Warnings of air pollution stuck on petrol pumps in Shrewsbury and Telford
Extinction Rebellion activists attached warning labels to petrol pumps in Shrewsbury and Telford as part of ongoing climate protests.
The labels with graphic images form part of a national campaign led by Doctors for Extinction Rebellion, calling for greater transparency about the damage to health caused by fossil fuels and air pollution.
Graphic images on the labels imitate existing cigarette packet health warnings; the government’s 'stay alert' coronavirus banners; and the wartime 'your country needs you' posters, with David Attenborough’s face replacing that of Lord Kitchener.
About 100 stickers were applied overall.
The labels are not the first. After years of campaigning by the Swedish Association of Green Motorists, labels were applied to Swedish fuel pumps on July 6 this year.
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Cambridge, Massachusetts will be next, with the city council having unanimously passed a law on January 13 requiring public safety warnings at fuel pumps. A petition has been published on the UK government petitions’ page calling for the same in the UK. View it at petition.parliament.uk/petitions/333388.
Clare Cooper, who was one of the people carrying out the action, said: "I'm doing this because, as a retired NHS worker, I have a longstanding interest in preventative health measures and recognise increasing evidence between air pollution and poor health.
"I am worried about the future of children as it can have huge adverse effects on their development, both physically and mentally. They also face the inevitability of unprecedented climate change and the threats that it will bring to their very existence."
Adverse
Gill Davis, who also took part, said: "I support this action initiated by Doctors for Extinction Rebellion as I have family and friends with chronic respiratory problems and am concerned about the adverse effect of air pollution on them. I am also worried about the health of my and everybody else’s grandchildren as they also face a future affected by the climate crisis.”
Maggie Fay, dementia nurse and co-founder of Earth Nurse, said: "Fellow nurses all around the world are seeing the impacts of climate change in their daily practice right now.
"They manage kidney failure during heatwaves. They care for malnourished children in times of famine. They bandage wounded soldiers in climate-induced conflict.
"Climate change amplifies this suffering, and fossil fuels are the main driver. We must do whatever we can to make fossil fuels a thing of the past."
Co-founder of the Doctors for Extinction Rebellion group Dr Chris Newman said: "It is our duty as health professionals to warn the public that continued fossil fuel use is wrecking our life support systems.
"We no longer have time to ask for permission. As a group we will continue to do what the science and our duty of care asks of us, and we urge our government to do the same. And if they won’t, you can be sure the people will."
