THE government must rewrite the national curriculum to reflect the severity of the climate emergency, Extinction Rebellion (XR) activists demanded today.

XR scientists donning lab coats handed in a letter at the Department for Education in London yesterday to lay out their demands before marching to Trafalgar Square.

Outside the department, author and XR activist Dr Emily Grossman read out the movement’s Science Declaration which has been signed by 1,600 scientists worldwide.

The declaration outlines a civil-disobedience campaign aimed at forcing governments to take rapid action to tackle the climate emergency.

“We’re here to demand that parties across the political spectrums listen to the science and take action appropriate to the science,” Ms Grossman told protesters. 

She highlighted the devastating role humans have played in mass species-loss “which have a knock-on effect on our ability to feed ourselves.

“Ecosystems are like a game of Jenga — take one piece out at the bottom and the whole thing collapses.”

Protesters also passed by political party HQs where XR activists on hunger strike have been stationed since Monday.

On day five of the hunger strike, XR’s Sarah Lunnon said: “The Global Hunger Strike highlights those communities and families who struggle to eat today due to extremes of weather.”

The hunger strikers have successfully secured meetings with the Greens and Plaid Cymru to discuss the group’s Three Demands Bill on tackling the climate emergency. 

Labour and the Lib Dems are discussing the possibility of meeting with XR leaders while the Brexit Party and Tories have still not engaged with the climate activists.