Get Involved!
- Attend a Get Involved interactive session
- Take Part in Actions
- Get Involved in Your Community
- Volunteer to Help Organise the Movement
- Support Us Online From Home
- Donate
Attend a Get Involved interactive session
If you've already attended an interactive session please read the other chapters and pages in the Get Involved book.
During the Get Involved sessions you can ask questions and join breakout rooms to speak to reps about different ways to get more involved in XR either by:
- taking part in actions
- joining a local or community group
- volunteering for a specific role
- supporting from home
Register for a Get Involved session or, if you would like to know more about XRUK first, join an Intro to XR talk - both are online on Zoom.
Take Part in Actions
4. We openly challenge ourselves and this toxic system: leaving our comfort zones to take action for change.
9. We are a nonviolent network: using nonviolent strategy and tactics as the most effective way to bring about change.
Some of us will undertake open (“above ground”) actions that risk arrest and charges (though we do not need everyone to take these risks).
Join an Action
Actions are the raison d'etre of XR. As an NVDA (Nonviolent Direct Action) movement, we believe that taking Direct Action is the most effective thing that we can do to make change.
Details of XR actions can be found on:
- Events Map - in person events
- Events Calendar - all events
- Rebellion Broadcast (Telegram)
Volunteer for an Action Support role
Get involved with one of our ongoing campaigns.
Planning Actions
- For those with an idea for a new Action, there is plenty of help and support in the Action Planning book.
- Design Ideas for Actions can be used as building blocks for your action.
- Also you might get inspired previous actions around the movement and delve into the resources in Themes for Actions. This book is organised by themes such as biodiversity or flooding.
Guidance and Support
- Prepare for Action training is essential for anyone who wants to take part in direct action, whether or not you are prepared to be arrested. Covers parts of an action, support roles, de-escalation, and what to expect if you are arrested.
- Know Your Rights aims to encourage safe protest. This covers your legal rights, interacting with the police, prejudice in the criminal justice system, as well as how to limit risk to yourselves and others.
- Everyone is asked to follow the Rebel Code as a guide to behaviour at Actions.
- Read XR's Legal Advice & Support as it applies to Actions.
- If you'd like to learn more about XR, view the Intro to XR book.
Get Involved in Your Community
Local Groups
Principle 10: we are based on autonomy and decentralisation We organise in small, autonomous groups distributed around the world. The aim is to balance being able to act quickly with using group wisdom when needed.
Join a Local Group
A Local Group (LG) is a group of people that gather in a local area to build support and take action towards XR’s three demands. To find a local group close to you - take a look at the UK Local Group map.
Joining a Local Group can be one of the most rewarding things to do in XR. Many members of Local Groups become great friends, and find understanding and cameraderie that they struggle to find elsewhere.
Local Groups often run campaigns based on issues that matter in their local areas, and this is very varied across the country. Current campaigns being run by local groups range from Community Assemblies to Air Pollution, Dirty Water to Incinerators, Warm Homes to tackling Biodiversity Loss.
And their actions don't stop there!
Local Groups do their own Outreach, Relationship Building, run Talks and Trainings, maintain social media pages and send newsletters, and much, much more!
So to do all of this, they need you!
Need help?
If there is no Local Group near you or you are having trouble getting in touch with them, then feel free to contact Local Group Support team via our Mattermost Reception channel or by emailing LGsupport@extinctionrebellion.uk.
Learn More
If you'd like to read more about Local Groups, or perhaps even start a new one near you then take a look at this guide.
Community Groups
What are Community Groups?
XR includes lots of diverse groups of people with common interests or identities, from profession, faith, life stage, or other connections and backgrounds such as ethnicity, gender or sexual identity. But fundamentally we all share our XR values. And we’re definitely stronger together!
That’s where XR Communities comes in: we meet fortnightly so we can come together to support and learn from one another, by getting to know one another and sharing our different ideas, creativity and plans. We welcome everyone and every part of everyone!
Join a Community Group
XR Community Groups are a way for people to connect, work together and support one another through communities of shared self-identity e.g. faith, profession, ethnicity or sexual identity.
A list of community groups is on the XRUK website.
