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Emma River-Roberts

@emma-river-roberts.bsky.social
2.1K followers 351 following 587 posts

Working Class Environmentalism & Movement Building. Founder and Director of the Working Class Climate Alliance @wccalliance.org linktr.ee/the_wcca PhD Social Anthropology at Goldsmiths University

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Reposted by Emma River-Roberts
Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 04/10/2026
I had such a fantastic time chatting with Emma, who has been opening my eyes on class + climate for a long time. Such a legend, go have a listen! GND media are the best ❤️❤️❤️❤️ Will share clips and more this week!
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Reposted by Emma River-Roberts
GND Media @gndmedia.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
**NEW EPISODE** First episode from @wccalliance.bsky.social , with @emma-river-roberts.bsky.social & @ketanjoshi.co 'How A.I affects Education & the Climate Sector' Give it a like and share! www.youtube.com/watch?v=BufB...
youtube.com
WCCA & Ketan Joshi
YouTube video by GND Media
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Reposted by Emma River-Roberts
GND Media @gndmedia.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
@wccalliance.bsky.social is now a part of the GND family. Check out this short podcast to find how who they are! New monthly episodes from them coming soon... youtu.be/qKGuFugr3Xk
youtu.be
WCCA & GND Media
YouTube video by GND Media
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Reposted by Emma River-Roberts
The Working Class Climate Alliance @wccalliance.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
“The estimate of 451,000 people is such a large number that it can be numbing, but it is made up of parents and children, grandparents and neighbours, people going to work, caring for families, and living their lives.” www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
Huge El Niño projected to cause 450,000 deaths in next six months
New report predicts a heavy toll from Nigeria to the US – and comes on top of existing impacts of the climate crisis
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Reposted by Emma River-Roberts
The Working Class Climate Alliance @wccalliance.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
We have launched our survey on classism in the climate movement! Open to working class people & those from working class backgrounds aged 18+, based in the United Kingdom, & currently involved in the movement or have been in the past. 👉 Take the survey: tinyurl.com/tny7y7ff
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Emma River-Roberts @emma-river-roberts.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
1/3 I'll be starting fieldwork next month for my Anthropology PhD, and I'd love any tips from other social scientists on what you think I should know. I have experience in qualitative research but participant observation is completely new to me!
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Emma River-Roberts @emma-river-roberts.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
A step in the right direction for disadvantaged white working class people. It is vital that we stop treating the phrase 'white working class' as a racist dog whistle, and start using it for its true purpose... which is to refer to a category of people! www.theguardian.com/inequality/2...
theguardian.com
Ministers to put white working-class people in UK at heart of new equalities unit
Bridget Phillipson to announce creation of unit which will make class a key part of its equalities agenda
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Emma River-Roberts @emma-river-roberts.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
"If a working-class politics is to be remade, it must be based on forms of economic and political power that are organised and wielded by workers themselves." tribunemag.co.uk/2026/09/the-...
tribunemag.co.uk
Return of the Working Class?
The rhetoric of class politics is everywhere, but only workers can make it a reality.
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Emma River-Roberts @emma-river-roberts.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
1/3 Some positive news about the Heat Strike campaign, that @wccalliance.bsky.social is a part of. After taking industrial action last month over dangerously hot working conditions, bus drivers have secured air con in all Arriva London North buses by May 2027. www.unitetheunion.org/news-events/...
unitetheunion.org
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Emma River-Roberts @emma-river-roberts.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
1/3 Lime bikes are great in theory, not always so great in practice. I've lost count of the times I've seen them strewn across London pavements, taking up most of the space and being an absolute pain to try and walk around in busy areas.
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Reposted by Emma River-Roberts
GND Media @gndmedia.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
**NEW EPISODE** Interview with @paulpowlesland.bsky.social on his life, work & activism. Please like AND share. For info on Paul's work - See the comment section www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjTx...
youtube.com
Interview with Paul Powlesland
YouTube video by GND Media
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Reposted by Emma River-Roberts
GND Media @gndmedia.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Hear a clip from our latest episode with @paulpowlesland.bsky.social, on Paul being threatened with legal action for cleaning up a River. Full episode here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjTx...
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Reposted by Emma River-Roberts
More Perfect Union @moreperfectunion.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Starbucks is discontinuing a blending powder containing a form of silica that was used for a number of drinks after baristas reported coughing and falling ill, and @sbworkersunited.org organized a campaign around the issue.
