Extinction Rebellion's future is far less radical than its past | Rupert Read

The time for alarmist messages is over, and the organisation could help unite people in positive action

• Rupert Read is co-director of the Climate Majority Project

Gail Bradbrook, co-founder of Extinction Rebellion, has been found guilty of criminal damage, after she broke a window at the Department for Transport in an ecologically motivated protest against HS2 in 2019.

The timing of Bradbrook's verdict is almost exquisitely ironic. Five years ago last week, Extinction Rebellion was launched in Parliament Square. Back then, a principal term of criticism lobbied at XR was that it was alarmist". Five years on, it's plainly visible that it was not.

Rupert Read is the author of Extinction Rebellion: Insights from the Inside and Co-Director of the Climate Majority Project