A roadshow will be pulling into Inverness on Saturday telling people that plans by local and national government don’t go far enough to reduce carbon emissions.
Extinction Rebellion (XR) Highlands and Islands and Moray have organised a Climate Day event between 11am and 4pm to welcome a national tour bus into the car park near the Gathering Place.
The Change is Now Tour is part of a nation-wide tour raising awareness about the climate and ecological crisis, and how they connect to the cost-of-living crisis.
Signing people up for ‘The Big One’
It is visiting 60 towns and cities in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to “spread rebellion, deliberative democracy and movement building across the UK”.
The tour also aims to sign-up people for “The Big One”, where XR activists aim to bring 100,000 people out onto the streets on April 21 next year.
In Scotland, the tour has already visited Stirling, Glasgow, Dundee, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and on its final stop it will arrive in Inverness on October 8.
Gary Jack a member of XR Highlands and Islands, and Moray, said: “It is easy enough to declare a climate emergency as the UK, the Scottish Government and Highland Council did in 2019.
“But unfortunately acting like it is an emergency is something else as they have all proven over the last three years.
“An emergency should mean taking immediate impactful measures and acting now.”
Is using a bus to undertake the campaign environmentally friendly?
Asked about the impact of using a diesel bus to undertake the Change is Now Tour, and the implications of using a fuel that is known to add to the impact of climate change, a spokesman for XR defended its position.
He said: ” XR’s response is that 50% of the footprint is in the manufacture of the vehicle.
“So apart from it being so expensive, the old diesels are better to use until they die than to build loads of new ones.
“Obviously an electric vehicle would be preferable.”
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