Ocean Rebellion climate action group launches with protest against cruise ship

A “sea-faring sister” of climate resistance group Extinction Rebellion (XR) launched this week with a protest against a 196-metre (644ft) luxury cruise liner docked in Falmouth, Cornwall, aimed at highlighting the environmental impact of cruise shipping. In its first action, Ocean Rebellion used guerilla advertising tactics to project films, slogans and messages, including “Turn the Tide” and “Fuck this ship”, on the hull of the World, a converted ocean liner that bills itself as the largest private residential ship on the planet. Residents aboard the ship are promised “a life of adventure at the pinnacle of luxury” as the ship continuously circumnavigates the globe, according to its website, although there are currently no residents aboard because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Set up by a group of activists linked to XR, Ocean Rebellion plan to use a series of disruptive, non-violent actions aimed at tackling biodiversity loss, overfishing, the impact of the climate emergency on the ocean, and deep-sea mining. Rob Higgs, 44, a member of the group and inventor who lives in a 30ft fishing boat in Falmouth with his family, said Ocean Rebellion was small, with about 50 activists, and grew out of the XR movement. But there were big differences between the two groups, he said, including a reluctance by OR to use arrest as a means of protest. Ocean Rebellion is a separate organisation, with a non-hierarchical structure.“What we were doing is entirely legal,” he said of the first protest. “My motive is to raise awareness out there, to get people talking. I didn’t know how polluting the cruise industry is, but I do now. We need systemic change in shipping.”XR launched in 2018 and one of its first actions was the blocking of bridges and roads in London to highlight the climate emergency. Before long, it grew to a movement with groups in 75 countries. Higgs said its ocean-related cousin aims to work with other groups, including Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd, to pursue three main aims: to tell the truth about ocean destruction; to reverse drivers of ocean warming, acidification and sea level rise by 2025; and to hold the UN to its duty to govern the seabed for the benefit of mankind, rather than the interests of a few.

All data is taken from the source: https://www.theguardian.com/
Article Link: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/aug/21/ocean-rebellion-climate-action-group-launches-with-protest-against-cruise-ship


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