Climate Change Protests - will they make a difference?

Jabberwok A community shop has opened in our town. It's run by volunteers and is trying to be as environmentally responsible as it can be.
Many families with young families come in looking for organic veg, pesticide free toiletries and milk in glass bottles.etc
It's popular with young people as well as us oldies.
There is still some plastic but packaging manufacturers are working hard to improve things.

Some grandparents fly to another country to see their families, , Emma Thompson flies to America for the Oscars , far more important .

I certainly wouldn't mind buying loose vegetables, (anyone remember string bags?!) other purchases wrapped in greaseproof paper or any other paper come to that if it would help to get rid of endless unnecessary plastic! The trouble is that we've all got so used to food that needs little or no preparation, instant salads, washed veg often even cut up for minimal effort, that to go back to how things once were, would for some be at best difficult, for others actually bordering on efffrontery!!!

I do hope they were using environmentally friendly glue when they glued themselves to Jeremy Corbyn's fence, the train etc etc.
www.greenlivingtips.com/articles/Green-glue.html

Well quite callistermon

Do as I say not as I do.. Emma Thompson

Such a pity that Parliament had stood down for the Easter recess when the protesters were gridlocking London.
What bad timing.

Well crystaltipps you've ruffled a few feathers!!
Good on you.
I seem to remember we are commemorating Christ's death on the cross today.
I'm sure there is plenty in the New Testament about loving eachother, forgiveness and in the old OT about stewardship of the earth.
The more we can talk about our fears for the future the more chance there will be of arriving at some common sense.
I'm smugly sitting on a busy train today and I try to think about my journeys and holidays but this thread has been very informative and there is much more I could be doing.

Most people would be prepared to do a lot more - we need to lobby and protest- it’s the only way of getting anything done.
As I said earlier in the thread, right message, wrong methods.
Yes, we all have to do our bit; if we give up recycling because we think it only goes to landfill anyway we will get nowhere. Lobby your council, hold them to account (ours has a good record for recycling). But don't block the streets and disrupt others' lives.

Do the protesters honestly think that this will make governments change their minds? DH is an advocate of wave power/hydro-electric power - but is it happening? No, one big scheme got cancelled. The street lights here are on all day - he is on his own mission to stop that - but nothing happens.

Don't build on flood plains, they are there for a purpose, don't use that dreadful artificial turf, plant insect-friendly plants, etc etc - we can all do our small part.

crystal you cannot assume because posters do not agree with the methods that XR are using that they are not concerned and not doing their best (nor that they shop in Primark although why that has relevance I don't know as much of our clothing is manufactured in the Far East).
I doubt that many Gransnetters fly around the world constantly like some of those who lecture others on how to save the planet.

I bet a climate change lawyer stays in top class hotels on expenses.

Nice work if you can get it.

Also where’s David Lammy? He’s gone from being a good sensible bloke to a shouty slightly dillusional prat.

He’s normally pontificating too.

crystaltips

Are you this pompous in RL?

Please don’t waste time criticising individuals for their choices- it’s a much bigger picture. governments have to act now, people will be inconvenienced and have to be less selfish, most people won’t unless they are forced to. It’s not about I’m ok I recycle - you maybe put stuff in the recycling but what happens then? Lots of it end up in landfill anyway. We may have to go back to food buying without plastic- fish, cheese, meat in greaseproof paper, veg in your bag, deposits on all plastic bottles which have to be returned and recycled by manufacturers , but while governments are in thrall to big businesses and don’t want to upset voters they aren’t going to do anything. Most people would be prepared to do a lot more - we need to lobby and protest- it’s the only way of getting anything done.

No idea lol but they have to jet around the planet apparently!

What the hell is a climate lawyer anyway?

good point mycat maybe she’s on holiday in some exotic location or other (essential travel if course) otherwise I’m sure she would be there !

The Extinction Rebellion group, which is calling for flights to be used only in emergencies, insisted that any flight she had taken was an “unfortunate cost in our bigger battle to save the planet”.

An Extinction Rebellion spokesman said: “If Emma Thompson wants to come and help out, that's great, she's using her platform which is incredibly valuable to anyone.

