Linda Edwards is an environmental activist and member of Extinction Rebellion, the environmental movement that uses “non-violent direct action and civil disobedience to persuade governments to act justly on the Climate and Ecological Emergency.” Linda believes that civil disobedience is the best way to confront the climate crisis. Linda was born in Canberra, Australia, and moved to the United States in 2000. She studied women and gender studies for her undergraduate degree, and went on to earn two master’s degrees, one in Visual and Cultural Studies and the other in Disability Studies. She is presently an adjunct professor at SUNY Brockport.
On a cold and rainy morning in January 2022, Linda Edwards, along with six other climate activists with the group Declare Emergency, donned safety vests, entered the crosswalk near the northbound exit of DC’s Third Street tunnel, and sat on the pavement on the inbound side. Linking arms and holding banners displaying the group’s name and demanding that President Biden declare a climate emergency, the activists stalled traffic at this major commuter route for over thirty minutes, while irate drivers honked their horns or left their vehicles to yell at the protestors to accuse them of disrupting their busy lives. Some angrily grabbed the banners out of their arms and tossed them into the gutter. As the protestors anticipated, the police arrived and provided three warnings before the arrests began. Linda, along with others sitting in the road, were arrested while their support team cheered loudly “You are not alone.”
Before turning to civil disobedience, Linda petitioned, lobbied, and demonstrated in an effort to make people aware of the climate crisis, but grew frustrated. Change wasn’t happening fast enough. Her growing fear for her son’s future as well as generations to come motivated her to try a different strategy to confront the problem. Inspired by the words of the US historian and activist Howard Zinn – “Revolutionary change does not come as one cataclysmic moment (beware such moments!) but as an endless succession of surprises, moving zigzag towards a more decent society -” she decided to engage in civil disobedience. She had never considered such a radical idea before.
Like many who ultimately decide on nonviolent action, Linda did not make this choice lightly. “I am not an extroverted person”, she says. “It felt way out of my comfort zone.” Her husband Paul, a retired Professor of Art and Art History at University of Rochester, expressed his concerns for her safety, and questioned whether blocking a busy highway was the right strategy, if it might just irritate people, actually alienate those who might agree with her, and lead to more division in an already divided society.
But Linda was determined. She read about Extinction Rebellion, and was profoundly influenced by the thinking of Roger Hallam, the founder of Extinction Rebellion. She learned that their nonviolen t actions, with mass arrest as a core tactic, are deliberately constructed to create massive social change of the kind she believed was needed to address the climate crisis.
She was arrested again with Declare Emergency in April 2022 while blocking northbound lanes on Interstate 395 near the National Mall in DC. And Linda has since blockaded the entrance to banks, insurance companies, occupied the Museum ofModern Art, disrupted major oil and gas conferences in Washington, DC and New York, participated in die-ins and banner drops, and obstructed the White House Correspondents Dinner. In March 2023, she joined the Stop Cop City movement inAtlanta for a week of direct action, protesting the destruction of the Welanee Forest and the killing by police of forest defender Manuel Esteban Paez Terán.
Reflecting on her experiences, Linda is unwavering in her belief that civil disobedience of the kind advocated by Extinction Rebellion is what will bring about change. Two years ago in Washington, when she sat down on the road knowing she would get arrested, she crossed the line from what she considered to be a politically engaged person to an activist. Today, she feels there is no other option open to her other than participation in peaceful and nonviolent acts of civil disobedience to save the planet.
What she likes about Third Act is that there is room for someone with her point of view to work alongside those who work for change through methods like letter writing and petitioning that she once tried. “We’re on the same path with the same goals,” she says. “We have to try everything we can to get there.”