London
CNN
—
On Monday, environmental activists in the UK painted Charles Darwin’s grave in Westminster Abbey with the words “1.5 is dead,” referring to the critical climate threshold that the world temporarily passed in 2024.
The two Just Stop Oil activists entered London’s Westminster Abbey, where Darwin is buried alongside some of Britain’s most famous figures, at around 10am local time, according to London’s Metropolitan Police and a statement from the group.
There, the activists said: “We have passed the threshold of 1.5 degrees that was supposed to keep us safe. Millions are displaced, California is on fire and we have lost three-quarters of all wildlife since the 1970s,” according to the Just Stop Oil statement.
Scientists confirmed last week that 2024 was the hottest year on record and the first calendar year to pass a key climate goal – the pledge to limit global warming to within 1.5 degrees above average temperatures before people start burning large amounts of fossil fuels.
Last year was 1.6 degrees Celsius warmer, according to new data released Friday by Europe’s climate monitoring agency Copernicus.
Scientists are more concerned about exceeding 1.5 degrees over decades, rather than individual years, as humans and ecosystems struggle to adapt above this level. But they say the 2024 record is another disturbing sign from where the planet is heading.
The protesters also referred to the biodiversity crisis.
“Darwin would be turning over in his grave to know we are in the middle of the sixth mass extinction,” said the activists, who are demanding the UK government work to phase out the extraction and burning of fossil fuels by 2030.
Some scientists say we have entered a sixth mass extinction, with large numbers of species wiped out in a human-driven crisis that has destroyed habitats and triggered a climate crisis.
Photos released by Just Stop Oil show two protesters – a 66-year-old and a 77-year-old – sitting cross-legged on the floor near Darwin’s grave, which Just Stop Oil said they spray-painted, a type of washable, non-toxic material.
Met Police told CNN that two women were arrested on “suspicion of causing criminal damage with what is believed to be powder paint at Westminster Abbey”.
Just Stop Oil has held several protests in recent years in response to the climate crisis, including pouring tomato juice over Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” and spraying orange powder paint on Britain’s most famous prehistoric structure, Stonehenge.
There were more than 3,000 Just stop Oil activists arrests since the group was founded in 2022, according to the group. Most of those arrests were for planning or carrying out direct actions, including slow marching – a tactic commonly used to block traffic. Other activists, who vandalized famous works of art and buildings, were arrested and charged with criminal damage and trespassing.
In September 2024, five Just Stop Oil activists received what is believed to be the longest non-violent protest in UK history.
CNN’s Kara Fox and Laura Paddison reported.