US ACADEMIC and activist Noam Chomsky is among 100 eminent people to sign a global call to arms on climate change.

The open letter published today, written by representatives of Extinction Rebellion (XR), calls on concerned global citizens to “rise up and organise” against the “current complacency” over ecological and climate emergency.

About 50 British academics, politicians and campaigners have signed the letter along with figures from the US, Australia, Benin, France, New Zealand, Ghana and other countries.

It states that international political organisations and national governments must prioritise the climate-emergency issue immediately and urgently draw up “comprehensive policies” to address it.

The letter calls for conventionally privileged nations to voluntarily fund environmental protection policies in impoverished nations, action to avoid risk of hunger through investment in extreme-weather-resistant food production, an urgent summit on saving the Arctic icecap and more.

Academic Alison Green, a co-writer of the letter, said: “We feel we have really struck a chord with this letter. People understand that there is nothing wrong with telling the truth.

“It has been heartening to have the support of so many high-profile people and amazing that some of the biggest names were also the quickest to respond. Even people who felt unable to sign the letter commented that they supported the action.”

XR has said it rejects the “complacency and denial” exhibited by British business and political leaders and insists that the truth about the crisis must be told.

The group, which has been leading acts of civil disobedience across the country for the last few months, has said it believes it is a citizen’s duty to rebel when faced with “criminal inactivity” by their government.

Publication of the letter coincides with the UN climate summit in Poland. On its opening last week, historian and broadcaster David Attenborough declared that we are facing “a man-made disaster of global scale.”

He said: “Our greatest threat in thousands of years: climate change. If we don’t take action, the collapse of our civilisations and the extinction of much of the natural world is on the horizon.”