Start a new Community Group
There is always room for more! Could you moblise your community? Get in touch with the Community Groups circle via their Mattermost Reception or by email communitygroups@extinctionrebellion.uk
Actions by Community Groups
Here are some examples of recent actions by some Community Groups:
Health For XR Over 60 health professionals joined hundreds of protesters outside the Energy Intelligence forum – the recently rebranded ‘Oil and Money’ conference – the largest annual gathering of oil companies and their backers.
Christian Climate Action - The Church of England Pensions Board and Church Commissioners announced they were divesting from fossil fuel companies after a series of prayerful protests at Cathedrals across England and Wales.
XR Scientists - In September 2023 to coincide with the publication of the 'State of Nature' report, XR Scientists joined more than 40 non-governmental organisations and environmental groups at the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) in London.
Volunteer to Help Organise the Movement
Volunteers are what keeps XRUK moving!
We need everyone, so we're sure everyone will be able to find a role to suit them! Roles are available that need a range of skills, personality types, and time commitments. Most roles with XRUK are online, but Region and Nation roles are sometimes in person.
Volunteer Website
This website is a volunteering roles board, helping volunteers find roles and groups to find volunteers. The roles are usually at a UK, national or regional level (if you'd rather take on a role at a local level just contact your local group directly). The majority of advertised roles are remote, with team meetings held by video call, however you can also find some 'in-person' roles e.g. action support roles such as stewards.
Browse roles by type of work, location or by entering key search terms. If you don’t see anything you immediately want to apply for, you can sign up to receive a weekly email for the types of role you are interested in.
Advertised roles typically ask volunteers to:
- have time to give each week
- join the Group’s weekly meeting
- have some specific skills or experience
- be comfortable with computer technology
- have a reasonable internet connection
Any questions, contact us at volunteer@extinctionrebellion.org.uk
Volunteer Agreement
Please read this volunteer agreement which contains simple principles for treating data with care and respect. Organisers are asked to sign it (digitally) as they may need to handle personal data.
Support Us Online From Home
Join the Rebel Ringing Team
Rebel Ringer volunteers made thousands of calls in the lead up to The Big One in 2023 alone. This team helped reconnect activists, some of whom had not been active for a while, to the information and resources they needed to get them to London's amazing 60,000+ people rebellion.
What our ringers are doing right now is calling people who have just joined XR to give them a friendly welcome and help them find their feet. It is super-rewarding work - people are almost always delighted to get a call! So if you are a friendly person who enjoys helping others this is just the role for you.
Learn more and sign up to volunteer
Digital Rebellion
Digital Rebellion exists so that everyone can take climate action! Whether that be from your sofa, or on the bus, you can take action at a time and place that suits you. If you can send an email, make a phone call or sign an online petition you can take part. You will join others all working together to make your lone voice part of a heavenly chorus.
Sign up here to be sent regular emails with details of current campaigns and the actions you can take here.
Support us on Social Media
Please follow this link to see how you can boost our posts so that they are seen by more people.
Since the mainstream media refuse to cover the majority of our work, these channels are a vital way we share our message. We use social media to:
UK social media channels
Plus the XRUK Youtube channel.
Local Group social media channels
Local Groups and Community Groups often have their own social media accounts. Some of the larger ones have their own websites too. All can be found on the Local Group Map
Find other ways you can get involved from home on the Rebel From Home pages here.
Donate
Organising can cost a lot!
Extinction Rebellion relies on people like you to keep up the fight and our hope is that you choose to become involved with XR in whatever way you can.
As you can imagine, trying to save the planet is pretty costly. Fossil fuel companies and polluters have their claws deep into government and are spending millions lobbying politicians to fight legislation that will impact their profits. Basically, they want to make sure it stays "business as usual". We can't let this happen, so we're asking for your help.
Donating to XRUK supports volunteers with costs essential to plan attention-grabbing actions and campaigns. It helps in the creation and safe storing of our wonderfully iconic artful resources. Money is provided to Nations and Regions to spend as they need. It covers costs of leaflets, posters and other resources. Donating also provides for our communications platforms, meeting tools and website.
Could you become a regular giver to XRUK?
XR is funded entirely by generosity, and without individuals like you we couldn't do our work. It makes such a difference.
Being an XR UK monthly donor is a form of direct action that helps us to achieve urgent change. Whether it’s £20 or £5 it all helps. And if you aren’t able to make such a commitment then another way to support is by donating a one-off gift whenever you can.
Set up a regular donation today
Thank you!