Imagination Catalyst & Time Traveller. 'From What Is to What If'. Speaker, Transition. 'Field Recordings from the Future'. He/Him. @robintransition.bsky.social
Totnes, Devon. UK
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Beautiful action outside Conservative Party HQ in Totnes today to call out Anthony Mangnall's voting record on the dumping of raw sewage into seas and rivers. The poo costume was the star of the show, and the brave souls in their swimming costumes.
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The UN said a couple of weeks ago staying below 1.5 degrees is now impossible unless we see "a radical transformation of society". So all the papers ran with headlines like this. None ran with "how about we have a radical transformation of society?" Sounds far preferable to me..
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I'm in bits. Thank you Louise. You're fucking amazing. Just Stop Oil.
š¦ŗ Louise, 24: āI'm here because I don't have a future. You might hate me for doing this, but I wish you would direct all that anger and hatred at our Government. They are betraying young people like me ā I wouldn't have to be here if they did their duty.ā
#FreeLouis #FreeJosh
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Struggling to get my head round the fact that I live in a world where Reform are polling at twice the level that the Greens are. Just think about that for a moment. Reform are polling twice the level of the Green Party. In a #ClimateEmergency. The world can be a bewildering place
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Essential stuff to bear in mind as the temperature in our cities rises. Let's reimagine our cities as forests with buildings in....
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Disgusted and furious that my friend @LarchMaxey was just sentenced to 3 years in prison for taking part in a @JustStop_Oil action. 2024 is already the hottest year on record, and these brave souls are firmly on the right side of history. Justice was NOT served today. Shame.
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The criminalisation of climate protest in this country should be of the deepest concern to everyone. Meanwhile the real climate criminals never had it so good....
šØ 50+ POLICE KETTLE MARCH OF 12 PEOPLE.
Police have blocked the road with 13 vans, stopping traffic and kettling the march. Everyone has been arrested, including two people who were walking with the march on the pavement.
Their crime? Handing out leaflets. #1984
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#oncethingsgetbacktonormal is trending. Resilience is sometimes described as how systems 'bounce back' following a shock. But for me it should be about how we 'bounce forward' to something better. The old 'normal' was a car crash, a disaster. We can, and must, do so much better.
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I love it when I'm asked to fly somewhere to speak at an event about the climate emergency, and I write to say I don't fly and to politely point out the absurdity of the request, and they redesign the event to enable virtual participation. It just happened again. Most satisfying.
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Really struck by the government deciding to eradicate homelessness within a week. Another problem that was ignored, seen as unsolvable, dealt with with complacency and a shrug of the shoulders, suddenly solvable. Like so many others, when we decide to. #reimagineeverything
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Spain is moving to permanently establish universal basic income in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic: businessinsider.com/spain-unā¦
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Am I the only person out there not afraid to say that after weeks of this bruising election, the new #Banksy piece made me cry? Sprinkling empathic imagination dust in a world that has forgotten what both those things mean. "Art is the highest form of hope": Gerhard Richter.
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Utterly shameful and a national disgrace. Hey @UKLabour, when are you going to revoke the draconian anti-protest laws drafted by oil and gas companies and then implemented by the last government? These were peaceful protests. Enough. theguardian.com/environment/ā¦
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Here is a pencil drawing I've just finished of some trees near my house where I walk my dog. I hope you like it.
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Portugal just ran on 100% renewables for six days in a row: canarymedia.com/articles/cleā¦
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I love this painting by English artists Eric Ravilious, 'Wet Afternoon'. Discovering, and really falling in love with his stuff at the moment.
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Proud to join @XRebellionUK today in London in support of the #ImpossibleRebellion. Gave a talk outside the Science Museum. This brave, brilliant and bold movement is such a force for change. Long may it flourish. Thank you rebels.
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GET NIGEL FARAGE OFF THE TV! He's not elected, not a party leader, he's nothing, he's history. Get him off...
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A few photos from today's amazing #RighttoRoam protest on Dartmoor ... just incredible. Felt like the start of something really historic.
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I love this response from @JustStop_Oil to Braverman's threat of more restrictions on peaceful protest: "We will not die silently, it will be ordinary people, like you, your friends, colleagues and neighbours who do what our government cannot." Beautiful. bbc.co.uk/news/uk-63272648
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C'mon @guardian, please stop telling us climate change really matters on the one hand, then encouraging aviation dependent travel on the other. Be consistent. This is a #ClimateEmergency after all...: Where to go on holiday in 2019 ā the hotlist
theguardian.com/travel/ng-inā¦
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Astonished that the piece on last night's @BBCr4today's about the disappearance of wasps this summer linked it to a general reduction in insect numbers but managed to never mention the word 'pesticides' even once. A pretty remarkable oversight.
