Climate change protesters anyone else think they are hypocritical? AIBU

?? There you go Gonegirl!

I like a man bun if they have the right bone structure for it.

DH snorts.

urmstongran I was on my desktop. Geddit?

merlot he has, of course, got amazing bone structure.

(Although the first time I saw him with a man bun I asked him if he was trans-ing)

Elegran ^ sceptics say "See - there was no need to worry and take all that trouble after all. It never happened! What a waste of time and effort doing all that protesting and cleaning up!"^
That's what they said about the millennium bug. No praise for those of us who worked our socks off for several years to make sure it didn't happen!

I'm very conflicted in my feelings towards ER and their tactics.On the one hand I firmly believe,and worry about climate change and the future of our planet.Like a lot of people we are adapting our habits as a household.Solar panels,electric car,keep bees,let some of our garden go wild,eating a lot less meat.Holidaying in the UK .
But I wouldn't glue myself to the road and prevent people going to work.I think it will alienate more of the general public than get them on board.
I understand it's the government and big businesses that they are targetting.But are they hypocritical ?Well to a certain extent yes some are. My brother and his extended family attended the bridge protests in London earlier -then all flew off on a big family holiday.Ok my neice has vowed not to fly again but this is after a 2 year 'gap ' year,and many other trips.Her sister took a 'sabbatical ' after only working 4 years to fly round the world.So it makes me rather angry that they are now so evangelical and don't think it will persuade many less fortunate,hardworking families to forgo their occasional week in the sun.And I'm not sure these city protests in this format will persuade people out of their cars.
However what do I do ?Email supermarkets about plastic-don't get me started on all those wash balls on every bottle of laundry liquid,my latest crusade!I'm a very small scale warrior and maybe that's not enough ?

I think most of us are concerned about climate change but I think these protests are targeting the wrong people. It just alienates the general public when Extinction Rebellion should be trying to get them on side.

I visit an elderly relative 3 times a week - yesterday (first day of the protest) a 40 minute journey took me 2 hours (yes I did take an alternative route but so had everyone else). By the time I reached her she was convinced I had been involved in an accident or wasn't coming and had worked herself into a terrible state.

I think it is often a case of "look, we can bring your everyday life to a standstill but heaven forbid that my holiday plane is affected"

Yes, I am in agreement gillybob.

I think it's often a case of 'look at me being right-on' and then causing disruption to those who have to be places, like work, or maybe hospital appointments. It's not going to win them friends.

They are not clever. A sit-in outside the town halls of those cities would have been just as effective and newsworthy. In fact, they aren't really newsworthy are they, given that (as demonstrated on this thread) most of us are conscious that we have to do our bit to be green and look after the planet. Look at how domestic recycling/composting has taken off.

Yes, there is lots more to do but we do not need streets being blocked by exhibitionists to get the message home.

I would have a lot more respect for ER if they had been formed and started protesting 10 or 15 years ago, before the concern about global warming had reached the height it has now.

The bandwagon was already rolling with the UK in the forefront when a group of rebels looking for a cause looked on and in the media and thought 'Gosh there's lots of publicity being given to global warming, why don't we protest about that.'

Now they are elbowing their way to the front of the bandwagon, and trying to pretend they are serious protestors by making ridiculous demands. No doubt they will soon be claiming that any government legislation or any other climate friendly moves are entirely the result of their campaigning.

I don't know what is happening in other cities but in Bristol they are moving their protests around, they have blocked the M32 (a major road into and out of the city saying they are going to stay there until they get bored!), paraded around the city centre, blocked another road and are demonstrating outside City Hall. If they had stayed in one place people would have been able to work out routes around them but despite a "spokesperson" saying before hand that they "regret" any inconvenience, they are actually lapping up the feeling of power it is giving them.

granny4hugs
Many of the protestors are young - but many are not. Many young people do have their heads in the sand, consume resources at an alarming rate, throw plastic and other rubbish everywhere, can't be bothered to recycle, wear cheap clothes once then throw them away, fly off on holidays.

It isn't all what you term The Comfy Smug Generation doing all this - many of them are working to resolve the problems we face, conscientiously recycling their rubbish, wearing clothes for years, not constantly buying new fashion, growing their own food, planting trees for their grandchildren etc.

Please do not generalise, it is not at all helpful.

And what is at the end of the M32?

The Bristol Royal Infirmary and the Bristol Eye Hospital.
So they prevented many attending for hospital appointments too, or at least disrupted their journey.

Not to mention NHS staff getting to and from work.

Even if people are on-side anyway, this will antagonise them.

Don't forget the Childrens' Hospital is there also.

Yes, blocking access to major hospitals and services in Bristol really IS going to stop nasty people cutting down trees in the Amazon rain forest....

Stupid, unthinking egotists.

Surely not caring who is inconvenienced, and how seriously, so that one's own voice can be heard is the very embodiment of entitlement?

This has an almost ugly side. Do the protesters really believe in mob rule?

Don't forget the Childrens' Hospital is there also.
Yes, of course, most important. I am not up-to-date.

Oh my gosh yes.

even worse, our own PM (Canadian) has gone on just recently about banning single use plastics. He is continually seen using plastic straws, plastic cutlery etc.
disturbing at the government level if I do say so myself.

The trouble is that ER are not able to travel to Brazil to demonstrate to the Brazilian PM that his policies are damaging the planet, nor to China to demonstrate in Tiananmen Square nor Indonesia - nor to America to protest to Trump who would tell them to go home again.

Because that would involve air travel.

They were in London why didn't they demonstrate outside the Embassys .

Oh I dunno Callistemon. Grandson's got to be out in the States for three weeks for this Scout thing. Who knows what he might do whilst he's out there? Watch this space Mr Trump?

I guess they think it's best to start with their own government Wadesgran.

Sorry, Nan

They have blocked the M32 again this morning. A man rang into local radio to say he had received a phone call from the hospital that his father was dying and he should get there quickly, Because of the blockade, by the time he reached the hospital it was too late.

The police have said they don't intend to arrest them, but this is frustrating their martyr complex so they are blocking a major road into the city to force the police to arrest them. They are rapidly losing any public support they had when they started.

Wadesnan this behaviour will antagonise even those who recognise the ideals of their cause, sadly.
Demonstrating is one thing, preventing the majority from going about their day-to-day lives, particularly stories like the man prevented from reaching his dying father, will just be counter-productive.

Another reason they do not travel by any means to the countries mentioned to demonstrate is because they would be arrested, detained indefinitely or possibly shot.