The campaign and activist group are visiting more than 60 towns and cities across the UK.

Extinction Rebellion’s Change is Now Tour will travel across Scotland to engage with citizens on the most urgent issue of our time, the climate and ecological crisis.

XR Scotland groups have planned a series of events to welcome the Change is Now tour, including protests, talks, training sessions and a flagship People’s Assembly.

The Change is Now Tour is part of a nation-wide tour raising awareness about the climate and ecological crises, and how they connect to the cost-of-living crisis.

It is visiting over 60 towns and cities in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to spread rebellion, deliberative democracy and movement building across the UK.

The tour also aims to sign-up people for ‘The Big One’, where Extinction Rebellion aims to bring 100,000 people out onto the streets on 21 April 2023.

The dates for the tour in Scotland are:

• Stirling – 29 September
• Glasgow – 30 September
• Dundee – 1 October
• Edinburgh – 2 October (People’s Assembly)
• Aberdeen – 5 October
• Inverness – 8 October

Louis, a scientist and spokesperson for XR Edinburgh Group, said: “We can now see clearly how the cost-of-living crisis is a direct result of the climate and ecological crises. This summer the UK suffered temperatures up to 40 degrees, followed by flooding and sewage on our beaches, with a predicted crop failure of up to 50%. 

“Oil and gas companies continue to rake in billions of pounds in profits, and the new government seems set on helping them do it by signalling they intend to approve more than 100 new oil and gas licences. 

“As ordinary people, we have to find the courage to stand up to these dangerous radicals in government.”

Recent polling by Ipsos found that eight in 10 people in the UK are concerned about the climate crisis, and over 52% percent think the government’s plan to get net zero by 2050 is too late. That’s around 35 million people who think the government’s plan is not good enough.

Extinction Rebellion’s bus tour comes in the wake of record-breaking weather across the UK, including the highest temperatures ever recorded, the declaration of droughts across the country, and flash flooding of urban areas. 

July saw the hottest temperatures ever recorded in Scotland, measured at an unprecedented 34.8 degrees in the Borders.

Damien, an NHS physiotherapist and spokesperson for XR Glasgow, said: “The climate and ecological crises and the cost of living crisis have the same root causes - exploitation of the planet and of people, for the benefit of the super rich. 

“At a time when energy prices are soaring, so too are the profits of the energy companies, yet ordinary people in this country have to choose between heating or eating, freezing or starving. In many parts of the world, the land is burning or it is flooding, crops are failing, and so they too will starve.

“But it does not have to be this way. Ordinary people have more power than they think. Our power lies in our numbers, so let’s demand our inept government hands back power to the people, in the form of citizens assemblies, and let the people decide what to do about these crises. 

“Citizens assemblies will hear the opinions that are representative of 100% of the population, a true cross section of our society, not just the super rich 1% who currently impose their will upon us, not for us.”