Climate Change Protests - will they make a difference?

Or perhaps they used public transport?

"Perhaps they all walked". Silly comment.

Well, some public transport is quite polluting too.

You may think it is a silly comment, but their integrity and their message could be compromised if they used a polluting means of transport.

ordinary people who have taken 2 weeks off work to join the protest

Really ? How do you know that crystaltips ?

And for the record I do as much as I can at this moment in time . I can’t remember the last time I flew anywhere (not by choice I hasten to add) or even drove any kind of distance for that matter .

Short of changing our entire lives I’m not sure what more ordinary people like me can do .

Britain is one of the most active and proactive countries in the world when it comes to combatting climate change - that does not mean that more cannot be done.

If they really want to make a point they should be demonstrating in Beijing, Washington and Brasilia.

Callistemon perhaps some of the more enterprising and go-getting members of the public in London, took the opportunity to to recycle (sorry!) them on to other users

Buses around here are the worst (stinking) polluters !

Short of changing our entire lives I’m not sure what more ordinary people like me can do
As I said, they are targeting the wrong people gillybob.

Perhaps they will now target the embassies, the oil companies, car manufacturers etc.

I would think they used trains. Like my grandson did.

I am extremely proud that my grandsons care enough about our planet to join in these demonstrations. At least they are doing something.

And they are certainly not "hippies". Nor are they taking off work. They are on school holidays.

These demonstrations will help to concentrate people's minds. And our own country is a good place to start.

God, there's some rubbish been talked on this thread.

gillybob perhaps you should try demonstrating outside your council offices. Buses down here run on clean fuel.

Gonegirl you really feel it's fair for London to have to endure this disruption until 29th April? Why target ordinary Londoners trying to earn a living, get to hospital appointments etc Why not target those who actually can do something, their local MP, local council, foreign embassies of the most polluting countries or would that not be exciting enough?

Some have taken time off work actually to protest, they aren’t all out of work layabouts as some seem to be implying. I can’t believe there's so much negativity towards people who care about the environment - oh so they haven’t all walked there - so that means they can’t be serious. I agree sitting in the middle of the road is not necessarily my protest method of choice, but shouldn’t we all wake up to climate change? Oh no, let’s just knit our own yoghurt and feel smug because other countries are worse off. They can choke in their smog before we do.

Yes I do know some people who have taken time off work to protest before you claim no one has.

It is just that their protests have probably increased pollution, all those vehicles caught up in traffic jams because of the demonstrations. Those using cars because public transport is also disrupted.

I feel about these demonstrators, as I have felt of others through time. If they would only engage their minds as well as their feet they could demonstrate more effectively and cause less ill feeling.

They are on school holidays

Oh yes I see gonegirl so they are mostly teachers then , well I suppose they can afford to waste a few days of their vast holidays.

Personally I get 4 weeks annual holiday, most of which I spend looking after my grandchildren who’s parents also only get 4 weeks. Certainly not enough time off to spend making everyone else’s lives a misery, ruining other people’s holidays and daily commutes. Stopping people from reaching essential hospital appointments and preventing others from getting to their jobs .

Hardly a great way to gain support ..... incidentally I wonder how carbon neutral each one of them really are ? ?

I'm sure they're serious, but, you know, put your money where your mouth is!! I certainly wouldn't be proud of my granddaughter for causing so much disruption against people who are probably being put to great, maybe life threatening inconvenience for days on end. If she were to protest outside an embassy, or even better, a foreign polluting country's government buildings, then that would be admirable, but in the safety of the UK? I don't think so!

Our eldest daughter is 41y. She has always been an ‘environmentalist’ girl. In her teens (in the 90’s) she got nicknamed Miss Save the Whale (bless!).

Apparently one of the biggest things one can do to save the planet is to not have a child. - using up resources, so many other things I forget... anyway she put her money where her mouth is, so no grandchildren from this daughter.

gillybob I was talking about my grandsons when I said they are on school hols. I have no idea who the adult protesters are or what they do.

why would an eco warrior block public transport?
Fools.

If we cut down on our buying gas-guzzling 4×4s, clothes...blah blah, it will put people out of work.
Imagine everyone in the UK pledging not to buy anything new for a whole year, apart from food.
What about the shops which keep the window displays lit up like Blackpool illuminations 24/7 and stores like Currys who have banks of tvs on all day?
My own village cuts down on street lighting at night and many shops use bamboo and re-use pulp as food cartons. Waitrose don't have 5p plastic bags and most people I know and see, have re-usable hessian bags.
I myself am a low energy user, lower than the energy users lowest scale for a single person household but no matrer how much we conserve, how few flights we take (and GNs do fly a fair bit) or how often we use public transport (and I certainly do) other countries, especially Asia and the USA are criminally responsible for doing nothing about it.
The BBC iPlayer programme Storyville about their Facebook employees in Asia, shows the squalid conditions in which they live, the absolute mountains of rubbish in their communities yet the company has no interest in a movement to educate these countries and help reduce the waste.
My using a low energy bulb is but one grain of sand in all the deserts on the planet.

Oh the irony of all the litter in the photos including plastic bottles!

Yes Urmstongran, but this daughter of yours is part of the solution not part of the problem.

Gonegirl did you miss my question about is it fair that Londoners trying to go about their lives are to be disrupted this way, until 29th April if one of the organisers gets their way? I support every effort to save this world, I just don't see how hurting ordinary people is the way to do it, it hasn't saved one gram of carbon and will actually have added to pollution.

They have my support because unless someone creates a big fuss nothing will get done and time in running out.

Actually I think it’s too late anyway.

Good on them for caring and protesting because most people either don’t give a damn or clutch their pearls at these ‘awful people’