A statue of the greek goddess Demeter at the British Museum got the Just Stop Oil treatment today with a speech bubble and high viz vest. Just Stop Oil is demanding that the UK government work with others to end the extraction and burning of oil, gas and coal by 2030.[1]
At 10am today, two Just Stop Oil supporters dressed the figure in a high viz vest and added a speech bubble reading “Just Stop Famine”.
The statue of Demeter is a life-size, seated ancient Greek statue dating from around 350 BC. Demeter was the goddess of agriculture and of fertility who created the harvest, the grain and other crops as well as the circle of seasons. [2]
The action follows the publication earlier this week of an open letter from some of the world’s top climate scientists. They are warning that the risks of a collapse in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) have been “greatly underestimated” and that a collapse would have devastating and irreversible impacts, including potentially threatening the viability of agriculture in northwestern Europe. According to a earlier study, the UK could see temperatures plunge by up to 10C and the report’s authors say that “no realistic adaptation measures can deal with such rapid temperature changes”.[3][4]
Even before a collapse in AMOC, the climate crisis is already having a dramatic effect on our ability to grow food. Farmers in England experienced the second-worst harvest on record this year because of heavy rain made worse by climate change, while Scottish farmers described this year’s growing season as ‘the toughest in 30 years’. Meanwhile tens of millions of people in Southern Africa are facing starvation as rising temperatures have fuelled the worst drought in a century, severely impacting food production across the region. Five countries have declared national disasters.[5][6]
A Just Stop Oil spokesperson said:
“Famine or a world without oil. What’s it to be? The climate crisis is threatening our food security and these impacts will only get worse until we stop burning fossil fuels. If you think famine only happens elsewhere, think again. Our rich nation status will not protect us from what is coming. A collapse in the Atlantic ocean currents would destroy our ability to grow food and you can’t eat money.
“Politics is broken and we cannot rely on politicians to save us — not from poverty, not from the cost of living crisis, not from complete climate collapse. The Labour government doesn’t work for ordinary people, they work for corporations and billionaires, while supporting genocide in Gaza. It’s time to put this right. That’s why we’re calling on everyone to join us for a day of action on November 2nd.”
Join us in Parliament Square on Saturday November 2nd at 11:30am to take part in the Politics is Broken bloc at the Palestine Solidarity Campaign’s National Palestine March. As a prefigurative day of action we will be actively inviting and welcoming a large number of groups to come together – including the climate and nature movements, palestine solidarity, inequality and democracy movements to join forces and march on Parliament and join us after at the Umbrella Rally, Banquet, Peoples Assembly and After Party. Sign up here:
We stand with our 24 supporters in prison, with the 1,800 victims of our broken criminal justice system imprisoned for over a year without trial and with the 1,700 murdered across the global south, for protecting all our lives. [7]
ENDS
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Notes to Editors
[1] Just Stop Oil is a member of the A22 Network of civil resistance projects.
Critical seed funding for Just Stop Oil was provided by Climate Emergency Fund and Adam McKay in 2022 and 2023. Just Stop Oil is now largely backed by small donations from the public, although the Climate Emergency Fund continues to contribute.
Just Stop Oil ‘Blue Lights’ policy: our policy is, and has always been, to move out of the way for emergency vehicles with siren sounding and ‘blue lights’ on.
We take all possible steps to ensure that no-one’s safety is compromised by our actions.
Our Demand: An end to oil, gas and coal by 2030.
Our governments must work together to establish a legally binding treaty to stop extracting and burning oil, gas and coal by 2030 as well as supporting and financing poorer countries to make a fast, fair, and just transition.
This can be accomplished by endorsing the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative and seeking a negotiating mandate to establish the treaty.
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demeter_of_Knidos
[3] https://en.vedur.is/media/ads_in_header/AMOC-letter_Final.pdf
[4] https://www.euronews.com/green/2024/10/24/this-tipping-point-would-be-catastrophic-for-europe-but-scientists-are-unsure-when-well-re
[7] Serving sentences: Larch Maxey, Joe Howlett, Christopher Bennet, Samuel Johnson, George Simonson, Gaie Delap, Theresa Higginson, Cressida Gethin, Roger Hallam, Lou Lancaster, Daniel Shaw, Lucia Whittaker De Abreu, Phoebe Plummer, Anna Holland.
On remand: Daniel Knorr, Noah Crane, Ella Ward, Margaret Reid, Indigo Rumbelow, Rosa Hicks, Rory Wilson, Adam Beard, Luke Watson, Luke Elson.
How to write to Just Stop Oil supporters in prison: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GUa6RdJMsFN-uDa03jfleJTVFL86DIfBilVVF6f3E4U/edit
