CCA member, Clare Haworth, was found guilty last week of wilful obstruction of the highway. She submitted the following powerful Mitigation Statement to the court explaining why she felt she had to do what she did.

I consider it a necessity to continue to object to the UK Government’s woeful lack of Emergency action during 2019 and 2020 following their OWN Parliaments Declaration of a Climate Emergency in May 2019. In the words of Greta Thunberg-one cannot call it a Climate Emergency and then NOT treat it as a Climate Emergency but this is in effect what has happened. 

The Climate targets for action are inadequate and ill measured yet in an emergency the action MUST be  immediate and a priority. I am a registered Nurse working in the NHS and in the Accident and Emergency department we focus all our attention on the Emergency action needed to save someone’s life. We do not talk about the action – we enact it. 

Otherwise the patient will likely die and that is what human civilization and life on Planet Earth faces. All the Scientific evidence of planetary degradation and catastrophic biodiversity loss is telling us this. The disproportionate lack of mobilisation of climate protection measures and halting of damaging behaviour means we face certain immense suffering of scale unimaginable and we deny this to ourselves in order to cope.

For this reason I felt I had no option but to draw further attention to the shameful lack of focus that the UK Government has placed on the Climate Crisis despite agreeing that we have an Emergency to focus on.

I reluctantly and peacefully uphold my right to freedom of expression and to peacefully protest and if necessary to peacefully be arrested in order to bring attention to the Government that they are failing to act upon their own Scientific evidence and their own Parliament’s declaration.

I am saddened to have to use the court’s time in this way but I feel I was left with no other option. 

I am a committed Christian and am driven by a deep sense of desperation and urgency to try to honour and protect this beautiful dying World.