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Please share: āThe exercise of imagination is dangerous to those who profit from the way things are because it has the power to show that the way things are is not permanent, not universal, ā¦ We will not be free if we do not imagine freedom.ā - Ursula Le Guin
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For anyone claiming the actions of @ExtinctionR are causing upset to the people of London who are going about their daily working lives, this guy doesnt seem to be too put out!
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Greta is so extraordinary. Watching this with tears in my eyes, with shame that I didn't do more over the last 30 years, with fire in my guts that NOW is the time to kick aside the unimaginative structures & build a beautiful world our kids will thrive in.
āPeople are suffering, people are dying, entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction and all you can talk about is money and fairytales of eternal economic growth.ā Watch Greta Thunberg speak at the UN Monday morning. wired.trib.al/VXdAnKt
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The tide is turning people... is this what a tipping point looks like? bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-brā¦
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A taste of the future. Cereals growing between agroforestry alleys on Dartington estate. Better get used to it...
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Just got back from a few days away. Managed to do a bit of drawing. Here is a pen and ink drawing of trees over the lane close to where we stayed.
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One of the most important things @GeorgeMonbiot has ever written IMHO. Of course we can find the funds to put things right... George figures out how much we'd need... theguardian.com/commentisfreā¦
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Why is it that we teach history in schools but we don't teach the future, or at least the skills to imagine the future?
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Thanks. I was once invited to San Francisco for an awards ceremony. Told them I don't fly. They said "why?". I said "you know you want to give us that award for our work on climate change?" They said "hmm, OK". They changed the whole event so all finalists appeared via Skype.
I'm tired of seeing climate activists justify their frequent flying by calling out "individual action."
When @GretaThunberg, myself, or others fly less it's not individual action. We're working to shift the culture by communicating urgency. Actions speak louder than words.
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My new passport arrives. This country just spent Ā£200bn, the cost of the International Space Station, so a few nostalgists could get blue passports. Makes me sick and furious. I want my red one back. Never forgive. Never forget. #brexitshambles
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Dear @BBC. I have just cancelled my TV licence due to the appalling pro-Tory bias you have shown during this election. Not sure why it took me so long. I used to love the BBC, but your bias is unforgivable and unmistakable. I'm out, as, I hope are many others.
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Jack Monroe's defence of Diane Abbott is moving, powerful and brilliant. Read it. Seriously. You owe it to yourself: cookingonabootstrap.com/2017ā¦
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In a world serious about climate change, everywhere should follow Dunkerque's example and make the buses free. It would be revolutionary. Climate solutions should start by asking how they benefit the poorest people in that community. #ClimateEmergency #WhatIf
šLe bus est gratuit Ć #dunkerque
šLe #wimo 2ĆØme Ć©dition c'est 2 jours de rĆ©flexion pour amĆ©liorer le quotidien des utilisateurs des transports en commun
šĆa passe par le #numerique #iA #Digital
Go #startindunkerque A suivre...
šø #joemyworld
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"Please don't build that", said the community of Dartington. "It will be an incredibly boring, ugly, oversized, monolithic lump of a building with no architectural merit at all". So they built it. And guess what.... @PlanningShit
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There is no such thing as a 'carbon neutral airport'. It is an oxymoron. A con trick. A public relations exercise. An act of duplicity. The only way to have carbon neutral airport is to not have airport. We are not stupid. Please don't treat us as such.#ClimateEmergency
Today we proudly unveil our Environmental Flight Path: Our journey to become a #carbonneutral airport. Read the information here: cardiff-airport.com/news/201ā¦
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Feeling very emotional watching the news of Biden winning. Might this be the day the fight for climate change turned? Not perfect, of course, but another 4 years of Trump would have been hell on earth. A historic day. Amazing. Well done America...thank you.
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Wow.
Rush hour in the Netherlands: traffic made up of child-powered school buses (ht^ @dirkjanjanssen & @MartijnLi)
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My amazing hero @ExtinctionR rebel wife, fellow defendants and solicitor following their 2 day trial at Hendon Magistrates Court. Conditional discharge and fine for breaking Section 14 on Waterloo Bridge. Rebel heroes all. #ClimateEmergency
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For 364 days a year, Gatwick airport spews millions of tonnes of CO2 every day, which goes unremarked and unreported. One day of disrupted flights and its all over the news. I'm not convinced we've got our priorities right. Aviation is incompatible with the #climateemergency.
