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Just Stop Oil Activists Charged for Defacing Charles Darwin's Grave at Westminster Abbey Over 1.5°C Warming Limit

Jan 13, 2025, 04:39 PM

Two Just Stop Oil activists, Alyson Lee, 66, and Di Bligh, 77, have been charged with criminal damage after spray-painting Charles Darwin's grave at Westminster Abbey in London on Monday morning. The activists used orange chalk paint to write '1.5 is dead' on the grave, a reference to the global temperature exceeding the 1.5°C warming limit agreed upon in the Paris Treaty. The action was carried out to protest the UK government's environmental policies and to demand an end to the extraction and use of fossil fuels by 2030. The incident occurred around 9:30 AM, and both women were arrested by the Metropolitan Police on suspicion of causing criminal damage. Westminster Abbey's conservators have taken immediate action to clean the memorial, and no permanent damage is anticipated. The protest follows the recent confirmation by the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service that 2024 was the warmest year on record and the first to exceed the 1.5°C threshold.