CLIMATE breakdown campaigners from across Mid Wales travelled to London to join the protest calling for urgent and wide ranging UK government action on climate change last week.

Members of the action group Extinction Rebellion (XR) from across the region gathered with others from across Wales and the South West of England to occupy sites across the capital as part of a week-long protest.

Andy Warren, a company director from Llanidloes, said direct action was the “only course left” for environmental campaigners.

“This movement will change the world. All our traditional campaigning methods, such as petitions and climate marches, have been ignored,” he said.

“Peaceful direct action is the only course left to us. I’ve been involved in direct actions before but this is the first time I’ve been arrested.”

Machynlleth XR campaigner Katy Fowler, from Aberllefenni, also agreed that the protest was the only way to get the attention of the government on the issue.

“I think people have realised that putting a cross in a box every four years isn’t enough and in many ways direct action and civil disobedience is the only way to get the attention of government,” she said.

“I was in Oxford Circus on the welcome desk and must have spoken to hundreds of people, most of whom were positive, interested and enthusiastic about the action we were taking and what we were doing,” she said.

“We’re not the first people to do this, we didn’t invent it, it’s been going on for centuries from labour rights, the suffragettes and the Indian independence movement. If the suffragettes hadn’t taken action would women have the vote now?

“It seems that governments don’t listen to much more than economic disruption so to hit London in the pocket seems to be the only way to get the message across.”

Also attending the protest with her four-month-old baby, Mid Wales writer Hannah Engelkamp said she was “proud” to take part.

“I feel like I’ve just felt a bit defeated for 20 years, knowing without doubt that the way we are living isn’t good for the planet, or for us, our communities, our engagement with nature and the real world.

“I’ve just felt overwhelmed by the scale of the problem, and the complete disinterest from those in power.

“Then XR began last autumn and its whole message was a breath of fresh air. It is firmly grounded in non-violence, and there is such respect and understanding in the process behind the scenes – I’ve felt really proud to be part of it. The research suggests that we need 3.5 per cent of the population to be involved with direct action in order to make real change, and this seems possible.

“At last I feel like there is hope. And that blossomed in London,” she added.