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Reposted by Emma River-Roberts
Kate Schapira: "Well Put & Generalizable" @kateschapira.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
"And this is why white supremacy has to be understood as larger than racism alone. It normalized a world in which someone else could always be made to pay."
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Emma River-Roberts @emma-river-roberts.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
"Climate change is exposing the physical limits of white supremacy’s arrangement... There is NO ELSEWHERE & the sacrifice zone is now planetary." Anita Naidu @proximitydeclined.bsky.social writing for @counterpunchmedia.bsky.social www.counterpunch.org/2026/08/20/t...
counterpunch.org
There Is No Elsewhere: A World Burning
British Columbia, Canada is my home and once again, it’s burning. More than 100 fires were burning across the province as B.C. declared a state of emergency.
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Reposted by Emma River-Roberts
Greenpeace International 🌍 @greenpeace.org · 14/08/2026
🚨 BREAKING: Shell officially LOSES its 5-year legal battle against South Africa's Wild Coast communities. The Constitutional Court has ruled that the oil company CANNOT conduct offshore seismic testing in the region. Today, justice has prevailed.⁣
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Emma River-Roberts @emma-river-roberts.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Andy Burnham is waging war on disposable barbecues whilst giving the green light to constructing giant data centres in the UK. Next he'll be reminding us to keep using paper straws.
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The Working Class Climate Alliance @wccalliance.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
⏱️ 1 week to go... ⏱️ We'll be speaking at a webinar on 1pm CEST 29th July hosted by the European Work Time Network, about the hidden labour of free time and the class politics of working time reduction. All are welcome! my.weezevent.com/free-time-is...
my.weezevent.com
Free Time Isn’t Free: The Class Politics of Work Time Reduction
For this European Work-Time Network webinar, we are joined by Emma River-Roberts from the Working Class Climate Alliance who will talk about the hidden labour of free time and the class politics of wo...
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Emma River-Roberts @emma-river-roberts.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
1/2 The expansion of imperialism. How is this being funded? By using the £400 million that was planned to be given (as grants) to Global South countries to tackle climate change. These will now be given as loans. www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cd...
bbc.co.uk
Andy Burnham says £2 bus fare cap in England being paid for by 're-prioritising' money
Speaking on a visit to Bath, the new PM also says there is currently "no commitment" to increasing the tax-free personal allowance threshold.
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The Working Class Climate Alliance @wccalliance.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Almost a year after this article was written and things haven't gotten better. They've gotten much worse. "As temperatures rise, so will the urgency to challenge a system that deems some people unworthy of safety." wccalliance.org/heat-and-ine...
wccalliance.org
Heat and Inequality: No Shade for the Poor - The Working Class Climate Alliance
Photo credit: Felix Marquez/AP Photo 5th August 2025 Extreme heat has become a regular feature of life in many parts of the planet, but the way it is felt depends on who you are and where you live. Pe...
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Reposted by Emma River-Roberts
Ihminen Nimim-Erkiksi @sohw-n.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
"Not only do working class people often feel disconnected from climate messaging, they also feel disconnected from the very messengers themselves. Countering this requires handing working class communities real power over the decisions that shape their lives,and the platform to speak for themselves"
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Reposted by Emma River-Roberts
The Working Class Climate Alliance @wccalliance.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
How can climate campaigners effectively respond to the growing wave of resistance to environmental policies, while building genuine alliances with the working class? We've created a climate communications toolkit as a way to help. Check it out 👇🍃 wccalliance.org/climate-comm...
wccalliance.org
Climate in Common: A Communications Toolkit for Working Class Engagement - The Working Class Climate Alliance
24th June 2026 How can climate campaigners effectively respond to the growing wave of resistance to environmental policies, while building genuine alliances with the working class? Opponents of climat...
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Reposted by Emma River-Roberts
Richard Delevan @richard.wickedproblems.earth · 18/06/2026
How do you navigate hating people who [gestures at world] enabled all of this while realising any post-this [gestures at world] means re-integrating enough of them to move forward?
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Emma River-Roberts @emma-river-roberts.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
El Niño has officially begun. This could end up as a so-called "super" El Niño, and even be among the strongest ever recorded. It could bring another record-hot year, most likely 2027, disrupting weather, food supplies & economies. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
El Niño has begun, scientists say, and could bring record heat
An El Niño event has officially started, say US scientists, raising fears of extreme weather and higher temperatures.
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Emma River-Roberts @emma-river-roberts.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
1/2 Looking forward to speaking at the upcoming RACE Summit in London on Tues 30th June. I'll be joining a panel discussion exploring how to communicate working-class narratives within the wider environmental & political landscape. Get your ticket here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-race-s...
