An Extinction Rebellion (XR) activist blocked peak-hour traffic on one of Brisbane’s busiest bridges early this morning, continuing a series of similar protest stunts in the city this year.
Twenty-two-year-old midwife Sophie Thompson climbed a ten-metre tripod activists helped erect on Victoria Bridge around 7.30am, before suspending herself from the structure and displaying one of the XR protest banners.
Commuters travelling between the CBD and the Queensland Performing Arts Centre on Southbank were unable to use the bridge for about half and hour while traffic was brought to a standstill and/or diverted.
Police said traffic was flowing again by about 8am.
Midwife inspired by Swedish teen activist
Ms Thompson said in an XR press release as a midwife, she was acting in solidarity with famous Swedish teen climate activist, Greta Thunberg, who was at the United Nations Climate Action Summit last week.
The Brisbane midwife said couldn’t stand by as the government ‘harmed children by continuing to ignore the climate emergency’.
‘Children in Australia and around the world are already dying in this emergency,’ she said, ‘be it lack of drinking water in remote Aboriginal communities or food shortages in Sudan, children are the first victims of this crisis’.
Ms Thompson was part of Extinction Rebellion South-East Queensland, which declared an ‘open rebellion’ against the federal government earlier this year for so-called ‘criminal climate inaction’ Ms Thompson called child abuse.
Thousands to ‘rebel’ as doctors in Australia and UK declare health emergency thanks to climate change
XR SEQ organisers said they expected thousands to rebel and many arrests next week, as part of a dedicated ‘International rebellion week’.
‘There are remote Aboriginal communities that do not have access to safe drinking water,’ said Ms Thompson.
‘Many children around the world have already died or have been displaced as a result of the rapidly warming climate.
‘We are facing complete societal collapse with the most vulnerable in society, particularly children, being disproportionately effected.’
Meanwhile in London, XR activists said, doctors who were also group members blocked the entrance to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy building in Westminster.
The doctors called for action to what they said was an ‘impending public health crisis arising from climate and ecological breakdown’.
The Australian Medical Association also released a statement recognising climate change as a health emergency.
This article has been updated. The original version described Ms Thompson as a midwife but she is a former midwife now focused full-time on climate change activism.
Most naturally the children are un-naturally sick in
a worldwide epidemic of ruthless carelessness of
greed & control beyond belief. Where… do the
children play? They no longer do. They are sad:
angry: rightly defiant & low on trust. Who can
blame them – no one. The blame belongs with
the Carpetbaggers in power… no if(s), but(s)
maybe(s) & such. Most of the aged ones do
support the young & there is a calm ‘coming
together’ reliance as it should be. The outcome
is difficult to predict but let it begin. We have
had enough of bogus excuses & misplaced
laws that harm ‘child, animal, sea, land, light,
dark, shade & life.’ Pan’s flute is being heard
as reality is in danger.
Sophie is an inspiration to us all and we should emulate her particularly those of us of advanced age. Unlike younger people we have nothing to lose by being arrested and if a prison term is meted out that could provide us with a better, cost free and probably safer alternative to residential age care. If the NSW government’s “Right to Farm Bill” is passed, peaceful protesters trespassing on inclosed lands will face fines of $22,000 and 3 years in jail.
Just more brainwashed propaganda..nothing more than socialist !! pushing the wealth distribution ..
Agenda !! And label it as climate change..
The ” UN”just recently calls for for a brave new
World ” FINANCIAL ORDER “to tackle climate change !! WHAT ??
Very sad to see such frightened kids !
Psychologist are seeing a spike in kids as young as 10 come in petrified with thoughts that the world is about to END !!’ In 10 years ! ..what a disgrace…
So miss Thompson!! This young entitled generation
Need to have a real good look at what they are protesting about , get some facts ..preferably not from the IPCC.OR THE UN .. and make some proactive changes themselves as individuals..?
MYTH BUSTER !! bushfires, cyclones, drought ..
Are caused by Climate change!! INCORRECT
Andy Pitman “AO” One of the foremost Scientist
In Australia Regarding climate!! QUOTES . You all might not like what iam about to say ..but the Drought, fires, has nothing to do with Climate change and confirmed that, all of his fellow scientists agree !! Now this guy is a realist..
Now this hysteria is out of control ..!!
How many Dooms day predictions in the past 50 years have come true ???
The Burrow is BACK with more of the same BS. “Droughts, fires, has nothing to do with Climate Change…” of course not, eh. I mean the rainforests in Tasmania, in NE NSW and SE QLD that have not seen fire before but now burn……nothing to do with Climate Change. Record drought around the country…nothing to do with Climate Change. Record summer temps in Northern Hemisphere as well as Australia…nothing to do with Climate Change. Every decade since the 1970’s warmer than the preceeding decade…nothing to do with Climate Change. Burrow old son, please get it right, no one has said that the World itself will end in 10 years time. The ten years ( by 2030 ) time frame is for the World to take emergency action in reducing GHG emissions in order to preserve a planet that is habitable as we humans know it today. The World will go on but humans are ‘soiling their own nest’ to the extent that it poses an existential threat to us humans as well as to the many other species presently inhabiting Mother Earth.
EXTRACT from Challenging Media Sceptics / OF SOME THINGS THERE
IS NO DOUBT. Danny Lawson/PA – Headline Funding Of IPCC: Quote…..
“In September shows that the Authors are now 95% certain that humans
are mostly to blame for temps. rising since 1951. For Scientists 95% is
taken as a ‘Gold Standard’. They may not know everything – but they know
enough to be able to assess the risk of NOT acting. NB Climate Change.”
Those who will,
can’t.
Those who can’t
will always
wish it elsewhere:
there’s a name
for it.
Sorry Barrow, but Professor Pitman is not your hero. While he has said that data shows no correlation between droughts and climate change, he’s a passionate advocate for action on climate change. He thinks we’ve done way too little so far and it is probably too late to keep global warming below 2 per cent. You’ll find an excellent ten minute speech on youtube.
Ahh poor barrow. Despite the Trumpian diatribe, Professor Pitman’s sentence is a not a “Gotcha” moment and Climate Science is not a house of cards. As you correctly observed, Professor Pitman is indeed a realist. And has been very concerned about our bleak future for decades. That sentence merely demonstrates the complexities of climate.
On the website of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes, you will find a September article titled “Briefing note 009: Does global warming cause droughts, drying or increased aridity?” that explains in explicit scientific detail the relationship between climate change and drought.
Here’s another Prof Pitman quote for you: “Most of us don’t really understand climate change, and for some of us that means we can’t accept it. Sure, the evidence is compelling, but sadly humans aren’t always interested in evidence when it comes to deciding what to believe and how to act. If policy was based on scientific expertise and not public opinion, then whether the public understands the science shouldn’t matter.”
Since you like Professor Pitman quotes try this one: “Scientists keep telling the story, but it just isn’t sinking in. This is a real problem because denying global warming does not make it go away any more than denying gravity as you fall from a cliff prevents you hitting the ground.”
See barrow he is a realist. He doesn’t need to make stuff up. He doesn’t get his info from parroting Murdoch media and conservative websites. Back to school.
Plants grow so much better with more C02, how is this not a good thing?
more plant growth = more oxygen, which we breath
more plant growth means more Co2 is absorbed
Point taken as always !! M Clarke do you really believe everything that the IPCC AND THE UN
Are suggesting? The temperatures since Records began have come up and down within 1degree
Hardly cartographic!!