XR's 'R' says mystery council is coy
A 20-metre-long message about sea-level rises painted on a wall near Exmouth by climate change activists has been painted over just days after it was completed.
Exeter Extinction Rebellion says their words replaced what they remember as a wall of "a murky green colour and scarred with ancient graffiti and tagging" that no-one seemed to care for.
The group initially painted a large section of the wall white, then added large arrows at each end, with the names of places in each direction and the times it takes to cycle and walk to them.
A week later they added a message, in letters half a metre high, saying “All these communities are at risk from sea level rise because of climate change.”
Going by the mysterious name of 'R' - presumably to protect themselves from accusations of criminal damage, an Extinction Rebellion member said: "There was almost universal approval of what we were doing. 'Glad someone is smartening this up.' 'Really nice job.' 'It needs saying,' sums up what people said.
"No-one objected. No-one vandalised the message. We went back twice more and added a large XR symbol and the words “Want a better future? Extinction Rebellion knows how!”
It has not been revealed who owns the wall. However contractors arrived a day later and painted the message out.
R said: "The contractors said they were from the council but would not say which council, or why they were suddenly so keen to clean up a wall that had been neglected for so long. So, there is the mystery. Can anyone solve it?
R continued: "All our local councils are supposed to have declared a climate emergency, but did XR’s message embarrass them because they are doing nothing to address the problems we all face?”
"Perhaps a council had complaints from residents. But why the coyness about who employed them?" pondered the coy person known only as R.
It's all very mysterious.
It's a whitewash (image courtesy: Exeter XR)
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