By Imameleng Masitha
The Extinction Rebellion group staged a protest against the moving of Earth Overshoot Day.
Earth Overshoot Day marks the date when humanity’s demands on nature in a given year exceed what Earth can regenerate in that year. In 2023, Earth Overshoot Day landed on August 2, and the Extinction Rebellion group held a demonstration at Cape Town Civic Centre demanding the government take action against the climate crisis South Africa is facing.
The demonstration was shown through a staged tug-of-war performance piece by activists wearing oil masks and others wearing pink overalls.
Speaking to RACR, a Climate Change activist from Khayelitsha Zama Thingela said: “We are here to show the city municipality that we need to act now because climate change is real. Floods have frequently been occurring, and big oil companies are contributing to climate change.”
Thingela said they were demonstrating the urgency of the climate crisis and encouraging companies to look into different ways of sourcing renewable or sustainable energy over profits.
“There are issues of food currently, and all of these issues can be linked to climate change.”
The organiser of the demonstration, Judy Scott-Goldman, explained to RACR that on this day, humanity’s demands on nature come into play.
“If this could be explained to people, we can take the example of fish which is eaten by many households; however, if big companies fish and leave nothing in the sea for fish to regenerate, then we will be left with no fish because we are not allowing regeneration,” she said.
According to her, in South Africa, one of the most important actions the country can take is to rapidly transition away from fossil fuels to renewable energy.
Scott-Goldman said the South African population has grown over the years, and people are suffering because of heat-waves.
“There are energy crisis issues; if we put people from the affected communities, they can make better decisions on getting efficient transport, bike lanes in communities, and renewable energy,” she said.
“Currently, many companies are scouting for oil along our coast as we speak now. We have to act fast; climate change is real.”
The extinction Rebellion believes that the policymakers are well aware of the risks of ‘business as usual’, but actual change is hard, and there is resistance from vested interests.
“That is why we need to build social pressure and push our politicians to respond to the climate crisis and over-use of the Earth’s resources far faster than the current pace of change,” said the group in a statement.
The group further notes that it is important to reduce reliance on fossil fuels.
“There is much evidence that South Africa could power the country using renewable energy and a shift away from private cars to electrically powered public transport, particularly in cities.”
The group’s demands to the government are:
- Move the date of Earth Overshoot Day by taking immediate action to lower our country’s ecological footprint.
- Invest in and support renewable energy projects
- Reject investment in new fossil fuel projects - coal, oil and gas
- Build quality public services for all
** This story was produced through the Youth Citizen Journalism Fellowship, an initiative of the Rural Action for Climate Resilience project, which is co-funded by the EU and the Heinrich Boll Foundation.