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So pleased to be able to share with you the cover of my forthcoming book, 'From What Is to What If'. The one on the left is the dust jacket cover, and on the right is the book that will be inside that. I hope you like it... thanks to @chelseagreen.
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I will always be a European. I will always think, and act, and move through the world as a European. I will always live by the values of inclusion, kindness, community and solidarity. #Brexit is a Crime Scene. One day the real tale will be told. #StillEuropean #AlwaysEuropean
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Yay. The beginning of the end of the always-a-bloody-stupid-idea UK fracking 'industry': a victory for people power: Fracking: Cuadrilla removes equipment from Lancashire site bbc.com/news/uk-england-lancā¦
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"What gives me hope on climate? What gives me hope is that we've barely tried yet". My favourite quote of 2022 so far. Thank you @ClimateHuman. I now quote this in all my talks...
What gives me hope on climate?
What gives me hope is that we've barely tried yet. So far, people in the rich Global North have acted, overall, like spoiled little shits. If humanity made a concerted effort we'd halt climate breakdown in a matter of years.
But that's a big āif.ā
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I get back to my hotel room after a talk in Preston to find the UK has declared a #climateemergency. Feeling deeply moved, quite emotional, and proud, that this country is the first nation to do so. Wow. People power. Awesome. Let's do this...
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Ridiculous. Kids are learning far more from taking part in events like this than they would in school. And research shows it is better for their mental health too. Seeing Greta is a life-changing event for many young people. Calm down a bit. This is a great event.
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So fees for degrees should reflect the 'economic value' of the course? What a vile idea. Death knell for the arts, and totally misses the point about "value" in society. Regressive nonsense. Imagination-slaying idiocy.
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A morning spent in the rain planting about 80 walnut trees (my favourite trees!) at Riverford Farm. There's nothing more hope-inducing than planting trees.... did get pretty soggy though....
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Am I the only person who hates that new Oatly ad, with they guy 'catching out' his dad for buying cow milk? Awful. So divisive, and leaves you feeling horrible. Change ought not come from shaming, smug divisiveness, polarisation. I can't stand it.
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To think, they could be training armies of retrofitters, urban gardeners, tree planters, rewilders, cycling trainers, renewables installers, nutrition trainers, replanters of kelp forests, ethical investment managers... but no. 10,000 riot police. #AnotherWorldIsPossible
Wouldn't it be nice if governments took climate action with the same vigour they apply to making laws & training police to suppress climate protest. Then, who knows, maybe protest wouldn't be needed.š¤
Riot training for thousands of climate summit police
bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-5ā¦
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Dear @RishiSunak. Please do NOT bail out airports and airlines. This is a #climateemergency. Let them go. Invest in train, free public transport, car-free cities. This is the time to let aviation go. Bailing them out would be a crime.
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An absolute disgrace. #SyriaVote Ashamed to be a British citizen tonight. Shame.
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Protesters with 'climate emergency' banners briefly block Boris Johnson's journey to Buckingham Palace #NewPrimeMinister itv.com/news/2019-07-24/boriā¦
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Call me a naive, tree-huggling, radical, idealistic dreamer if you like, but isn't life so much more beautiful and interesting when you don't cut the grass?
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So proud of my brave and beautiful wife, one of the 85 heroes arrested at @ExtinctionR in London today. #ExtinctionRebellion #climateemergency So very very proud.
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I must say that standing at my front door clapping, cheering and whooping with my family at 8pm tonight in salute of health and emergency workers, and hearing the same happening across my neighbourhood, was a surprisingly moving experience. Brought tears to my eyes. Thank you.
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That day when @GeorgeMonbiot schooled David Bellamy on basic climate science. I met a woman at a talk I did last week who, 12 years later, was still trotting out a lot of the arguments Bellamy uses here... : piped.video/watch?v=3eOFYAg_ā¦
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Yesterday's 'Build, Build, Build' launch, sidelining #climateemergency, dishing out our money to crony developers whilst stripping our civil rights fills me with dread. Really. How best to co-ordinate an effective & imaginative fightback? So tiring, fighting stuff all the time.
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I really loved the #ExeterClimate event at Exeter Uni asking 'So youāve declared a Climate Emergency, now what?' Loved the idea that academics wanting to fly to conferences or whatever should have to fill out a form, like an ethics form, to justify the flight. Let's do it.
