Gail Bradbrook

Last updated

Gail Bradbrook
Gail Bradbrook crop 2018.jpg
Bradbrook in 2018
Born
Gail Marie Bradbrook

(1972-04-30) 30 April 1972 (age 52)
Hemsworth, West Yorkshire, England [1]
Alma mater University of Manchester
Known forCo-founder of Extinction Rebellion
Spouse Jeff Forshaw (div.)
Children2

Gail Marie Bradbrook (born 30 April 1972) is a British environmental activist and molecular biophysicist who co-founded the environmental social movement Extinction Rebellion. [2] [3] [4]

Contents

Early life and career

Bradbrook was born in 1972 and grew up in South Elmsall in West Yorkshire. Her father worked at a mine in South Kirkby. She studied molecular biophysics at the University of Manchester, gaining a PhD. She carried out postdoctoral work in India and France. [2] [5]

From 2003 to 2017 she was 'director of strategy' at Citizens Online, an organisation promoting wider internet access for disabled users, including launching a 'Fix the Web' campaign in November 2010. [6]

Activism

An interest in animal rights led Bradbrook to join the Green Party at the age of 14. [7]

She has been involved in various campaigning groups in Stroud, including a 2010 to 2013 period as voluntary director of Transition Stroud, [8] [9] an anti-fracking protest, [10] various actions in opposition to the building of a local incinerator, [11] [12] including a naked protest, [13] and an early Extinction Rebellion roadblock in Merrywalks, Stroud. [14] In 2015, with George Barda, she set up the group Compassionate Revolution [15] [16] [17] (which morphed into Rising Up!, out of which came Extinction Rebellion). [5] "Bradbrook had been involved in the Occupy movement and campaigns around peak oil, but they failed to take off." [18]

In 2016, she went on a psychedelic retreat to Costa Rica, "where she took ayahuasca, iboga and kambo, in search of some clarity in her work." [18] [19] That experience "made her change her approach" to campaigning. [19] Soon after returning she met Roger Hallam and together they came up with Extinction Rebellion. [18] [19]

Bradbrook wants to raise awareness of the dangers from anthropogenic climate change and believes that only civil disobedience on a large scale can bring about the change that is needed. [20]

In November 2020 she was included in the BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour Power list 2020. [21]

In August 2021, Bradbrook acknowledged that she drives a 1.5l Citroen diesel car. She said she could not afford an electric car and she needed the vehicle to drive her children to sports matches. [22] [23]

Personal life

Bradbrook has been married twice, the first time to Jeffrey Forshaw. [24] She has two sons. [5] [25] She lives in Stroud as does her ex-partner Simon Bramwell, who is also a co-founder of Extinction Rebellion. [26] [27]

Court Proceedings and Sentencing

On 2 November 2023, after a three-day trial, [28] Bradbrook was found guilty of criminal damage, for breaking a pane of reinforced security glass at the Department for Transport, costing £27,660, in protest against HS2. Convicted by a jury at Isleworth Crown Court, Bradbrook acknowledged her actions and the lack of a lawful excuse as argued by the prosecution, but she stood by her motivations for environmental advocacy. The judge maintained the trial focused on the illegal act, not the wider climate issues. Bradbrook, who represented herself, argued her protest was peaceful and necessary after other advocacy methods failed. At Isleworth Crown Court in West London on 18 December 2023, Bradbrook was given a 15-month suspended sentence, with 150 hours of unpaid work and a year-long supervision order. [29]

Bibliography

Related Research Articles

Daniel Marc Hooper, known by the nickname Swampy, is a British environmental activist. He was involved in a number of environmental protests in the 1990s, becoming nationally famous after spending a week in a tunnel aiming to stop the expansion of the A30 in Fairmile, Devon, in 1996. In 2020, he was arrested attempting to stop the destruction of Jones Hill Wood for High Speed 2 (HS2) and then joined a Stop HS2 protest at Euston Square Gardens in London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angie Zelter</span>

