Extinction Rebellion co-founder Robin Boardman considered that “no country” is still on the right track to combat climate change, saying that Portugal is also not cutting emissions enough.
The activist is in Portugal to take part Thursday and the 13th in lectures at the Goethe-Institut in Lisbon and told Lusa that “unfortunately, no country is on the right track at the moment.”
“For example, in Portugal we have gas in the pockets and other sources of gas, and therefore, it is not deficient [as emissões] Adequate. The science is clear. We need to cut at least half of emissions [de gases] Until 2030 Portugal is not on the right track, but it is better than the UK.
For Robin Boardman, change must happen “with the movement of people and not just [com a] government policy. We need a national movement to promote this mentality for a new world. (…) We do not need radical politics, we need stronger language.
The British activist confirmed that he intends to join the movement of the United Kingdom with the movement of Portugal, recalling the 650-year alliance between the two countries, which is the oldest in the world.
We need this alliance to fight the climate crisis. To share tactics, to share emotions. Learn more about the situation here [portuguesa] And I will be sharing this information with my colleagues in the UK to join the movement, to create this action,” he noted.
The climate activist also criticized some politicians, saying they are “not telling the truth about the climate crisis”.
He added, “They are not telling the truth, because they do not want to lose their votes through unpopular policies in this matter, and therefore we have a problem of slow work and people are unaware of the seriousness of the situation.” .
Asking for a change of mindset, Boardman told Lusa that Extinction Rebellion would “organize a declaration of rebellion in Portugal”, in September, as in the UK and Germany, but without giving details.
“Every month, before September, we will have an action to mobilize people to make people in Portugal aware of the movement, with the Dead Mermaids, for example, and with creative actions,” he stressed.
Extinction Rebellion is a global environmental movement that uses nonviolent civil disobedience to try to stop the mass extinction of species and reduce the collapse of society.
The movement was born in 2018 after British activists gathered in London’s Parliament Square to announce a declaration of rebellion against the UK government.
In Portugal, despite not claiming to be supporters of this movement, students mobilized to protest the climate and the end of fossil fuels at the end of last year and occupied several schools and universities for a week, a protest repeated elsewhere. , such as the Ministry of Economy, which sometimes forced the security forces to intervene.
In May, a group of activists from Plataforma Parar o Gás chained themselves to the main gate of the LNG terminal, in the port of Sins (Setubal), to prevent that infrastructure from being put into operation.
“Writer. Analyst. Avid travel maven. Devoted twitter guru. Unapologetic pop culture expert. General zombie enthusiast.”
