Just Stop Oil, an environmental activist group, released footage to their Instagram on Friday 28th July, of graduating student Callum, 24, interrupting their own graduation ceremony. The reason for Callum’s disruption was because “the government won’t listen to the science.”
They begin saying, “Our degrees are pointless in the wake of the climate crisis,” as they are met with boos from fellow graduating students.
Callum says that “it doesn’t matter how sustainable our university is,” shining some light onto what the university is already doing in regard to climate change.
In December 2020, Lancaster University declared a Climate Emergency. They stated that they are committed to becoming ‘net zero’ from Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions, mainly from electricity and gas consumption, by 2030.
They further stated that they are committed to becoming ‘net zero’ from Scope 3 carbon emissions, from transport and procurement, by 2035. The university is currently playing an active part in tackling The United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
Callum continues, “We won’t have jobs. We won’t be able to feed ourselves. I don’t want death. I don’t want other people to suffer and die from the effects of the climate crisis.”
At the end of the video, Callum is escorted out of the ceremony by security as they end their speech saying, “We are winning but, we are running out of time.”
In the video’s caption, Just Stop Oil has added to Callum’s message, saying “There’ll be no jobs — no liveable future — and our degrees will mean nothing if our government continues to license new oil and gas.”