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The Working Class Climate Alliance @wccalliance.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Let's be honest, everything is sh*t right now. Join us for a wellness workshop on Monday June 22nd 2pm-3.45pm BST (over zoom). It'll be a space to air our grievances and learn coping strategies to help ground and calm us and improve our individual wellbeing. www.eventbrite.com/e/everything...
eventbrite.com
Everything is Sh*t - A Wellness Workshop
Join us for a wellness workshop during difficult times:
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Reposted by Emma River-Roberts
The Working Class Climate Alliance @wccalliance.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
In our latest article, Kevin Picado discusses how the plastic crisis isn't a waste management problem but an overproduction problem, rooted in the petrochemical industry's structural dependence on fossil fuels. Framing it as the former lets the industry off the hook. wccalliance.org/the-real-iss...
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Reposted by Emma River-Roberts
The Working Class Climate Alliance @wccalliance.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
1/4 There is no maximum legal working temperature in the UK, and this needs to change. The Working Class Climate Alliance, alongside other climate justice groups and trade union branches are a part of the Heat Strike campaign. heatstrike.uk
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Emma River-Roberts @emma-river-roberts.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
BREAKING: First Minister John Swinney will bring a motion on Scottish independence to a Holyrood vote on Tuesday, he has confirmed. www.thenational.scot/news/2612828...
thenational.scot
First Minister announces date for Holyrood Scottish independence vote
FIRST Minister John Swinney will bring a motion on Scottish independence to a Holyrood vote on Tuesday, he has said.
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Emma River-Roberts @emma-river-roberts.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
1/2 This is an excellent article about the disproportionate influence of Global North academics and journals have over just transition discourse, pulling it towards technocratic framings and away from structural change and Global South perspectives. iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1...
iopscience.iop.org
Who shapes the just transition? Examining intellectual hegemony in climate research
Who shapes the just transition? Examining intellectual hegemony in climate research, Mbeva, Kennedy, Okereke, Chukwumerije, Makomere, Reuben
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Emma River-Roberts @emma-river-roberts.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
In the last 30 years, more than 99% of media stories that mention ‘hate marches’ have been published since 7 October 2023 and have focused on anti-racist protesters. Bias much? www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/ma...
lrb.co.uk
Des Freedman | ‘Hate Marches’
Two marches will assemble in central London tomorrow. One is championing the rights of Palestinians and commemorating 78...
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Emma River-Roberts @emma-river-roberts.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
“The freedom of privileged class women of all races required the subordination of working-class women… There was no way for women with class privilege who wanted economic power & status while holding on to their feminist credentials to confront the issue of class.” - bell hooks
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Reposted by Emma River-Roberts
Ihminen Nimim-Erkiksi @sohw-n.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
"Women were encouraged to see these economic gains as beneficial to everyone, rather than acknowledging the continued subjugation of black and working class women,whose exploitation was necessary for the economic gains of others: in order for some women to be able to leave the home and go to work.."
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Gavin Brewis @gavinbrewis.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Great day at the Sociological Association of Ireland Conference. As expected given contemporary global discourse, there were numerous talks on race, migration, and far right. Yet, class was rarely mentioned despite being a central feature in much of the above. Unimportant or uninteresting? Curious.
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Emma River-Roberts @emma-river-roberts.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
It's great to see a greater focus on class in climate spaces than before. What I don't see so much, are discussions about what it 'is'. I've written for @wccalliance.bsky.social emphasising the need to understand it as a social, cultural, & economic phenomena. wccalliance.org/so-what-is-s...
wccalliance.org
So What Is Social Class, Exactly? - The Working Class Climate Alliance
Photo Credit: Jimmy Sime 6th May 2026 I am asked a lot to explain what social class is which is completely understandable, given that I was the person to found the Working Class Climate Alliance back ...
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Emma River-Roberts @emma-river-roberts.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
"The process of relocating people from New Orleans [with a population of 360,000] should start immediately, as the city has reached a “point of no return” that will see it surrounded by the ocean within decades due to the climate crisis." www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
‘Point of no return’: New Orleans relocation must start now due to sea level, study finds
Louisiana’s cultural hotspot could be surrounded by Gulf of Mexico before end of this century, authors say
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The Working Class Climate Alliance @wccalliance.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
1/3 Last week we co-hosted a screening of Earth's Greatest Enemy with Degrowth London, a documentary about the U.S. military's role as the world's largest institutional polluter. It was wonderful to see so many new faces at the event. The documentary was eye opening - a must watch.
