We could all do with a bit of “de-puffing” right now 😂 Fortunately, we have a lot going on to help with that, so dive into the comforting embrace that is this month’s newsletter ☺️

Well, OK, not all that comforting actually, but hopeful signs of narratives shifting as more and more people are coming together to envision a better future.

If you were at the amazing Together March last weekend, you’ll know what a powerful counter-narrative of love, hope and unity it was, with an estimated half million people on the streets of London from across all sectors! Some great photos too (see Good News section below). A big thank you and well done to all who made their presence felt 💚

In this month’s newsletter

Coming up this month…

Saturday, 11th April, 2pm-4pm and Wednesday, 15th April, 6.30pm-8.30pm: People’s Emergency Briefing Film Preview. More on these below.

Saturday, 18th April: XR North’s Spring Gathering at the Swarthmore Centre, Leeds…we’re gathering for a day with all our lovely colleagues from other local XR groups around the North. Find all the info and book your place here.

This is your chance to have your say and help inform XR’s strategy moving forward as part of this year’s “Trilogy”. More details in this explainer recording: XR Trilogy Explainer.mp4, including the big XR Love & Rage Protestival happening in London in September (see more below).

Wednesday, 22nd April, 5.30pm-8pm: Green Drinks Leeds at Imagine Leeds, 9 Blenheim Terrace, Leeds LS2 9HZ. Meet up with XR Leeds members and other environmentally-minded folks and groups from across the city. This month’s guest speakers are Claude Hendrickson MBE and Cynthia Brathwaite from People Powered Homes, who will be giving an introduction to community-led housing projects. More details and tickets here.

Looking ahead…

13-20 May 2026: A Million Acts of Hope – Week of Action. As a counterpoint to all the gloom, hundreds of thousands of people will be coming together in a week of action this May. This is a celebration of all those acts of goodness, kindness, community and hope that happen every day. Dozens of organisations have already united behind this. It’s time to shine the light on a different narrative. There’s more info here.

12th, 13th, 14th September: LOVE AND RAGE, London SAVE THE DATE

With fire in our hearts, we will spark and sustain a spirit of creative, nonviolent rebellion to disrupt and pressure the perpetrators of climate and ecological injustice and drive systemic change through equal participation in power. A long hot weekend of workshops and discussions with a creative finale, join and stay as long as you’re able.

➡️ More info available soon on Rebel Toolkit: https://xrb.link/h2bc94Q1Y  

➡️ Join the Love and Rage Telegram chat here: https://t.me/+75Og-3iuH2w1NDVk20:36

National Emergency Briefing 🔜 People’s Emergency Briefing Film Previews at Imagine Leeds

As you know, XR Leeds is working in collaboration with Climate Action Leeds to lead the call, pool our resources and provide support and guidance, so that every constituency and community in and around the city can be involved.

So far, we have at least a dozen communities planning to screen the film in their neighbourhoods across Leeds in the months ahead and we’re aiming for many more as the momentum builds. Nationally, over 1,700 screenings are being planned across the country, with the numbers growing daily, which in itself should give us cause for cheer! 😊

The film will be available from 7th April – watch the trailer here – with the roll-out of screenings across communities to take place from April to September. So there’s still plenty of time if you’d like to plan your own event in your community.

We’re inviting anyone interested in or already planning a screening over the coming months to join us at one of our PEB Film Preview Screenings at Imagine Leeds: the climate action hub. Please note these are (free) ticket-only events, as places are limited, so you will need to register below to secure your place at one or other of the following:

If you haven’t done so yet, please sign and share the open letter to Keir Starmer and the national broadcasters calling for a televised emergency briefing.

And join our Leeds NEB Planning Whatsapp chat group and keep up to date.

Stop Airport Expansion – tell Leeds City Council: no more night flights!

Leeds Bradford Airport has put in yet another application to Leeds City Council to change the rules that put a cap on the number of planes allowed to fly at night. They want their most frequently flown planes to be exempt from the night flight cap – in other words, to fly in unlimited numbers.

That would be very bad news for the climate, local air quality and the health of local people. GALBA has put in a legal submission to challenge LBA’s application so we’ll have to wait and see what decision is made by Leeds City Council.

