CLIMATE change protesters from Chippenham travelled to London on Monday to join the thousands from all over the country who want the Government to cut carbon dioxide emissions and protect the environment.

The Wiltshire campaigners travelled by coach to Waterloo Bridge, which was blocked to traffic and transformed into a forest garden, complete with trees and flowers, as part of a week of action by British climate group Extinction Rebellion.

Myla Watts, who started the Chippenham Extinction Rebellion group, with her husband Matthew and writer Sarah Singleton, were part of the group travelling to London from the West Country.

"The way we live is completely unsustainable – governments are obsessed with growing the economy, but on a world of finite resources. How is that a workable model? Our practices are driving insects (and other animals) to extinction, but we rely on them for our food and cannot survive without them. I also see CO2 levels rising, the world warming and changing, and (despite their rhetoric and spin) no significant action or commitment from the government. I don’t know that this will work, but I have a young child whose future I feel really concerned about, so what else can I do?" said Myla.

“It was an incredible day – and shows just how many people are afraid for the future of our environment and the consequences of human-made climate change,” said Sarah. “Anyone who has watched Our Planet will know just how much we are damaging the biosphere for ourselves, and the many other species which inhabit the Earth. We have to act, and act now.”

Thousands of people blocked well-known landmarks including Waterloo Bridge, Parliament Square, Marble Arch, Piccadilly Circus and Oxford Circus. Extinction Rebellion wants the widespread disruption to the capital in a “climate rebellion” to last for several days.

Protesters included parents, grandparents and children from all walks of life, and they occupied the major junctions to demand urgent action over the escalating ecological crisis. Demonstrations are planned in 80 cities across 33 countries in the coming days.

The group is calling on the UK government to reduce carbon emissions to zero by 2025, and to establish a citizens’ assembly to devise an emergency plan of action to tackle climate breakdown and biodiversity loss.

“The demonstration in Parliament Square was incredible, with a funeral procession mourning the species that have already gone extinct and those that will continue to do so if we don’t act,” Sarah said. “A funeral jazz band led the procession, with huge model skeletons, giant bees and a coffin to represent the destruction of our environment.”

While coaches took many of the West Country protesters home on Monday evening, many people stayed on and police began to make arrests.

For more information on the Chippenham group, visit Extinction Rebellion Chippenham on Facebook.