Thread by @SJimons

Confessions of an #ExtinctionRebellion 'extremist' THREAD

This time last year I wasn't fussed about climate change.

I learnt enough science at school to know about the greenhouse gas effect and understood the planet is warming.

I thought we were sorting it...

I recycled 🙅‍♀️

I remember seeing a friend,@samjknights involved with #ExtinctionRebellion

I thought he had completely lost the plot.

(sorry Sam)

I'm a medical student, I read scientific papers all the time.

If the science was telling us there was an emergency surely I'd already know?

On holiday, on a remote beach, I'd run out of books on my kindle.

Except one.

I'd downloaded it a while ago but wasn't very interested: The Uninhabitable Earth by @dwallacewells

I read it with frustration, I had no WiFi to check the references, it seemed ridiculous.

Honestly, I didn't finish the book. I went home, I decided the horrific tales from the future in the book must just be tales.

So I decided to reassure myself.

I wanted to read the scientific consensus. I went to read the @IPCC_CH reports online (you can too).

As a medical student I've read some science...

Science is hard to read. First year me struggled with this new land of 'Peer-reviewed' and 'reviews' and 'systematic reviews' and 'consensus'

A complaint: the IPCC reports are VERY LONG AND basically UNREADABLE

Reading the IPCC reports I was shocked, sad, and then, angry.

The IPCC says "Limiting global warming to 1.5°C would require rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society"

Ummm.... not really seeing any changes at the moment?

Getting rid of plastic straws while you're still drinking out of a plastic cup as green house gas emissions continue to rise...

Is like giving a patient with metastatic cancer some calpol while the hospital burns

Plastic, while (very very) bad, isn't even the climate crisis...

Side note: What kind of silly species are we to have thought we can just infinitely use plastic/ produce huge amounts of waste and just bury it in land fills.

where was the forward thinking?

As a doctor I wouldn't tell my patient:
- We know your diagnosis
- We have all the solutions to improve your life
- We've chosen to continue making your disease worse

THAT'S WHAT WE'RE CURRENTLY DOING TO THE PLANET

Honestly, I don't think many people have really understood the scale and effects of the climate crisis (because that was me 6 months ago).

I imagine many people haven't read this thread because they've assumed I'm a 'climate alarmist'

The truth is the science is alarming...

Extremist ideology to me endangers life.

That is what our current inaction is doing.

Right now the lives that are hit hardest by climate change are in countries our media barely report on. People least responsible for the climate crisis.

#AustraliaisBurning has been hard to ignore.

Even though the misinformation campaign is so strong some people genuinely believe it was caused by arson. 🤦‍♀️

Meanwhile 9.5 MILLION PEOPLE face starvation in Southern Africa due to drought... deafening silence from our media.

Worst of all you've been told climate change is about YOU
YOUR diet, YOUR car, YOU must change

And yes, we all have our little part to play

But my 'extremist ideology' says this is about US

WE have all the tech needed to fix this

WE can build a better world and protect nature

In short:
I'm a recently radicalised climate extremist
The Uninhabitable Earth changed my life
I'm excited we can make our lives better while stopping climate change

I think politicians who deny climate change science consensus/ fail to lead are terrorists

If you've actually got to the end of this highly disorganised rambling of my thoughts, thank you, I'm touched. 💚