Halifax commuters may be stalled at the Macdonald bridge during their morning rush-hour commute next week.
Extinction Rebellion Nova Scotia, an environmental group pressuring governments to act on the climate crisis, plans to take over the Macdonald bridge on Oct. 7 as part of Extinction Rebellion Canada’s nationwide #BridgeOut campaign.
“The theme is bridge out because right now the bridge to the future is out,” Patrick Yancey, member of the Extinction Rebellion, said in an interview Monday.
The group plans to start the blockade at 7 a.m. and will go on for as long as possible, Yancey said.
In April, Extinction Rebellion members held peaceful protests at four different sites in London, England, including the Waterloo Bridge, for about a week. More than 600 people were arrested.
“Specific people involved will, of course, be planning on doing civil disobedience and getting arrested on Monday,” said Yancey.
In May, Yancey and another member of Extinction Rebellion were arrested for blocking an SUV when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was in Antigonish, but later released without charges.
“If you’ve been involved in the environmental movement, you’ve probably been doing petitions and flyering and marches for decades and they’ve just ignored all of that, essentially,” Yancey said.
“This escalation of tactics is the minimum of what’s necessary to give young people - and I have children so I’m thinking about them - the best shot at a livable planet because we’ve already gone past the point where we can guarantee them that.”
Extinction Rebellion Nova Scotia is demanding the stoppage of work on the Alton Gas site, holding the deadline for the closure of the Boat Harbour pipe and ending coal and other fossil fuel plants by 2021.
“We just hope this helps jolt our decision makers out of their kind of stupor that they’ve been in and get them to take some action on the climate crisis,” Yancey said.
Yancey acknowledged commuters will be frustrated by the commute disruption, but said it’s a small price to pay.
“They should absolutely not have to be dealing with this and we’re very sorry that their commute has to be disrupted like this,” Yancey said.
“This disruption, though, is really minor compared to the kinds of disruptions we’re going to see with the climate crisis. We view this as a minor disruption now that can hopefully stave off cataclysmic disruptions later and even human extinction.”
Extinction Rebellion has halted traffic before, temporarily blocking off the Armdale Rotary, and doesn’t plan to stop “shutting down business as usual” until they’re heard.
“We won’t be letting up until we feel like they’re doing what they can to give the next generation a good shot at a livable planet,” Yancey said.
“We hope to keep escalating until they listen and unite behind the science.”
