Funeral for the world in Oswestry

Scores of local people marched through the town centre to the beat of a drum as a coffin with the words ‘The Natural World’ and ‘Life on Earth’ was carried solemnly at the front of the cortege. Mourners accompanied the procession with songs of loss and hope.

Robin Mager from Shropshire Wildlife Trust who spoke at the march said, on behalf of the Wildlife Trust nationally: "We continue to lose our most precious remnants of wild natural space and vast numbers of our insects and birds.   Our existing laws are too weak and the

climate and ecological crisis we face is not being taken seriously enough.  Urgent action is needed now to put nature into recovery and to address the climate emergency.

One of the organisers of the demonstration on Saturday, Helen Steer, said: "‘We urgently need to start acting on the truth about the climate and ecological emergency we are in. Some of us are willing and able to be arrested in order to get this message heard.’

Ophelia Camp from Extinction Rebellion said: "Business as usual is destroying our planet’s capacity to sustain life and humanity faces a growing risk of societal collapse if we don’t take action soon."

At the closing ceremony of the march, Jonathan Abbatt said: "We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children."

Extinction Rebellion believes in non-violent mass action to broadcast what is happening to our planet. Oswestry's Jonjo Evans said: "Thousands of people are going down to London from October 7 to take part in a two week rebellion against Business as Usual. There will be about 35 people from the Oswestry area taking part in mass acts of civil disobedience."