Two elderly environmental radicals have been accused of desecrating the grave of noted scientist Charles Darwin at Westminster Abbey.

Around 10 a.m. on Monday, two members of the radical activist group Just Stop Oil — 66-year-old Alyson Lee and 77-year-old Di Bligh — allegedly began spray-painting the message "1.5 is dead" on Darwin's grave. The message refers to the change of 1.5 degrees Celsius that world leaders pledged to keep global temperatures from crossing in the Paris climate accords of 2015.

'We’ve done this because there’s no hope for the world, really.'

"Ten years on from the Paris Agreement, we have already exceeded the so-called safe temperature rise of 1.5 degrees and are heading for over 3 degrees of warming. This rapidly accelerating crisis means huge parts of the world will become unable to support life, resulting in millions of refugees, social collapse, and extinction for countless species," said Lee, a retired teaching assistant, according to a press release from JSO.

"Without real action, words are useless; you cannot negotiate with the laws of physics. We need mass civil disobedience now. Join us on the streets and help us reclaim Parliament this April."

In her statement, Bligh, a former chief executive of Reading Council, spoke on behalf of Darwin, an English naturalist and biologist who died in 1882. "We’ve done this because there’s no hope for the world, really," Bligh said, according to the Guardian. "We’ve done it on Darwin’s grave specifically because he would be turning in that grave because of the sixth mass extinction taking place now."

In 2024, global temperatures did temporarily rise more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, CNN reported. JSO blamed recent natural disasters, including the fires in Los Angeles, on this fluctuation in temperature:

2024 was the hottest year on record. We have passed the 1.5 degree threshold that was supposed to keep us safe. Millions are being displaced, California is on fire and we have lost three quarters of all wildlife since the 1970’s [sic]. Darwin would be turning in his grave to know we are in the midst of the sixth mass extinction. The government’s plans will take us to over 3 degrees of warming. This will destroy everything we love. World leaders must stop burning oil, gas and coal by 2030.

Lee and Bligh were quickly arrested on "suspicion of causing criminal damage with what is believed to be powdered paint at Westminster Abbey," Met Police said.

For nearly 1,000 years, Westminster Abbey in London has been one of the most popular Christian churches in the U.K. and the epicenter of English political pageantry. At least 40 British monarchs, including King Charles III, were coronated there. The abbey is also the burial site for some of Britain's most famous figures, including Darwin, writers Geoffrey Chaucer and Charles Dickens, and crowned heads like Henry V, Elizabeth I, and Mary, Queen of Scots.

An abbey spokesperson confirmed that the activists used orange spray-chalk during the incident on Darwin's grave. "The abbey’s conservators are taking immediate action to clean the memorial and do not anticipate that there will be any permanent damage," the spokesperson said.

"The police were called to the scene and dealt with the incident. The abbey remains open for visiting and worshipping."

Since its founding in 2022, Just Stop Oil has drawn attention to its cause by stopping traffic on busy corridors and committing acts of vandalism against beloved treasures. Last June, members of JSO allegedly spray-painted some of the giant rock pieces of Stonehenge, and in September, two JSO activists were given jail sentences for splashing tomato soup on artwork created by Vincent van Gogh.

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