'Dear Falmouth,

This is a letter from Extinction Rebellion to the people of Falmouth. In June we plan to protest during the G7 Summit, this letter explains why.

But before that, an apology. We know that the G7 Summit will cause disruption and it is likely that our presence will add to this. We have done our best to plan our actions to be peaceful, creative, artistic and covid safe. We have also planned to minimise disruption, but believe that some is inevitable. We sincerely apologise in advance for any additional disruption that we cause.

Why are we doing this? This June Cornwall plays host to some of the most powerful people on the planet. We need them to act now on climate and we need them to act now on biodiversity loss. We have all read the articles, we have all seen David Attenborough. We know that unless we take urgent, drastic action we face catastrophe beyond our worst nightmares. The world's press will be based in Falmouth and we need them to pay attention to our message.

The stakes could be no higher. In Cornwall, how long before we see a storm powerful enough to rip the roofs from our houses? How long before we see crop failures so severe we run out of food? What will our coastal towns look like with the sea level 1m higher than today? Severe climate impacts like these are happening right now to people in other parts of the world leading to hunger, forced migration and death.

Individually we can all make changes to reduce our climate impact. Eating less meat and fish, flying less and buying less will help; but by themselves these changes will not be enough. These challenges are so big we need government to act.

The good news is that the UK government has one of the toughest targets in the world for reducing carbon emissions; a 78% reduction by 2035. The bad news is that no one really believes they will deliver. Let's look at the evidence. Over the last 12 months or so our government has; abandoned it's flagship green homes grant, brought forward plans to spend £27 billion building new roads, allowed oil companies new licences to explore the North Sea and has frozen domestic air passenger duty. Plans to allow bee-killing neonicotenoid pesticides were approved to help sugar beet farmers. Nothing has been done to curb the industrialised destruction of our seas and peat will still be extracted and sold to gardeners until 2024. There are no plans of any kind to retro-fit UK housing with heat pumps and solar panels.

By any reckoning this is an horrendous catalogue of failure. A failure that will cost lives. The longer it goes on the more lives will be lost and the greater the chance we pass some tipping point from which we will never recover.

At the same time our government is writing draconian new laws to silence protest. The Police Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill will give police the power to prevent noisy protests or any that cause "annoyance". This is like knowing the house is on fire but being prevented from calling the fire brigade.

There are several understandable responses to such a dire situation. It is tempting to give up, to hope someone else will take on the challenge, but the truth is that unless we all stand up to be counted we will lose this fight.

This is why we will be protesting in June. Please join us. We plan a completely peaceful march from Kimberley Park through the town and up to the gates of the media centre at Event Square. We plan to make the day enjoyable and we are actively non-violent. Meet 11am at Kimberley Park on Saturday 12th June.

Thank you for reading this letter, we apologise again if we cause you inconvenience, but most of all we hope you will join us. Everyone is needed.

Extinction Rebellion Falmouth and Penryn'