INSPIRED by his 16-year old son who had gone vegan, Rupert Wolfe Murray decided it was time to do something about the environment – to make that move from talk to action – and so he gave away his car (to a friend in Glasgow), stopped eating meat and dairy and joined his son in the 10-day Extinction Rebellion protest in London. Below are the events of his life that formed his ecological outlook.
1963. Leeds
In a house near Leeds, I was born. I remember windows, a white coat with bloodstains, a little sink. Is that a real memory of my birthday?
1968. Scottish Highlands
A big unheated house in the middle of nowhere. I found endless entertainment in the rhododendrons, the trees and the burn – until I was dragged, kicking and screaming, to a faraway school.
1977. Scottish Lowlands
Another big house in the middle of nowhere. By now I’d learned to survive in the hostile environment of school and recover in the flowing hills around our home. I’d also learned to smoke.
READ MORE: BBC building on 'lockdown' as Extinction Rebellion protests continue
1984. The Golden Triangle. Thailand
Trekking through the jungle with my mother. We stayed in a hut made of split bamboos in a traditional village. Below the single room stood the buffalos. An old man laid us on the floor and passed the opium pipe. I had an insight: the traditional, village way of life is ideal.
1987. Tibet
One month on horseback, illegally riding through Eastern Tibet. Every evening we’d approach a village and beg for hay for the horses and a shelter for ourselves. It worked. Village people and nomads are generous in spirit and will help a traveller in need.
1992. Romania
A village in north-east Romania called Top of the Fields. We live with a village family and renovate the orphanage (a big house on the hill). The family have a hectare or two where they grow their own food. They also have a pig, a cow, dogs and chickens. They have it all. I come with plastic bottles and they turn them into pots and funnels. I come with newspapers, cans and other rubbish and it’s all used. There’s no such thing as rubbish.
2017. Scottish Lowlands
My mother is dying and I come home in a vain attempt to help. I try to work out a way of living in the British countryside but it doesn’t work. Although it’s been emptied of people there’s no room for me. I try to find a balance between doing the garden and working on my PR consultancy projects, but they cancel each other out. You must focus on one or the other. Is British rural life dead? Can it be revived?
2019. Central London
London is in revolt. The centre is blocked by tens of thousands of protesters who demand the Government tell us the truth about our impending extinction. We’ve been camping here for a week as the Government ignores us and the tabloid press mocks us. But people seem to be supportive – they know we’re killing our planet and we need to do something more than token gestures.
I have the answer – living off the land with the help of modern technology and making all economies strictly local – and I want to make sure Extinction Rebellion don’t ignore traditional rural lifestyles in the search for an answer.
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