earthrise: The People’s Voice

A lot of people are very concerned about climate change at the moment. Climate scientists have concluded that once the earth hits 2°C in rising temperatures we’re headed to a climate catastrophe that will spiral out of control, leading to greater and more frequent extreme weather conditions. Flooding, hurricanes, heatwaves and cold waves will lead to many people losing their food sources and living spaces.

A group of six young people took it upon themselves to grab the world governments’ attentions. Their goal? To get governments to take drastic actions to save the world. Their grass-roots initiative called Sunrise Movement soon became famous, leading to just under $1 million in funds raised and thousands of people joining their cause. We take a look at how they managed this success and what their plans are for the future.

Then we go to the UK where a group of protestors have dedicated themselves to getting the governments to act by inconveniencing as many people as possible. Extinction Rebellion caused waves when they shut down the streets of London in protest, and we join them as they prepare for a 2-week long protest against the British government. They’re trying to stir up enough civil unrest that the government is forced to change its approach to climate change and thereby declaring a state of emergency to solve the issues. We join their attempts on the ground.

Wednesday, 22 July at 1:30 AM on Aljazeera (ch 257)

Repeats: Wednesday 22 July at 11:30 AM; Thursday 23 July at 5:30 AM; Friday 24 July at 6:30 PM; and Saturday 25 July at 7:30 AM.