“If she has to fly around the world like a climate lawyer might have to fly around the world, it seems counter productive in the short term but we are looking at the bigger picture.”

A climate lawyer might "have" to fly around the world? Never heard of boats and trains? And will this lawyer fly in splendid isolation in the plane or will other "worthies" get to fill the other seats? Of course we need to act now to limit our impact on the planet, but having opt outs for the likes of Emma Thompson is just not on.

Strange not to see lily Allen she’s usually where there’s a cause

Emma Thompson flew to the USA to appear on the Ellen degenes show. Mmmmm

Enough is enough though now and these protesters should go home and let Londoners have some peace.

This is now like bullies taking over.

I agree with those who think the protest is worth doing (after all, here we all are discussing climate change and how to draw attention to it) but that it is being misdirected. I do think that upsetting public transport, which we need to prioritise urgently over the private car, is quite wrong, and also that flash demos as Mycatisahacker says would be better. They would draw attention without disrupting people's lives and losing sympathy for the cause.

We watched David Attenborough last night and although the programme was quite forthright about the risks we face, I thought it didn't mention the car enough. Before we get into the 'whitabootery' - whitaboot the disabled, whitaboot the places with no public transport - can I say that if only people who really needed to drive because of disability or having no alternative did so, the roads could be a lot emptier. Here we have villages where there are no buses but the people who have to drive into town to shop often have problems parking because of the people who could perfectly well walk to the shops but don't. I have a friend who drives to meetings and parks in a place she can see from her house. She is perfectly fit. I don't think that being a child is a disability. I have seen children who should be old enough to cross roads safely but who have obviously no idea how to do it as they are taken everywhere by car. They often don't wear coats in the winter too. What happens if the car breaks down?

One of the very few sensible ideas Scottish Labour have come up with recently is to make buses free for everyone. Of course it would need huge investment, but what a great idea!

flying is the only realistic option for transglobal travel" .....Well is it! that's got me thinking Ben Fogle got across the Atlantic in a rowing boat, I mean admittedly it took longer, but what if we adopted the Viking mode of travel.........Ben Fogle x a 100 or so fit young men, or women for that matter all furiously rowing to get conscientious global travelers to their required destinations. Remember you heard it here first. Leif Ericson managed it when he crossed the Atlantic to Greenland or somewhere, I mean he might have been heard to utter....."ooh me bum's a bit sore" but small price to pay for not polluting the planet not that he had a lot of travel options open to him back in the day. Anyway maybe ethical travellers could do the one way on a non polluting long boat and then if, they had say an emergency such as a eco warrior protest to attend than they could maybe use a few air miles to get back in time.

Just a thought

"Glad none of mine look like the great unwashed."

Another nasty comment from*GabriellaG54*. God! What a piece of work!

The glory of the protest is that it seems to have made those most irritated by them talking about it the most?.

All power to the eco- warriors.

I have a DS an environmental scientist, whose work is with the environment and in particular flooding. He sees the result of climate change every day, and considers it to be the biggest challenge to the world.

Aaah but you see janipat your once a year trip to see your DGC would be classed as non essential, whereas someone like ET and the rest of the Climate change hypocrites 100’s of flights a year ( or whatever ) would be classed as VERY essential , emergencies even ! If it didn’t make me do bloody mad it would be almost laughable !

Exactly Terribull she is yet another example of climate change hypocrisy!

janeainsworth thank you for that link, very interesting reading. I'm not vegan, not even vegetarian, but I do limit my meat eating.

gillybob With regards to Emma Thompson I read her spokesman said she had to fly home anyway, just did it a bit earlier than originally planned. Then went on to say that flying is the only realistic option for transglobal travel at the moment. So OK for her, but not the rest of us, not even those like me who only fly once a year to see my grandchildren.

It seems the climate protesters have now moved on to Heathrow, good to know Emma Thompson's flight got in just in time without any disruption. Clearly as specified by one of their spokespeople her flight was a prime example of "emergency travel" what could be more urgent than clocking up over 5000 air miles to protest, among other outrages, about unnecessary air travel. Hopefully, she is there with the good people at Heathrow today to righteously point that out to those taking "non emergency travel" for family holidays etc., selfish people