Climate Hypocrites! Extinction Rebellion Founder is Latest Top Green Figure Who Drives a Diesel Car

Gail Bradbrook, co-founder of Extinction Rebellion climate action movement, speaks before
ISABEL INFANTES/AFP via Getty Images
Kurt Zindulka

Dr Gail Bradbrook, the co-founder of the climate change extremist group Extinction Rebellion (XR) has admitted to driving a diesel-powered car while she advocates for the total end of fossil fuels by 2030.

The 49-year-old molecular biologist, who founded Extinction Rebellion alongside Roger Hallam and Tamsin Omond, said on Monday that she needs to drive a diesel car because she can’t afford to buy an electric alternative.

Speaking with talkRadio, Dr Bradbrook claimed that she has “done lots of good things but I also don’t get it all right,” saying that her diesel car was said to “be a really green car at the time when I bought it.”

“I can’t get my kids to sports fixtures, they are both into football and rugby, I do lots of lift-sharing but I can’t get them there because we don’t have buses that run on a Sunday.

“Some of the things are systemic issues, aren’t they? We all do what we can.”

When pressed on why she doesn’t drive an electric car, she said: “I can’t afford it. But if somebody wants to give me £5,000 you can convert my car to electric, and I don’t have the money at the minute.”

The XR founder was also criticised for flying 11,000 miles to take a vacation in Costa Rica in 2016. Bradbrook claimed that she needed to fly for a health issue that couldn’t be treated in Britain.

Defending the apparent hypocrisy, Extinction Rebellion spokesman Jonathan Tassell told GB News on Tuesday: We’re all hypocrites, right? We’re all in this system, right?

“I was born into this system, I’m in a house,  it’s powered by gas electricity. Can I afford to put some solar on it, no, but we’re all hypocrites and we need to all work together,” he said.

Dr Bradbrook is not alone in agitating for the adoption of electric transport while not leading by example. The Conservative Party’s climate minister and president of the upcoming COP26 climate talks in Glasgow, Alok Sharma admitted this month that he also still drives a diesel car.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s former press secretary and current government climate cheerleader, Allegra Stratton has also said that she had no interest in switching to an electric vehicle, saying “I don’t fancy it just yet”. Stratton said that she preferred her diesel Volkswagen Golf because of its ability to take long journeys and doesn’t need to take time to charge.

The revelation of double standards from XR came at the start of the green activist group’s two weeks of planned protests dubbed the ‘Impossible Rebellion’. In an exclusive Breitbart London video, XR activists were seen blocking off a major intersection of Central London on Monday.

Extinction Rebellion erected a giant 4-metre table in the middle of the road, with activists chaining themselves to the structure. Others were seen setting up tents and lying under cars to cause further disruption.

The protests continued on Tuesday, with activists again blocking traffic in Cambridge Circus, using chains to lock themselves to the location. Others were seen in footage shared on social media, attempting to climb on a random van in order to slow down traffic.

Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka

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