Angie Zelter is a British activist and the founder of a number of international campaign groups, including Trident Ploughshares and the International Women's Peace Service. Zelter is known for non-violent direct action campaigns and has been arrested over 100 times in Belgium, Canada, England, Malaysia, Norway, Poland and Scotland, serving 16 prison sentences. Zelter is a self-professed 'global citizen'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Environmental direct action in the United Kingdom</span>

The modern environmental direct action movement in the United Kingdom started in 1991 with the formation of the first UK "Earth First!" group for a protest at Dungeness nuclear power station. Within two years, there were fifty Earth First groups and activists linked with other parties in the road protest movement. There were large camps at Twyford Down and the M11 link road protest. By 1997, the Government had decided to reduce its road-building plans by two thirds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rupert Read</span> British philosopher (born 1966)

Rupert Read is an academic and a Green Party campaigner, a former spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion, and the current director of the Climate Majority Project. He is the author of several books on Wittgenstein, philosophy, and/or climate change, most recently Why Climate Breakdown Matters, Deep Adaptation: Navigating the Realities of Climate Chaos, and Do You Want to Know the Truth? Until 2023, Read was a reader in philosophy at the University of East Anglia where he was awarded – as Principal Investigator – Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funding for two projects on "natural capital". His other major recent academic focus has been on the precautionary principle, having contributed substantially to work co-authored with Nassim Nicholas Taleb on applying the principle to questions of genetic modification of organisms. In further work, Read has theorised the utility of the precautionary principle in a wide range of areas, including: climate change, the environment, as well as financial and technology sectors.

Laura Jane Baldwin is a British sailor who competed in the 2004 Summer Olympics sailing the Europe dinghy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zion Lights</span> British science communicator and environmental activist (born 1984)

Zion Lights is a British author and activist known for her environmental work and science communication.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeff Forshaw</span> British particle physicist and author

Jeffrey Robert Forshaw is a British particle physicist with a special interest in quantum chromodynamics (QCD): the study of the behaviour of subatomic particles, using data from the HERA particle accelerator, Tevatron particle accelerator and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. Since 2004 he has been professor of particle physics in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Manchester.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Extinction Rebellion</span> Environmental pressure group

Extinction Rebellion is a UK-founded global environmental movement, with the stated aim of using nonviolent civil disobedience to compel government action to avoid tipping points in the climate system, biodiversity loss, and the risk of social and ecological collapse. Extinction Rebellion was established in Stroud in May 2018 by Gail Bradbrook, Simon Bramwell, Roger Hallam, Stuart Basden, along with six other co-founders from the campaign group Rising Up!

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greta Thunberg</span> Swedish environmental activist (born 2003)

Greta Tintin Eleonora Ernman Thunberg is a Swedish environmental activist known for challenging world leaders to take immediate action to mitigate the effects of human-caused climate change.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Extinction symbol</span> Symbol to represent mass extinction

The extinction symbol represents the threat of holocene extinction on Earth; a circle represents the planet and a stylised hourglass is a warning that time is running out for many species. The symbol dates to at least 2012 and has been attributed to anonymous East London artist Goldfrog ESP. The symbol has been called "this generation's peace sign". It is used by environmental protesters, and has been incorporated in works by artists and designers such as Banksy. In 2019, the Victoria and Albert Museum acquired a digital copy of the symbol, and other artifacts featuring the symbol, for its permanent collection.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roger Hallam (activist)</span> British environmental activist and co-founder of Extinction Rebellion

Julian Roger Hallam is an environmental activist who co-founded Extinction Rebellion, Just Stop Oil, Insulate Britain, the cooperative federation organisation Radical Routes, and the political party Burning Pink. In April 2024, Hallam was given a suspended two year sentence for attempting to block Heathrow Airport with drones. In July 2024, Hallam was convicted of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance for organising protests to block the M25 motorway two years prior, for which he was sentenced to five years' imprisonment.

