At the American Museum of Natural History, Extinction Rebellion NYC Creates a “Living Diorama” Commemorating a Soon-to-Be-Extinct Species: Homo Sapiens
Press Release
For Immediate Release
February 17, 2020
At the American Museum of Natural History, Extinction Rebellion NYC Creates a “Living Diorama” Commemorating a Soon-to-Be-Extinct Species: Homo Sapiens
Activists portraying a modern couple illustrate the existential threat posed by climate change.
Yesterday afternoon, at the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan, a group of about a dozen activists representing Extinction Rebellion NYC, part of the global Extinction Rebellion movement, created a “living diorama” to build awareness of the fact that, if humanity does nothing to end climate and ecological destruction, we are all headed for extinction. The event took place in the museum’s Spitzer Hall of Human Origins, which chronicles the prehistoric development of human beings and of creatures related to humans. In the course of the event, two activists, Jonathan and Lara, appeared as modern representatives of Homo sapiens – an imaginary couple in dark glasses standing motionless in a public space, carrying plastic bags, a baby pouch and a cell phone. A plaque in the style of the museum’s explanatory materials was created and placed in front of the couple, as if they were one of the room’s archeological exhibits.
The Rev. Ana Levy-Lyons, senior minister of the First Unitarian Congregational Society in Brooklyn, created for the event a text recited by Extinction Rebellion activists cast in the role of post-human “interbeings,” a text that was also distributed as a “mass card” to museumgoers. It read, “Homo sapiens roamed the earth for a brief 200,000-year span. Their extinction was precipitated by rapid climate change, caused by those apex predators themselves, through the burning of fossil fuels… Archeological evidence suggests that Homo sapiens had discovered solar energy long before their extinction, but their primitive social organization and rudimentary ability to share resources prevented them from addressing the global threat in time.”
The “interbeings” then recited four steps that would have saved Homo sapiens from extinction, corresponding to the four demands of Extinction Rebellion: a) a government that would have told the truth by declaring a climate and ecological emergency; b) a government that would have acted immediately to halt biodiversity loss and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2025; c) a government that would have created and been led by the decisions of a citizens’ assembly on climate and ecological justice; d) and the establishment of a just transition that would have prioritized the most vulnerable people and repaired the effects of the ongoing ecocide.
“The fact that the chorus posed as future ‘interbeings’ who have evolved from Homo sapiens does not mean that we have lost hope in the survival of our species,” said Jan Thompson, a spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion. “Through performance art, we are saying that the threat of extinction that humans and other living things are now facing is very real, and that we as a species had better grasp this threat and deal with it immediately if we wish to survive.”
Rev. Levy-Lyons, as part of a sermon published here, said, “According to the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, we have 12 years. Only 12. We have 12 years to radically transform our economy, especially the amount of energy that we use and how we generate it, from coal, oil, and gas to solar and wind. Energy from hell to energy from heaven. This is not adapting to climate change—that’s a whole other set of things we need to do. This is about preventing the climate from changing so dramatically and so quickly that we are unable to adapt.”
An image from the event is attached. Video footage of the event can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=11&v=mP2CebgHilQ&feature=emb_logo.
About Extinction Rebellion
Time has almost entirely run out to address the ecological crisis which is upon us, including the 6th mass species extinction, global pollution, and abrupt, runaway climate change. Societal collapse and mass death are seen as inevitable by scientists and other credible voices, with human extinction also a possibility, if rapid action is not taken.
Extinction Rebellion believes it is a citizen’s duty to rebel, using peaceful civil disobedience, when faced with criminal inactivity by their Government.
Extinction Rebellion’s key demands are:
Government must tell the truth by declaring a climate and ecological emergency, working with other institutions to communicate the urgency for change.
Government must act now to halt biodiversity loss and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2025.
Government must create and be led by the decisions of a Citizens’ Assembly on climate and ecological justice.
Government must commit to a just transition in order to maintain a livable, just planet for all.
What Emergency? | Extinction Rebellion in Numbers |This Is Not A Drill: An Extinction Rebellion Handbook
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