Eco-activists are risking future careers for their cause
Co-founder of This is Rigged has been arrested 13 times for her protests
Youth activists hold placards as they march against climate inaction on the sidelines of the COP26 UN Climate Summit in Glasgow in 2021
BEN STANSALL / AFP
The Times
Eilidh McFadden is sitting at the Waterstones café overlooking Edinburgh Castle with a grey hat pulled over her auburn curls.
With her glowing skin, large blue eyes and cheerful demeanour, the 21-year-old looks every inch the studious straight-A pupil. Aptly, this interview is taking place in a bookshop.
McFadden has plans to become a teacher — perhaps specialising in modern studies — but knows her recent actions are putting her future in jeopardy. “I have fully accepted I will go to prison,” she says calmly. “I don’t know when. There will be a point in my life when that happens. I cannot keep doing this without it happening eventually.”
In the past year, the West Lothian student who excelled in the Girl Guides, has dropped