Inaction on global warming amounts to racism – let me tell you why | Elise Yarde

Because the global south is bearing the brunt of climate breakdown, it's people of colour who are suffering most

It's 4am, and sparks from the circular saw are flying by my head. I have been given goggles to protect my eyes from the debris and although I've been told that I'm in safe hands, I do not feel safe at all. I'm cold from sitting on the road for five hours; my back is stiff, my hands are numb and, to top it all off, humanity is on the edge of extinction. This probably seems an odd way to spend my time to some of you, but this is how climate activists who engage in direct action try to be heard. We have tried everything else. We are exhausted and terrified. So we keep doing it.

Last year I was included in an article about climate activists. In the original article, I was the only person pictured without my placard. My placard said: Climate inaction = racism." I want to talk about what this means.

Elise Yarde is a climate justice activist from London