Extinction Rebellion (XR), a 2018 UK-founded environmental movement, has since spread to the rest of Europe, the United States, and other countries, forming an international "non-violent civil disobedience" movement through mass protest. XR carries out demonstrations to highlight governments' inaction on climate change. Since 2018, Extinction Rebellion has taken a variety of actions in Europe, the US, and elsewhere in the world, to urge political and economic forces to take action amid the climate crisis. Although, their non-violent disobedience protests are an effort to generate attention around environmental issues, XR activists have become known for civil disobedience and disruptive tactics.

James Brown is a former Northern Irish paralympic-cyclist, who competed for Great Britain, Ireland, and Northern Ireland. He is visually impaired and participated in five Paralympic Games in various sports. Brown earned two gold medals at the 1984 Summer Paralympics in athletics and a bronze medal at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in the men's road time trial with sighted pilot Damien Shaw.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Animal Rising</span> Activist group

Animal Rising is a British animal activist movement with the stated aim of compelling social change towards animal rights and a plant-based food system. They justify their actions with the impact of animal agriculture on climate change, species extinction and ecosystem breakdown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sophia Kianni</span> Iranian-American social entrepreneur and activist (born 2001)

Sophia Kianni is an Iranian-American social entrepreneur and climate activist. She is the founder and president of Climate Cardinals, a nonprofit offering climate change information in multiple languages, serves on the EPA's National Youth Advisory Council, and as an advisor to the United Nations. She is the youngest United Nations advisor in US history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stop HS2</span> Campaign against HS2 in UK

Stop HS2 is a campaign group which opposes the High Speed 2 (HS2) railway project in England. The group was set up in 2010 under the slogan "No business case. No environmental case. No money to pay for it." The following year it organised a conference and it has since challenged MPs, criticised HS2 plans and organised protests. In 2020, the group commented on the Oakervee report and supports illegal camps impeding construction in the Colne Valley Regional Park, Kenilworth and Wendover.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Burning Pink</span> Environmental pressure group

Burning Pink, also known as Beyond Politics and formally registered with the Electoral Commission as The Burning Pink Party, was a British political party with the stated goal of a political revolution by replacing the British government with citizens' assemblies in order to tackle the climate crisis and other political issues. The party was deregistered by the Electoral Commission on 11 November 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Impossible Rebellion</span> 2021 climate change protests

Impossible Rebellion was a series of nonviolent climate change protests in the United Kingdom organised by Extinction Rebellion (XR), from 23 August 2021 to 4 September 2021. The protests particularly targeted the City of London to raise awareness of the role of the financial sector in climate change. Protesters during the Impossible Rebellion demanded that the UK government cease new investments in the fossil fuel industry. XR also demand that the government declare a climate emergency, reach net zero carbon emissions by 2025 and create a citizens' assembly on climate change.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gloucestershire Energy from Waste facility</span> Waste-to-energy power station in Gloucestershire, England

Gloucestershire Energy from Waste facility, also known as the Javelin Park Incinerator is an incinerator and energy-from-waste power station which produces 14.5MW of energy for the National Grid, by burning up to 190,000 tonnes of residual waste each year. The site is located adjacent to the M5 motorway, near junction 12 and to the south of Gloucester.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scientist Rebellion</span> International scientists environmentalist group

Scientist Rebellion is an international scientists' environmentalist group that campaigns for degrowth, climate justice, and more effective climate change mitigation.

