Extinction Rebellion has hung two large banners over the A12 to mark the start of a week of action.

%image(15162026, type="article-full", alt="The banners read "no future in fossil fuels" and "climate emergency". Picture: EXTINCTION REBELLION IPSWICH")

The Ipswich branch environmental group placed the banners, which feature the slogans “climate emergency” and “no future in fossil fuels”, on the bridge on the A12 at Martlesham.

It marks the start of a week of action which will take place across the East of England.

A spokeswoman for the group said: “Our intention in hanging these banners is to provoke thought and incite others to rebel against the system which is polluting and destroying the ecological system on which we depend.

“The government continues to ignore the urgency of the climate and ecological emergency and we as citizens must hold them to account.

%image(15162028, type="article-full", alt="Two banners were hung across bridges over the A12 to mark the start of a week of action. Picture: EXTINCTION REBELLION IPSWICH")

“The current government aim to reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2050 is woefully inadequate.

“We will have reached the point of no return long before then, if we are to limit overall global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees.

“This has to be our main goal in order to limit the damage caused by human activity.”

The group’s action will start at the weekend, as they protest at Stansted and Luton airports with their local groups.

The following day, Extinction Rebellion Ipswich will gather at Christchurch Park for a socially distanced meeting.

Membvers aim to connect with the community and invite all interested parties to join them from 11am to 3pm.

On August 31, the group will be outside the town centre banks to condemn their funding of the fossil fuel industry, and to provide information to the public on how to change accounts to more ecologically focussed providers.

The national group will then head to London for further socially distanced protests as Parliament returns.

The spokeswoman added: “We rebel against the criminal inaction of our government in the face of the climate emergency. We rebel because #WeWantToLive.”

Doctors for Extinction Rebellion have also carried you action across Ipswich, placing stickers on petrol pumps across the town.

The ‘warning labels’, which imitate cigarette packet health adverts, call for greater transparency about the damage to health caused by fossil fuels.

A spokeswoman from the group said: “We decided to participate in this nationwide action because Ipswich has suffered from illegal levels of air pollution for years.

“As the council has continually failed to address this, we wanted to warn our fellow citizens of the dangers they face from air pollution, the vast majority of which is caused by transport.”