this post was submitted on 20 Jun 2024
576 points (96.3% liked)
Climate - truthful information about climate, related activism and politics.
5240 readers
633 users here now
Discussion of climate, how it is changing, activism around that, the politics, and the energy systems change we need in order to stabilize things.
As a starting point, the burning of fossil fuels, and to a lesser extent deforestation and release of methane are responsible for the warming in recent decades:
How much each change to the atmosphere has warmed the world:
Recommended actions to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the near future:
Anti-science, inactivism, and unsupported conspiracy theories are not ok here.
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
They will and they won't care. It will do nothing to change anyone's mind but will harden public opinion against the extremists.
I don't think the general public cares about Taylor Swift needing to get her jet re-painted. Only Swifties will care.
No, but the public have shown that they are frustrated with the extremists and the courts have handed down multi-year sentences of incarceration in a growing number of cases. The public react with revulsion to extremists.
We should be extreme in our opposition to the climate disaster currently unfolding. The heat is extreme, the hurricanes extreme, the drought is extreme, the crop failures are extreme and the dead and dying ecosystems are extreme.
We the public have been politely asking for climate solutions for decades while the extremist oil and gas companies hid the extent of their knowledge from us and used lies to convince half the population nothing is wrong. Even now, the oil and gas lobby lie and plan for expansion into poorer countries where western regulations can't touch touch them. They'll burn every drop, take every dollar, and Fuck over everything in doing it.
So you know what? When I see these people throwing paint on things, gluing themselves down, and causing tension I say good, good for them, be extreme. These protestors have convinced me over the last couple of years with these acts and nothing they've done is anywhere near as extreme as climate change.
Climate change is killing people, right now, probably thousands every year, that's fucking extreme and its getting worse. These protestors threw paint on objects.
very well written
Maybe it will work. I guess we'll see if they can convince the people who control the governemnt, military, and police that a few people glued to the road should change their unchecked avarice.
Well it would help an awful lot for so called moderate allies to stop whinging over the methods and start focusing on the message. Everyone who pours into a comment section to opine over their "agreeing with the cause, but not the act of protest" is carrying water for the oil companies. It's these people who help establish and maintain the permission structure for the out of hand dismissal of climate protests.
We should be uncomfortable with protests, people should be made to feel discomfort, tension, and cognitive dissonance. These things work to end injustice better than all the polite ignorable protests that have ever happened.
Dude, calm down. I live in a straw bale house. I've been doing my part since before most of these people gluing themselves to roadways were born. I do something useful every election and vote for the parties that are for saving the environment.
This isn't "a few people glued to a road," this is a threat. "Fix society, or tensions will escalate."
The way you keep minimizing these efforts tell me you either don't really understand protests or are actively trying to make them seem trivial.
I saw you complaining earlier about them "shoving moral superiority down your throat," which is curious. It's like your biggest problem with them is just that you have to hear about it.
I'm sure your shed is nice. We need other people to build nice sheds.
I'm not minimizing their efforts. I'm pointing out that they are being annoying at best with no hope of affecting real change. It's protesturbation. Tantrumism. They're not terrorizing anyone with their stunts, they just being annoying.
I was protesting and active to save the St. Lawrence River when it was so polluted you couldn't eat the fish. We did outreach and educatiom without annoying and endangering people. That was almost 50 years ago. I was very active in the straw bale building community for years helping other people to build straw bale buildings of all types. I trained the building officials to inspect straw bale buildings and intervened in disputes between people wanting to build a straw bale building and building officials with a 100% success rate.
Don't lecture me about protest or change.
I’m getting more and more sure - you’re just making things up claiming to know what the “public” thinks. Did you call up 1800 British people to know this or are you just assuming everyone thinks like you do?
No, you're probably right. They might have convinced someone.
The public who would otherwise care so much about this nightmare that we keep barrelling towards... people who use that "frustration with extremists" are just justifying to themselves what they would have done anyway, which is nothing.
Why is it that you keep referring to them as extremists? You seem bad faith as fuck all over this post.
They believe that their actions are justified because they believe that they are morally superior. They are self-absolving. That is the hallmark of extremists of all types.
That's why.
Why do you think that about them? Is that based on anything that's actually in reality?
It is obvious that they feel justified in inconveniencing or endangering hundreds or thousands of people at a time by blocking roads and bridges, invading the stage at performances, etc. Any one of those people could be rushing home to meet their children, or to a hospital to see a dying parent, or facing the loss of their job if they're late. An inattentive HGV driver could plow into the back of stopped traffic and kill people. But, it's totally ok because their motives are pure. That's self-absolution. That is the hallmark of an extremist.
I think that's true for Stone Henge, the Mona Lisa, gluing themselves to roads, etc.
I think targeting high profile extremely wealthy people is different and will be much more effective. I guess time will tell.
Perhaps. With the near iron grip that the wealthy have on most governments I don't expect anything to change because a few people glued themselves to the road or threw a bit of paint on some rich assholes jets.