Just Stop Oil protesters with a police officer outside Westminster Abbey in central London after they spray painted "1.5 is dead" on the grave of Charles Darwin, in the north aisle of the nave of the Abbey, January 13, 2025
JUST STOP OIL activists painted the grave of British naturalist Charles Darwin today to demand an end to reliance on fossil fuels by 2030.
Two activists entered Westminster Abbey and sprayed “1.5 Is Dead” on the grave after it was confirmed that 2024 was the first year on record with a global average temperature exceeding 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
During the action, the supporters said: “We have passed the 1.5° threshold that was supposed to keep us safe
“Darwin would be turning in his grave to know we are in the midst of the sixth mass extinction.
“The government’s plans will take us to over 3 degrees of warming.
“This will destroy everything we love. World leaders must stop burning oil, gas and coal by 2030.”
One activist, 77-year-old Di Bligh, quoted Darwin saying that it is not the strongest nor most intelligent species that survives, but the one most adaptable to change.
“If we do not work together to rein in the corporations and billionaires driving us beyond our means, humanity will not be able to adapt to what is coming,” she warned.
