Environmental Correspondent
The banner read: “No education on a dead planet” as members stood in front of the Reading Room to explain the messaging behind their activism.
Activists of the Extinction Rebellion Universities at the University of Glasgow dropped a banner from the Reading Room on Friday 22 November.
The banner read: “No education on a dead planet“ and was dropped at 1 p.m., with members staying and talking to passers-by about the messaging behind their activism. The banner drop was part of a nationwide day of action by the Extinction Rebellion Universities movement.
Annie Lane, a student at the University of Glasgow and Extinction Rebellion activist, said that she was disappointed in the lack of action taken by the university since declaring a climate emergency in May.
Another fellow activist, Vidya Nanthakumar, stated: “We are taught next to nothing on the catastrophic implications that the climate crisis is having in places around the world right now, nor the real-life implications that it will have in the UK very soon. Universities should be adequately teaching us about this, and to be the globally conscious ‘world changers’ the University of Glasgow claims to create. The climate crisis affects all subjects, and mitigation strategies require an interdisciplinary approach.”
The movement is a branch of environmental activist group Extinction Rebellion that encourages non-violent direct action and aims to make knowledge about the climate crisis more accessible, according to a press release by the organisation.