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"20% of Irelandās transport budget will go to walking and cycling while two-thirds of the rest will go to public transit": Irelandās Green Party Leader, A Former Bike Shop Owner, Secures āAstonishingā Boost For Walking And Cycling:
forbes.com/sites/carltonreidā¦
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Have done my back in. In bed. To pass the time, I did this painting of the view from my bed. 'Sunflowers on a cluttered table'. I hope you like it.
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So loving the diversity in the colours and shades in all the unmown grass around where I live. Perhaps I could write a book about it. I could call it 'Fifty Shades of Hay'.
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Congratulations to all of the new Mayors elected in France who are prioritising urgent, deep and imaginative action on climate change, a future of clean air, vibrant local economies and dynamic communities. An incredible shift in possibility just took place.
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Brilliant stuff from @samjknights "What is and isnāt possible isnāt just a matter of science. It is principally a matter of politics. If we wanted to stop burning fossil fuels, we could. If we wanted to build a just, green and sustainable world, we could": novaramedia.com/2021/08/11/tā¦
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Today I am signing off for the festive season. See you next year. It's been quite a year. Sadly I can't claim that we've left the place in any kind of a better position than it was at the start of the year. Not for lack of trying. Thanks for your companionship. Go well.
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Just reflecting, as I work my way a broken heart through the IPCC #ClimateReport, on how much time and money and airspace the UK wasted on #Brexit that should have been spent addressing, with passion and vision, the #ClimateEmergency. A criminal distraction. Shame.
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Budget looking good so far ... Ā£500 million more to pour into the Brexit black hole, Ā£1bn more for the military, no mention of climate change. You'd almost think there wasn't a #climateemergency
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Might I just remind folks fretting re #courgettecrisis that courgettes are in fact out of season? Eat kale instead, better for you anyway.
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Oxford Dictionaries declares 'climate emergency' the word of 2019
theguardian.com/environment/ā¦
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I finally got to watch 'I am Greta' last night. Such a beautiful, vulnerable, honest, inspiring, engaging, moving and tender film. What an extraordinary human being. We all owe her the most enormous debt of gratitude. Do watch it.
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"People donāt have a problem imagining what a four-lane highway would look like. But to imagine a restored landscape of over a million hectares ā nobody knows what that would look like because it hasnāt really been done before.ā theguardian.com/environment/ā¦
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This election has put me in a state of such acute election anxiety that there are times I struggle to breathe. We stand to lose SO MUCH if Johnson wins. No exaggeration, no hyperbole, that's just how it is. Strong pre-traumatic stress disorder combined with deep deep hope. Phew.
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It's astonishing, this idea that sitting in a traffic jam for hours to get to an out of town shopping centre somehow embodies and represents 'freedom' more than living in communities where all your basic needs are within walking distance from your home. Conspiracy nonsense.
Mark Harper transport secretary has just said Tories will stop the ā misuse of 15 minute cities ā ā¦
āwhat is sinister is the idea of local councils deciding how often you can go to the shops ā. It is sinister. Itās also not remotely trueā¦ #cpc23
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Wow. This man has the patience of a saint. And I'm not talking about Farage...
'As a man of law, you think this behaviour is acceptable?!'
'Do I think minor disruption to a sporting event is bad? I don't think it is.'
@Nigel_Farage clashes with Barrister Paul Powlesland over Just Stop Oil protesters planning further protests in London.
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Boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. Hiss.
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Since the Exit Poll I can't watch the news any more. I haven't even looked at it once (apart from the football results obvs). It's just too heartbreaking. Needing a break from it all. So if anything really important happens, do let me know.
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And I am proud to count myself among their numbers... theguardian.com/travel/2019/ā¦
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Crowds building in Cornwood for today's demonstration in support of the right to wild camp on Dartmoor...
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The term 'utopian' is often thrown at people like me as an insult for daring to imagine that the deep transformation of society is possible, that dreams can be realised. If we turned on its head, what word might we use as an insult for people who refuse to do that?
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Actually, Ms Leadsom, it's called a generation finally standing up in opposition to your myopic, fossil fuel-funded, out-of-touch, deeply selfish, criminal negligence. They are standing for imagination, possibility and hope. You could learn a thing or two from them.
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Fantastic Cuba-style communal food gardens I visited today in Grande Synthe near Dunkerque. Inspirational. This is what the future will look like...
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