The “knitting for climate” movement, which brings together people and groups from nine countries, demonstrated at the European Parliament with 1.5 km of Red Lines. These Red Lines symbolize the 1.5 ºC limit of global warming, which climate science indicates we should not exceed.
The movement met at Place Du Luxembourg, in front of the European Parliament with some elected MEPs from various countries to hand them their manifesto and also some red scarves, knitted by groups from countries such as Belgium, Denmark, England, Finland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Scotland and Sweden.
“These demands we have delivered are the least Europe can do to limit the warming of the planet. The fossil fuel reserves already in exploration already take us to exceed the 1.5ºC limit, which is why we cannot start new projects”, says Rita, a Portuguese woman living in Norway and who is part of this movement.
This movement, in addition to demanding that no new licenses be granted for new fossil fuel projects, also demands that public subsidies to fossil fuel companies be revoked. “Public subsidies to fossil fuel companies in Europe increased to 123 billion euros in 2022, according to the European Environment Agency and worldwide, according to the IMF, they were 9.5 million euros per minute in
2020. Of these values, subsidies that reduce fuel prices represented just 8% of the total and tax exemptions another 6%”, says João Costa, one of the organizers of Linha Vermelha, in Portugal, which is coordinated by Citizenship Academy (Academia Cidadã).
The protest ended at the memorial created in memory of climate activist Rosa Reichel, who was a teenager who died in floods in Belgium in 2021 and so the movement wanted to pay tribute to all he victims of climate change. The movement states that they will not stop here, “We will not stop here, we will return to taking our Red Lines to public institutions that must contribute to solving the climate crisis. We will go to all national parliaments in the coming months and until then we will continue to knit and mobilize
people to knit (or crochet or macramé) more Red Lines”
The manifesto can be read on the website https://knittingforclimate.com/ and has three demands:
1. That no new licences for the exploration of fossil fuels are issued in Europe
2. That fossil fuel exploration by European companies is not permitted, even in non-European territories
3. All public subsidies to fossil fuel companies are revoked
Contacts:
João Costa: +351917714327 joão@linhavermelha.org