Activists around the world marked Earth Day Saturday with marches and other actions drawing attention to the climate crisis. In the U.K., Extinction Rebellion, Greenpeace and other groups organized four days of protests under the banner of “The Big One,” which included a massive rally and a die-in outside London’s Parliament. This is an air quality researcher and climate activist speaking from one of this weekend’s actions.

Pete Knapp: “We’re in one of the busiest streets in London. The air pollution created from this and the agriculture ammonia is creating a spring haze over London. Now, all of this comes from meat and dairy and fossil fuels. Now what the government are not doing is taking either of those two things into account, trying to reduce either of those two things. Instead, they’re trying to get over 100 new oil and gas licenses, which are incompatible with a 1.5-degree warming world.”

Smaller rallies took place across the United States. In Washington, D.C., activists marched to the White House to demand an end to the nation’s reliance on fossil fuels. Elsewhere, the German climate group Last Generation organized a “slow march” through Berlin, causing gridlock in parts of the city. The same group, known for its acts of disruption, shut down dozens of traffic junctions in Berlin today by gluing their hands to the streets, including in the middle of a major highway. An activist from Last Generation, which is calling for Germany to stop using all fossil fuels by 2030, said, “We’re bringing the city to a standstill so the government moves.” And in France, thousands of people in the southern Tarn region marched to protest a proposed new highway and built a cement brick wall in the middle of a national road to oppose the project. Locals say the highway would increase pollution and threatens the area’s biodiversity.