SIMULATED socially distanced beach parties on the steps of the Senedd, banner hanging and marches through the city centre - Cardigan XR protestors were in the thick of it during five days of protests in Cardiff by Extinction Rebellion.

Campaigners were highlighting that, based on “business as usual”, Cardiff is the sixth most at-risk city from global warming from a world-wide list of 85 cities examined by Nestpick-funded research.

Protestors carried a blue screen and painted chalk lines onto shop fronts to demonstrate the current predicted level of sea water in 30 years.

“We need urgent action,” said Sarah Wright from Cardigan, who urged people to support the Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill which was tabled by six cross-party MPs, including Ceredigion’s Ben Lake, on Tuesday, Sept 1.

The Bill has been designed to take carbon emissions, global warming, species loss and ecosystem damage into account in every decision.

Mel Robinson worked hard behind the scenes in Cardiff with the kitchen crew, who were nearly all from the Cardigan area.

The team made sure that food and drinks were available for protestors including those camped in-front of the City Hall in socially distanced tents, next to the city centre.

“Feeding that many was quite a challenge” said Mel, “especially with Covid restrictions.”

“We still have a chance to change the path we are on. Anyone who has been going to Poppit Sands over the years can see the encroachment of the sea, eating chunks out of the sand dunes.

“We need to acknowledge the interconnectedness of our problems” said Stuart Wilkinson, of Pentrecagal.

To highlight this, protestors blockaded the Viridor waste incinerator plant in Splott, Cardiff. A Birmingham University study earlier this year found that the air quality in Cardiff is ranked the fourth worst in the UK relative to its size.

“It would be far better if we took a serious look at reducing the amount of waste that we produce,” said Clara Nitsch, from Boncath.

“Government figures reveal how effective at reducing consumption the introduction of the 5p plastic carrier bag charge was....the same should be applied to all plastic packaging.

“Only Governments can do this. We need to be fixing problems at source, not creating further problems by building more waste incinerators.”

The week finished in Cardiff with several thousand from 20 different grassroots movements including Black Lives Matter, Amnesty International, Justice for Palestine, and XR coming together to march through the city centre under the banner of “Social and Climate Justice” to the Home Office and then on to the Senedd.