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The Working Class Climate Alliance @wccalliance.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
2/2 There is no such thing as a 'green' landlord. Read the article in full here 👇 wccalliance.org/there-are-no...
wccalliance.org
There Are No Green Landlords - The Working Class Climate Alliance
Photo Credit: Kunal Chaudhary 28th August 2025 Rent is a social relation where a small class of owners extracts wealth from a bigger, non-owning class without producing anything in return. Landlords m...
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The Working Class Climate Alliance @wccalliance.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
1/2 "Being a landlord isn't inherently unethical." Actually, yes it is. Rent extraction ties economies to endless growth. Rent income floats above actual production, so economies are forced to grow endlessly to sustain it. That pressure feeds ecological breakdown. inews.co.uk/opinion/hate...
inews.co.uk
I hated landlords until I became one
Landlords provide a necessary service - that doesn't make us bad people
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Emma River-Roberts @emma-river-roberts.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
Last month I chaired a panel at the Climate and Nature Education Festival (is climate change a working class issue?) I've written some reflections & to share the great points raised by Tahir Latif, Catherine Porritt & Suzanne Jeffrey. Spoiler - of course it is! wccalliance.org/is-climate-c...
wccalliance.org
Is Climate Change a Working Issue? Reflections From the Climate and Nature Education Festival - The Working Class Climate Alliance
16th April 2026 Last month I chaired a panel at the Climate and Nature Education Festival, a one-day event bringing together educators, activists, politicians, business leaders, governors, parents, an...
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Trades Union Congress @tuc.org.uk · 14/04/2026
BREAKING🚨| IMF warn the UK will be hit the hardest of the G7 economies by the Iran war. Politicians like Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage who initially backed this war, have to answer one question - what the hell were you thinking?
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Emma River-Roberts @emma-river-roberts.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
1/4 While taking a lovely walk on the Sussex downs over the weekend, I thought about the Right to Roam - the public's right to access certain land and wander in the countryside, and that we have the working class to thank for being able to do so.
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Emma River-Roberts @emma-river-roberts.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
Reform's Zia Yusuf said that the call for reparations was “insulting”. I assume he's also referring to the 1837 Slave Compensation Act that repaid slave owners £20 million, with taxpayers footing the bill until 2015. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Reform UK would stop visas for people from countries seeking slavery reparations
The ‘bank is closed and the door is locked’, says Zia Yusuf as calls grow for compensation to remedy historical wrongs
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Emma River-Roberts @emma-river-roberts.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
My little Buddy enjoying the sun on his banana bed
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John Merrick @johnmerrick.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
I reviewed Matt Goodwin’s new book for the New Statesman. Spoiler: it’s worse than you could ever imagine
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Emma River-Roberts @emma-river-roberts.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
1/2 This is as disturbing as it is depressing. Out of 3,800 PhD researchers, 71% felt it was acceptable to use them to support their studies. In a survey of 1,041 UK undergraduates published in February 2025, 88% admitted to using AI for assessments. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
nature.com
AI and the PhD student: friend or foe?
Graduate students increasingly use artificial-intelligence tools to draft, code and search — but many fear it could erode the very skills a doctorate is meant to build.
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The Working Class Climate Alliance @wccalliance.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
Join us & Degrowth London on Sat 18th April, 5-8pm at LARC, London. We'll be screening Earth's Greatest Enemy. The doc reveals the U.S. military's role as the world's largest institutional polluter, & makes the link between war, empire & ecological destruction. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/earths-gre...
eventbrite.co.uk
Earth's Greatest Enemy - London Film Screening
Join us in London for a screening of Abby Martin's new documentary, Earth's Greatest Enemy!
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Reposted by Emma River-Roberts
Chris Lang @reddmonitor.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
An insight into a REDD carbon credit deal gone wrong - thanks to US court documents. reddmonitor.substack.com/p/how-a-us29...
reddmonitor.substack.com
How a US$29.5 million deal failed to deliver a single carbon credit. Featuring Zero Carbon Holdings, Four Thirteen, Aspiration Partners, Sea Purity Investments, and MidiaGeo
And two very iffy-looking REDD projects in Brazil: The Zero Carbon Aripuanã Valley REDD project 1; and the 413 REDD project.
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Caroline Russell @carolinerussell.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
Frightening news from Golders Green this morning. London is an inclusive city and anti-semitic hate crime makes us all unsafe. My thoughts this morning with Jewish friends, neighbours and work colleagues.
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