Activists from Extinction Rebellion Harrogate steps up their activities in a year of protest

The self-proclaimed “local group for people who are worried about the climate crisis and want to do something to bring about change”, the environmental campaigners have been busy in recent months in the long-running battle to block Harrogate Spring Water’s plans to expand its bottling plant.

XR Harrogate, which formed in early 2020, also take part in environmental places further afield, including Leeds and London.

Famously, in 2021, XR Harrogate members turned out in force at COP26 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow.

Their most recent action in Harrogate took place in October when walked through the town centre wearing in red cloaks in a protest against expansion plans by Harrogate Spring Water.

The decision to wear red was to symbolise “the common blood we share with all species,” protesters said.

In May they gathered in Knaresborough to launch awareness of pollution in the River Nidd.

At the national level Extinction Rebellion was launched in 2018 with a Declaration of Rebellion which led to 10,000 people protesting on the streets of London in 2019 and parliament declaring a Climate Emergency.

Since then it has become a global movement comprising a network of people who care deeply about the future of the planet, all human beings, and all living things.

With members from a diverse backgrounds and experiences, XR’s original aim was to see greenhouse gas emissions fall to net zero by 2025*.

Events have superceded that goal.