Mural imperative of Cambridge Extinction Rebellion
Extinction Rebellion campaigner Alex Zefferett has issued an appeal to anyone who wishes to have a mural illustrating climate change on the exterior of their home.
Alex, who lives off Mill Road, was an IT specialist until he quit office life recently to campaign for grassroots change in the way the climate crisis is being addressed.
"The mural is intended to push the issue of climate change further up the agenda," says Alex, who is married with a teenage son. "Murals are hard to ignore - as they know in Belfast.
"The reason I'm doing this is that I read the IPCC report on 1.5 degrees of global warming, and we know that at 2 degrees the warming can spiral out of control. We're currently at 1.1 degrees of warming, so we have just months - maybe a year or two - to turn this around.
"If we don't then that means the collapse of civilisation, billions of people dying in the next ten years, and the possible extinction of the human race. It amazes me that people don't realise how urgent this is and how much is at stake - but when you do realise, there's a moral imperative to do something about it."
Alex, who has lived in Cambridge for 23 years, left his job as a software engineer earlier in the summer.
"I've been part of Extinction Rebellion for six weeks," he says. "It's not a paid role, it's volunteering. I've got enough savings for a year if I live cheaply. I don't really know where it's all going to go, but I was getting very frustrated about my job, when something this important is going on.
"For the design of the mural, there is a very professional team of XR artists, they're really good and we'll consult with the owners of the house over the design. I'd like it to go up ideally before October 7, Earth Rebellion Day, but it's an ongoing issue."
Alex believes that from here on in things have to change at a more fundamental level.
"At XR we don't believe the political system as it's currently constituted is able to make the necessary changes. What XR can say is that we'll come to conclusions using a citizens assembly. We'll keep going until the government meets our three demands:
1. Tell the truth about climate change
2. To go carbon zero by 2025 - which means a wartime-type effort
3. To constitute a citizen's assembly."
Further details of the project are available from Alex at xr.cambridge.mural@gmail.com. Details of Earth Rebellion activities are available here.
