government to end the fossil fuel era and create a fair future guided by the independent advice of ordinary people deliberating through citizens' assemblies to break the deadlock of capture by private interests.
