Climate Change Protests - will they make a difference?

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 ? ?

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.

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

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.

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?

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.

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.

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

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

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.

Buses around here are the worst (stinking) polluters !

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

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 .

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.

"Perhaps they all walked". Silly comment.

Or perhaps they used public transport?

I think people are negative towards these protesters because we know their message is actually right and maybe feel guilty about our own apathy. Just because other countries are worse is no excuse for our inertia.
I don't think that many of us do have 'inertia'.
The protestors need to target those responsible, not make a blanket protest which disrupts everyone's lives in London.

What is puzzling me, M0nica, is where all the thousands of bicycles are being stored, the ones the protestors used to cycle to London.
Perhaps they all walked.

X post, Jabberwok, about the plastic problem.

One thing is for sure though, with or without protest, climate change is the biggest challenge we face.
climate change is one of the biggest challenges we face, but I think that our polluted oceans are the biggest challenge. All linked, of course.
We could, in fact, adapt to climate change as humans have done over the millennia, but we have never faced such plastic pollution of our seas before this.

Everyone is worried about climate change but we are among a few countries that are making serious attempts to make a difference. Take your disruptive protest onto the streets of Delhi, Beijing,Islamabad etc where pollution is awful,the rivers clogged with plastic and other toxic debris, but of course you could end up in a less than solubrious prison!!!
It's so easy to cause maximum disruption from the safety of the UK where all!you get is carted away by our weary understaffed ever patient police. Try it just over the channel in Paris, never mind anywhere else, and see what happens to you!!! Disrupting public transport?!! I thought the idea was to encourage us all to use it!! Hopefully all the protesters arrived either on foot, horse, or bicycle and are wearing ethical clothing, waving ethical banners and not using plastic in any shape or form for this or in general daily life?!

Stopping the public from getting to and from work or going about their daily tasks is NOT going to win support.
Definitely not gillybob - and others who may be going for hospital appointments, visitors to the UK etc.

The UK is already acting but without the biggest polluting countries joining in it won't have much effect

As has been suggested perhaps the protesters could take their protest to those countries. Of course, they would not want to fly or use motorised transport so would have to either walk or cycle.

They aren’t all hippy looneys btw- I’ve seen the protests. A lot of families, yes even grans etc ordinary people who have taken 2 weeks off work to join the protest. It has been well planned.

gillybob I didn’t say what they were doing was right but their message is right- we need to act on climate change - or maybe you don’t think we do?

What these hippie looneys are doing is not right at all ! Bringing ordinary peoples lives ( you know those who have to work for a living) to a standstill .