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A university lecturer who spent 12 hours in police custody would risk arrest again to increase awareness of climate change.
Julie Mecoli, 64, who lives in Canterbury, is one of the thousands of environmental activists from Extinction Rebellion who have been blockading Westminster to demand faster action on global warming.
The art and design lecturer at the University of Kent joined the group after a stark UN warning that global leaders have only 12 years to limit a rise in temperatures to 1.5C, or risk extreme heat, drought and floods across the world.
“I have signed petitions, tried to modify my lifestyle, gone to marches, supported different NGOs who are trying to get the government to tackle our climate emergency, and it just hasn’t happened,” she says.
“We have got 12 years to sort this out. That’s nothing.”
Ms Mecoli, of Longport, was arrested on April 17 shortly after taking up her post at Parliament Square with other ‘rebels’ from Canterbury.
“We were tidying up and getting our signs out when all of a sudden there was a huge police presence coming towards us. It was like watching an army coming towards us, in yellow jackets,” she says.
“It was obvious they were planning to arrest people, so those of us who could, sat down in the street while others supported us from the sides,” she continued.
After being taken to Walworth police station, Ms Mecoli - who says the officers were “professional and considerate” throughout the ordeal - was released at 6am the next morning.
“There was a lot of waiting, but during that time, we got into some really good conversations with the police, about the environment, but also about ordinary life,” she continued.
She says her decision to break the law was to signal that “business as usual” needs to stop if a crisis is to be avoided.
Leading climate scientists say that unless warming is limited to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels – which requires a 45% decline in CO2 emissions from 2010 levels by 2030 - there will be “rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society”.
“I just decided that if this is what it takes, I’m willing to do it,” Ms Mecoli continued.
“Like most of the people I have met, I have never done anything like this. At the police station, they were asking person after person if they had been arrested before. Everyone said no, no, no.
“I just decided that if this is what it takes, I’m willing to do it...” - Julie Mecoli
“But unfortunately, because the government hasn’t been taking action, Extinction Rebellion has had to come up with a way to get the climate emergency on the agenda. This is what we needed to do to get the message across.
“Our aim isn’t to get arrested, it’s to disrupt business as usual. For every person that is arrested, there were four or five other rebels who were supporting.
“It’s unfortunate. We don’t want to do it. I understand why people don’t want to take [climate change] seriously, because it’s really scary if you say we have got 12 years to turn this around. But we have to trust the experts. We’re moving in the right direction, but we are not going to stop until all our demands are met.”
Extinction Rebellion, whose activists have also glued themselves to the gates of Buckingham Palace and staged mass sit-ins at the entrance to Downing Street, wants the UK government to declare a climate emergency, make policy commitments for zero carbon by 2025 and create Citizens Assemblies across the country.
