“Climate activists are sometimes depicted as dangerous radicals. But the truly dangerous radicals are the countries that are increasing the production of fossil fuels.” António Guterres

The United Nations Secretary-General made the above statement in April 2022 after witnessing years of inaction in relation to the climate and ecological emergencies. In the same month, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change gave us our final warning: greenhouse gas emissions need to peak by 2025 if we are to have any chance of keeping warming to within the 2^oC limit set by the Paris agreement. The crises threaten every valued aspect of our lives: political and social stability, our children’s future prosperity, as well as beloved species, landscapes, and life-sustaining ecosystems that provide us with food, water, and medicine.

However, businesses and world leaders continue to ignore this information. Since the November 2021 pledges from COP-26, the UK Government has supported various new fossil fuel initiatives such as new coal mines, drilling for new oil in the North Sea, and airport expansions, and continues to subsidise and give tax breaks to fossil fuel companies. At a time when we need to reduce emissions drastically, the Government is being sued on the grounds of failing to articulate a clear plan for achieving its own Net Zero Strategy.

As psychologists and social scientists, we know that the existential threats posed by the climate and ecological crises are challenging to acknowledge: emotions such as fear can result in denial of what the science is telling us. The truth is that all life on Earth is threatened by the climate crisis and our leaders’ failure to take adequate action during this rapidly closing window. The climate crisis is not some distant threat. It is already severely impacting millions around the globe, with poorer nations often disproportionately affected. Countries in East Africa are currently impacted by the most extreme drought in decades that is causing much suffering, while the most severe flooding to hit South Africa has been linked to the climate crisis. The IPCC warns us that without drastic action, 700 million people will be displaced by 2030 in Africa alone. We will experience food and fresh water shortages, increased risks of pandemics and vector borne diseases such as malaria and dengue fever (the climate crisis has been identified by over 200 medical journals as the biggest threat to human health worldwide). Scientists have warned us we are on course to exceed the limits on warming set by the Paris accords by the end of this century. Given that the last ice age was around 4^oC below the pre-industrial mean, it becomes evident that this level of heating would pose an existential threat to humans and all civilisation. 

This month, in accordance with ACP-UK’s position statement on the need for clinical psychologists to participate in climate activism, members of ACP-UK’s Climate Action Network participated in Extinction Rebellion protests and actions. We joined thousands of other protesters, including medical doctors and allied health professionals, climate scientists and social scientists. Members from each group willingly took non-violent direct action and were arrested in order to communicate the urgency of the situation. Participation in non-violent direct action that causes disruption to the lives of others is not a decision people take lightly.  However, as Dr Stuart Capstick, an extensively published climate psychologist, explains in this video, people taking these actions did so because all other avenues for convincing the Government to act on the science had failed.

The media response to the actions of Extinction Rebellion and similar groups such as JustStopOil and Insulate Britain have been mixed, though coverage generally fails to centre the reasons why protesters go to such lengths, often focussing on the supposed hypocrisy of protesters who have benefitted from use of fossil fuels or focusing on whether the tactics used actually result in change. Extinction Rebellion’s tactics are not new. As clinical psychologists, we recognise the significant value and achievement of non-violent protest throughout history, from the actions of suffragettes that led to women getting the vote, through the success of the civil rights movement in the USA, and the non-violent tactics employed by Gandhi and supporters that led to Indian independence. History has repeatedly shown that such tactics have the potential to cause radical shifts in society. Indeed, political scientist Erica Chenoweth calculated that, across the globe, no non-violent movement with at least 3.5% of a population participating had ever failed to bring about significant change. 

ACP-UK recognises we are in a climate and ecological emergency. As applied scientists, we believe it is within our professional remit to apply our skills and knowledge to this tremendous threat to public health, in line with position statements taken by other professional bodies on climate change, and consonant with statements made on a range of other issues affecting the public’s physical and mental health. A recent study in Nature concluded that global temperatures could be limited to within 2^oC warming by the end of the century if the pledges made at COP-26 are to be kept, but urgent top-down action and political commitment is required to implement every commitment, which will need global public engagement. We need yet more radical action if we are to keep temperatures lower, recognising that 2^oC warming will still be devastating for many nations: the climate crisis is a social justice crisis.

ACP-UK publicly affirms its support for those engaged in non-violent protests and acts of civil disobedience to address this severe threat to public health worldwide, and we encourage our members to participate and support.

Signatories:-

Gareth Morgan
Mike Wang
Isabel Clarke
Tori Snell
Marc Williams
Alice Walker
Rachel Howell
Leanne Harper
Elanor Lewis-Holmes