Four members of the group Climate Siren, which included Occupy London supporters, chained themselves to Buckingham Palace gates on Saturday 23 June to highlight the biggest threat to our planet, climate change. The activists were there for over 4 hours and the stunt attracted national and international media attention. Their banners included a quote from Prince Charles that the ‘doomsday clock of climate change was ticking ever faster towards midnight,’ and called for 10% annual emissions reductions.
The action was timed to coincide with the end of the Rio+20 Earth Summit on Sustainable Development, which as predicted failed to deliver any binding agreement to put humanity on a path of true sustainability and peace. Unfortunately, we cannot rely on our elected officials to save the planet and the Rio +20 agenda was dominated by corporate interests bent on preventing any deviation from business as usual which will threaten their profits. People power is our only hope for saving the planet and all its inhabitants.