References

  1. England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916–2007
  2. 1 2 Billen, Andrew. "Extinction Rebellion founder Gail Bradbrook: 'We're making people's lives miserable but they are talking about the issues'". The Times. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
  3. Knight, Sam (21 July 2019). "Does Extinction Rebellion Have the Solution to the Climate Crisis?". The New Yorker. ISSN   0028-792X . Retrieved 22 September 2019 via www.newyorker.com.
  4. Taylor, Matthew (26 October 2018). "'We have a duty to act': hundreds ready to go to jail over climate crisis". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 24 September 2019.
  5. 1 2 3 Coles, Mark; Gregorius, Arlene (15 December 2018). "Profile – Dr Gail Bradbrook". BBC Radio 4 . Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  6. "Call to fix 'inaccessible' sites". BBC News. 15 November 2010. Retrieved 18 December 2018.
  7. Butter, Susannah (23 July 2019). "Extinction Rebellion's co-founder on bringing London to a standstill". Evening Standard. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  8. Warne, Chris (25 June 2013). "Transition Stroud awarded £10,000 of Lottery funding". Stroud News and Journal. Retrieved 18 December 2018.
  9. "Gail Marie BRADBROOK – Personal Appointments (free information from Companies House)". beta.companieshouse.gov.uk. Retrieved 18 December 2018.
  10. Bisknell, Eddie (6 May 2017). "PICTURES: Anti-fracking protesters spray paint Barclays bank in Stroud". Stroud News and Journal. Retrieved 18 December 2018.
  11. Temple, Victoria (21 August 2017). "Sofa protesters plan second night outside despite police warnings". gloucestershirelive. Retrieved 18 December 2018.
  12. "CPS drop case against anti-incinerator activists". Stroud News and Journal. 22 March 2018. Retrieved 18 December 2018.
  13. Bass, Matt (5 July 2017). "Naked protest at Shire Hall against the Javelin Park incinerator decision". Stroud News and Journal. Retrieved 18 December 2018. History shows us that on some occasions people are only listened to, by those who are supposed to be acting in our best interests, when they resort to civil disobedience.
  14. Stilliard, Ed (20 October 2018). "Eco activists cause traffic misery in Stroud through protest". gloucestershirelive. Retrieved 18 December 2018. For those who think what we are saying or doing is extreme, yes it is and it is also real. I urge you to look at the science and verify how bad things are. I am not willing keep my head in the sand and leave my children with such a catastrophic mess. If I have to go to jail so be it.
  15. Wiseman, Jamie (22 June 2015). "New online political venture the Compassionate Revolution to be launched in Stroud". Stroud News and Journal. Retrieved 18 December 2018.
  16. Richardson, Peter (30 June 2015). "Compassionate Revolution Launch Event Highlights". Stroud Community TV. Archived from the original on 18 December 2018. Retrieved 18 December 2018.
  17. "Compassionate Revolution – Pledge collective acts of art, heart, and civil disobedience". Wayback Machine. 15 October 2015. Archived from the original on 15 October 2015. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
  18. 1 2 3 "Does Extinction Rebellion Have the Solution to the Climate Crisis?". The New Yorker. 21 July 2019. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
  19. 1 2 3 "Extinction Rebellion's co-founder on bringing London to a standstill". Evening Standard. 23 July 2019. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
  20. Royden, Derek (30 November 2018). "Mobilizing against extinction". NationofChange. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  21. "Woman's Hour Power List 2020: The List". BBC Radio4. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  22. "Extinction Rebellion founder admits she drives a diesel car". The Telegraph. 24 August 2021. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
  23. Malvern, Jack (7 July 2023). "Extinction Rebellion founder 'a hypocrite' for buying imported fruit and driving diesel car". The Times . ISSN   0140-0460 . Retrieved 7 July 2023.
  24. Billen, Andrew (19 April 2019). "Extinction Rebellion founder Gail Bradbrook: 'We're making people's lives miserable but they are talking about the issues'" . The Times. She married another academic, Jeff Forshaw
  25. Milburn, Ella (21 November 2018). "Britain's New Climate Change Protesters Are Desperate to Get Arrested". Vice . Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  26. Scott Cato, Molly (20 November 2018). "I'm an MEP who helped block London's bridges to protest climate change. There is more civil disobedience to come". i news . Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  27. Wall, Tom (20 April 2019). "Stroud, the gentle Cotswold town that spawned a radical protest". The Guardian . Retrieved 21 April 2019.
  28. "XR founder convicted after four-year legal saga". BBC News. November 2023.
  29. "XR co-founder who broke window at HS2 protest given suspended sentence". The Guardian. 18 December 2023. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 7 June 2024.