Reuters reports that climate activists associated with Just Stop Oil had defaced Charles Darwin’s grave at Westminster Abbey in London:
The activists wrote “1.5 is dead” in orange over the surface of the white marble gravestone — a reference to recent news that global temperatures in 2024 had exceeded 1.5 Celsius above the pre-industrial era for the first time.
“We have passed the 1.5 degree threshold that was supposed to keep us safe,” one of the activists said. “Darwin would be turning in his grave to know we are in the midst of the sixth mass extinction.”
“Climate activists deface Darwin’s grave at London’s Westminster Abbey,” January 13, 2025
In the past, Just Stop Oil achieved notoriety for defacing well-known artworks, including The Last Supper and Sunflowers.
Their motivation?
They claimed Darwin would be turning in his grave, knowing the world was in the “midst of the sixth mass extinction,” adding “the Government’s plans will take us to over 3 degrees of warming. This will destroy everything we love. World leaders must stop burning oil, gas and coal by 2030”.
Eliana Silver, “Just Stop Oil vandalise Charles Darwin’s grave inside Westminster Abbey as tombstone defaced,” GB News, January 13, 2025
They seem to be attempting to enlist Darwin’s modern-day followers in their environmental cause:
The other campaigner quoted Darwin, saying: “Darwin once said- ‘It is not the strongest of the species, nor the most intelligent that survives.
“It is the one that is the most adaptable to change, that lives within the means available and works cooperatively against common threats.”
She added that last year was the hottest since the modern evolution of humans, imploring people to work together to “reign in the corporations and billionaires driving us beyond our means”.
“As tombstone defaced,”
It’s not clear how the billionaires who fund both big arts and environmental causes will respond to this. But it is interesting to see Darwin — given how revered he is among the social elite — subject to an unexpected attack.
Cross-posted at Mind Matters News.