Extinction Rebellion Aim For Change in Hammersmith and Fulham
Tackling low recycling rates and their own lack of diversity
Local activist Pat Tookey
When Collins the dictionary publisher releases its “words of 2019” list, the phrase “climate emergency” might just be in it.
If so, the weeks of protest during a balmy April by the Extinction Rebellion movement, and its trademark use of “non-violent direct action”, will have helped.
So too will the political pressure being exerted not just on Westminster, but in town halls across the country from local Extinction Rebellion (XR) groups.
In the borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, one of XR’s local branch coordinators is Shepherd’s Bush resident, Pat Tookey.
A medical researcher at University College Hospital, the 66-year-old is perhaps not the kind of person who fits the activist stereotype.
During the spring protests, more than 1,100 people were arrested for blockading Oxford Street, Marble Arch and Waterloo Bridge with colourful demonstrations.
Critics accused them of distracting police from tending to London’s growing problem with violent crime. But the protestors achieved their aim of focusing minds on climate change.
Locally, Extinction Rebellion claimed a political breakthrough in July when Labour-run Hammersmith and Fulham Council declared a “climate emergency” at its town hall.
Above that, the council promised to give residents a direct say over its policies to dramatically cut its emissions, and become a “carbon neutral” organisation, by 2030. And it is setting up an “independent, resident-led, climate change commission,” due to launch in November.
Ms Tookey said: “Hammersmith and Fulham has taken a lot of very positive steps. But we want them to take these steps much faster.
“[At the July meeting] we encouraged them to declare the climate emergency and told them we would hold them to account. We want to engage with their resident-led commission, and we are. One of our members is going to chair it.”
Climate Emergency Call Hammersmith Town Hall July 2019
She said they will take aim at the borough’s poor recycling rates.
In 2017/18, less than 20 per cent of waste in Hammersmith and Fulham and nearby Westminster Council was recycled, reused or composted ― putting them among the ten worst areas for recycling in England.
“It’s so low,” Ms Tookey said. “And we need to get on with food waste collections and it’s taking far too long.”
She urged the council to “get out” of its joint contract with Western Riverside Waste Authority, which also processes rubbish for councils in Kensington and Chelsea, Lambeth and Wandsworth.
‘Keep cars off Hammersmith Bridge’.
XR takes a controversial view over Hammersmith Bridge, arguing it should remain cycling and pedestrian-only after repairs are due to finish by 2022.
Ms Tookey admits the council is “in a bind”, and wants to please residents in Putney and Fulham, where congestion and air pollution have increased since the bridge closed.
But she added: “Right now we agree the added air pollution is appalling, but we anticipate that traffic will dissipate as people decide not to make unnecessary journeys.
“Opinion might have shifted in three years’ time and people will be more understanding of the need to give up cars.”
Hammersmith and Fulham is among the half of London’s 32 councils that have declared a “climate emergency”, some of them influenced by local XR branches.
Last week saw a rare moment of red and blue unity when Westminster Council became London’s first Tory-led authority to confirm a policy of becoming “carbon neutral” by 2030.
Ms Tookey has harsh criticism for neighbouring Kensington and Chelsea Council, whom she accused of being “un-democratic” over its veto in June of the Mayor of London’s cycling route through Holland Park and Notting Hill Gate. “They did it while there was still a public consultation going on. They need a great big boot up the arse,” she said.
Kensington and Chelsea previously said it would submit its own plans for different cycle routes.
Ms Tookey, a Shepherd’s Bush resident of 45 years, explains how that the branch formed in February.
“Someone started putting notices on trees and bus shelters along Askew Road for a ‘Heading for Extinction’ talk. 40 people attended. That was in February,” she said.
They also host weekly meetings and have 300 people signed up to local XR news updates.
Earlier in the month they held a demonstration against “fast fashion” in Lyric Square, which coincided with London Fashion Week.
“It was anti the throw-away economy in the fashion industry, because it’s an enormous contributor to carbon emissions,” she said.
“We had an art installation where we got hold of nine bath tubs and strung a message along them, to the effect that it takes nine bath tubs of water to make one cotton t-shirt. So if you wear a t-shirt a few times and chuck it away, that’s a lot of resources being wasted.”
“We’re growing, but we don’t just want to be talking to our friends,” Ms Tookey said. “We want to reach across the borough. It’s such a diverse area, and we need to be frank [with ourselves] that our group does not reflect that diversity, and it’s hard to know what to do about that.
“We do well on age. We have grandparents and people in their twenties.
“When we did the public event in Lyric Square, that really felt like we were speaking to people beyond the white middle classes. And we have been trying to meet in different venues like the Irish Centre, and church halls in Fulham and White City.
“It’s vulnerable and poor people who will suffer the effects of climate change, like the very old, or people with less money,” she added.
Owen Sheppard - Local Democracy Reporter
Extinction Rebellion Hammersmith and Fulham hold meetings every Tuesday, including today, October at the Parish Centre, Our Lady of Fatima Church, White City, Commonwealth Avenue W12 7QR, from 7.30pm.
The programme is as follows:
Inductions for new rebels - 7.30pm
Main meeting - 8-9pm
Working groups - 9pm onwards
Join the rebellion at these weekly meetings to get involved / share ideas / discuss local actions.
Find out more at XR Hammersmith and Fulham Facebook page.
October 1, 2019