Climate Change Protests - will they make a difference?

God! You lot are boring.

I will say one one final thing and then I'm off.

This is not about Extinction Rebellion. It's certainly not about Gonegirl. It's not even about Gonegirl's Gorgeous Grandson.

IT'S ABOUT THE PLANET OUR CHILDREN, GRANDCHILDREN, AND THEIR CHILDREN, AD INFINITUM, WILL INHERIT.

It could be such a marvellous place if governments ACT NOW.

I’m not sure if you will all be able to see this but I thought it may be pertinent to the discussion.
it’s in the Times today.
I know that I would like my DD to live in the U.K. but not this way.
I’m off to get the bedroom ready for her and my Sinl!
I know I sound a bit flippant but I’m not really.
A slightly higher world temperature may be nice for us in the U.K. but will course cause havoc for so manyother countries.
If we thought the migrants we are dealing with now are a problem they are as nothing compared to what we may be faced with. Even DD’s
I think that the protesters have made their point. It is up to the rest of us to take up the baton.
Unfortunately how we do that I don’t know.

I am curious, where are they finding food, not supermarkets or take away’s surely

No, I will not be attending any demos, while the demonstrators are demanding we go emission free by 2025 unless they first produce a peer reviewed report explaining how this can be done. Currently they are high on rhetoric and very low on specifics and while they are training in one supporter, who could have been there without any travel and welcoming as a supporter a celebrity who has flown in from California, as far as I know a journey she would not have made were it not for the demonstration. Their own credentials must be in doubt.

As Callistemon says There are others ways, there are thousands of people quietly working away, scientists finding new ecological solutions, others lobbying governments. If I can be vulgar enough to boast, two members of my immediate family are making just such contributions. DH, in his mid-late 70s, is still working and advising on and enabling the installation of wind turbines offshore in this country and overseas. He has made a major contribution to the installation of hundreds of wind turbines and hopes to be doing this for some years to come. DD works for an engineering research centre and is involved in developing nascent technologies for energy conservation and efficient renewable production.

I certainly hope that they make a difference but I bet they don't. I just hope that they cleared up after themselves and took away the tents etc. and recycled the waste properly. Its such a shame as man alone is going to damage this planet. I do my best to recycle everything but I know my neighbour just couldnt give a damn.

If you grans who can reasonably walk, camp, and travel to your nearest demo could do so you ought to do so
Perhaps I should have hopped on a plane like Emma.

There are others ways, there are thousands of people quietly working away, scientists finding new ecological solutions, others lobbying governments.

Join Greenpeace - if you can do no more then your support will help.

Ummm, I think my point of view is we are the one thing the earth does not need.

Not in such quantities anyway.

And not agreeing with a disruptive demonstration doesn’t mean avoiding personal responsibility. Over this weekend I have lived a more personally responsible life in terms of earth friendliness than anyone who has travelled to the demonstration.

The demonstration has caused pollution. Will any good it does offset the damage? Who knows.

jane10

I so agree I remember the boycotting of South African goods during the apartheid era.

We were very lucky in our area to have free school bus services for middle and senior schools. Saved so many car journeys and road jams. I think that should he funded and rolled out around the country.

For the first school we had a walking bus which worked really well. Brilliant to see the lines of kids walking to school and chatting rather than sat in a car looking at life.

That would do help the obesity issues in children too. It’s little personal changes that can really help.

There are better and more effective ways of changing attitudes to climate change. Not least of these is economically. ie specifically boycotting products and services that are environmentally damaging. Not buying cheaply produced items from heavily polluting countries. would help too.
Hit environmentally damaging countries in their pockets rather than inconveniencing the British public and inadvertently causing much more pollution.
Environmentalists need to develop far smarter tactics.

Greta Thunberg is a hero of our time.

Too many old grans are objecting to Extinction Rebellion because those spreading the important message are imperfect. To blame the messengers is a way to try to avoid personal responsibility. It's a hollow excuse. If you grans who can reasonably walk, camp, and travel to your nearest demo could do so you ought to do so :no excuse. The EARTH NEEDS YOU!

I agree Anja.

Like the rest of us, the protesters are imperfect. That, however, does not invalidate their message. Some may not like how they are delivering it, but I really think we need to listen.

A family were interviewed yesterday, they said the protest was not being organised , yet emails are going to the protesters from ‘ the organisers ‘

Gonegirl No one is against you, why should we be? We simply do not agree with your views.

GN would be irrelevant and terminally boring if everybody agreed with each other. The purpose of the forums like GN is for people to discuss issues and people from all sides of an argument to express views and see them come under public scrutiny and examination.

Unlike many political threads this has been a reasonable and thoughtful thread with different people putting forward different views and defending them in a civilised way.

It is a shame to now see it descending to name calling and insults of the kind usually found in school playgrounds.

And having caught up with a few posts I'd missed I'd hope gonegirl amongst others will be praising our police or else I will feel personally insulted and aggrieved on behalf of my son and his colleagues. This is exactly how misguided this whole argument is...............

I understand you are proud of your grandson Gonegirl, but you have taken all criticism of XR far too personally. If your grandson was a member of any other group would you feel the same? I have a son in the Police service, should I be disgusted and angry at every criticism of the police? No, I'm intelligent enough to realise that as with any large collective of people there are good and bad. My son is an excellent, honest, hardworking detective, but he would acknowledge that there are bad apples in the barrel. Not every protestor is as pure as the driven snow.

Even though.

Even though there have been several people posting in support?

Maryeliza you have no idea what relief your post brings me. I thought everyone on here must be against them.

A bunch of old women criticising a young girl who has a bravery and wisdom they probably have never demonstrated themselves in their pefect little lives. FFS. Gonegirl more power to you DGs’s elbow - you are rightly proud of him. It’s so easy to criticise those who stand for something and try to make a difference however imperfectly.

Rubbish (electronic presence). Bumptious rubbish.

I would imagine, or at least hope, that members of various governments have a bit more between the ears than some, perhaps most, members of Gransnet.

How Can Government's Work Together Towards ANY Positive Result Re The Climate When We Cant Even Talk About It Sensibly on gransnet

That is an entirely different subject which has not been posted yet. This thread is about: Climate Change Protests - will they make a difference

I realise what I'm about to say is probably infuriating to all who have commented from both sides...…...but I do mean it seriously.....

How Can Government's Work Together Towards ANY Positive Result Re The Climate When We Cant Even Talk About It Sensibly on gransnet????????

Now, on to more important things, Line of duty is on!!!!

No one, I have noticed, is suggesting that ER supporters are profligate wasters of energy. But if they are going to set extreme and impossible demands on energy use in this country, it is entirely reasonable to expect them to be leading lives of exceptional energy saving themselves already.

But Gonegirl, if Greta Thunberg is faced with the problem that We still have to travel. It just needs to be as environmentally friendly as possible., then ER should be demanding that we speed up reducing emissions, but that this has to be phased, in not demanding a complete reduction to zero by 2025.

While they still make this ridiculous demand that we be emission free by 2025 all of them have to accept that: We still have to travel. It just needs to be as environmentally friendly as possible. is just not an acceptable argument. Her presence should have been electronic, not physical.