ITV WEST COUNTRY NEWS 02.01.2020

Extinction Rebellion’s Disco-bedience takes to the streets of St Ives on New Year’s Day.

‘STAYING ALIVE’ IN ST. IVES

Election fever is over and disco fever is taking its place on the streets of St. Ives on New Year’s Day. Climate activists from Extinction Rebellion armed only with Travolta’s best dance moves are calling on all political parties to prioritise the climate emergency.

St. Ives resident Ann Nicol said,

“Only system change at the level of government is going to enable our younger generations to stay alive and that’s why we’ll be dancing to the Bee Gees, Staying Alive – an anthem of the growing Disco-bedience movement which is finding creative ways to educate people about the climate crisis and call for transformative government action”.

Normally St.Ives has a slightly hungover atmosphere after its famous New Year’s Eve festivities – but the first day of 2020 is going to be sprinkled with disco glitter and synchronised dance moves. Look out for a flash mob of dancers outside The Sloop at 2pm and then follow them as they shimmy to various locations in the town to perform ‘Staying Alive’. There are even rumours that they will flash mob The Ferrets, a pub known for its local vibe and brilliant duke box.

The Disco-bedience Dancers are hoping that many visitors and locals will join them in their boogie around town, and that this will encourage conversations about the reality of The Climate Emergency. It might seem counter-intuitive to dance in the face of horrific news of constantly increasing carbon emissions and global heating but speaking the truth can come in many forms.

One of the organisers said: “We need to be honest about the urgency of actions required to protect us right now. People are already dying all over the world because of the climate crisis and just because the UK is relatively rich doesn’t mean we are immune from this. We need our government to dance to this tune right now – or we risk societal collapse. We’re dancing – will they?”