However… GALBA has also found out that the Council can pull the rug from under the airport’s application by using a power it already has.

Please click on this link to send an email to your local councillors. It’s quick and effective – so do it today and share with your friends, family and neighbours!

Demonstration outside the Royal Court of Justice on the first day a hearing against the Jet Zero strategy on the 1st of April 2025, Central London, United Kingdom. Climate charity Possible and the Group for Action on Leeds Bradford Airport are taking the UK government to court over its controversial Jet Zero Strategy (JZS), arguing that the policy encourages aviation expansion at the expense of legally binding climate commitments.

💙 Celebrating XR Ilkley’s World Water Wedding 💙

We spent a lovely, spring afternoon down by the River Wharfe in Ilkley for their World Water Day celebration on 22nd March. A great turn-out too, with many local, and not-so-local, XR members coming along in support and solidarity, as well as plenty of public engagement and interest.

There was music, poetry and a procession around the park with Neptune and the Blue Rebels, who then helped to bless the river with an offering of flowers. People were encouraged to make pledges to the river on prepared blue “water droplet” cards and then join us to make their own flower offerings. Though many people shared their despair at the horrendous pollution in recent years, the love for the river was palpable and the whole occasion was full of smiles and joy too.

Well done and a big thank you to Emmeline and Mark for their impeccable organising and attention to detail on the day, which was also a celebration of their epic action last year when they walked the entire length of the River Wharfe. Some great media coverage too… here they are on Leeds TV 😀💙👏

Petitions

Stop Drax! Stop Dirty Data Centres!  Drax, the UK’s single largest source of carbon emissions, is proposing to build a new AI data centre next door to its power station in Yorkshire, providing Drax with justification to continue its dirty polluting ways and its harm to forests, wildlife, communities and the climate. Data centres’ huge demand for energy can’t be allowed to prop up dirty polluting tree-burning power stations like Drax. We can’t sacrifice a safe climate for AI pipedreams. Sign the petition here.

And alarmingly, North Yorkshire Council has ruled that the proposal doesn’t even need an Environmental Impact Assessment, accepting Drax’s own claim that the environmental effects would be “of local significance only.” This staggering decision is hard to understand: how can a new data centre be built at Britain’s leading site for climate pollution, without any need to assess environmental impact?

Please send a quick email to North Yorkshire Council asking them to think again. Tell them an Environmental Impact Assessment is clearly necessary to properly evaluate the climate and environmental implications of this proposal, and that the plans shouldn’t be allowed to proceed any further without one.

#Stop Rosebank: Show your MP the Truth As we witness the devastating loss of life and the further destabilisation of the Middle East, we must also confront the systems that keep the UK tethered to these cycles of violence. For too long, our reliance on fossil fuels hasn’t just fuelled the climate crisis, it has tied our economy to the geopolitical ripples of war.

The crisis in the Middle East is a startling wake up call that continuing to rely on fossil fuels leaves us vulnerable to the whims of volatile leaders. In fact, the Climate Change Committee reports that fossil fuel energy shocks have caused half of the UK’s recessions since the 1970s.

The facts are clear: more drilling in the North Sea, like Rosebank, will do almost nothing to increase UK energy security or lower our bills. But the oil bosses are using this crisis as an excuse to justify more drilling.

Please email your MP to get the truth in front of them.

Good News


Rhinos back in Uganda: they were wiped out over 40 years ago, but now they’re back! On Tuesday, two southern white rhinos became the first of eight animals intended to re-establish a population in the Kidepo Valley National Park. The last rhino there was killed in 1983. Read more here.

Together Alliance march:

on Saturday 28 March, hundreds of thousands of people, from all walks of life and across the country, came together to oppose the Far Right. Here are pictures from the day.

Recommended Reads

Have you read a book or listened to a podcast that blew you away recently? Spread the word by letting us know (xrleeds@protonmail.com) and we’ll share it in our newsletter. We’ll also keep a library list for future reference.

This month’s recommended read is: “Humankind – A Hopeful History” by Rutger Bregman. Human beings, we’re taught, are by nature selfish and governed by self-interest. Humankind makes a new argument: that it is realistic, as well as revolutionary, to assume that people are good