Pass me the bucket...

Sadly I think the publicity they attract is not always good publicity though absthame . The public tend to dislike hypocrisy.

Of course these personalities should be involved in supporting issues that they feel strongly about, even if they are imperfect in that support, but aren't we all. They have a benefit over most of us average Joes and Janes in that they often get an increase in the level of publicity for the issue concerned, so any cause welcomes their likes getting involved and we should not stand on the sidelines being so po-faced about it.

Take your point of course gillybob.

Dare I say, the people I know well who are joining XR are all frequent fliers on long haul as well. They have family in other parts of the world, some of them fly because of work commitments in Asia, Africa, the US etc.

I think we can all do the best we can in whatever circumstances our lives present us with. I bought a Diesel car a few years ago when it was The Right Thing To Do. I can't afford and don't want to replace it. It's ideal for transporting my grandchildren and dogs, its economical and works for me. I ponder on whether I should go electric, then read that isn't problem free.

If we all make small changes in our lives, alongside encouraging our politicians to listen to the science and act on it, can we do any more. The only thing I can see that would make a bigger difference now, is if Mr T was no longer POTUS and we had a US president who listens to the science, believes and takes action.

I think celebs and the royals (are they not one and the same these days?) do have every right to express their views as long as they go on to practise what they preach. They cannot have one rule for them and another for the rest of us. All this carbon offsetting is a load of rubbish. Basically saying “look at me I can afford to fly around the world on private planes but don’t worry I will pay someone to plant some trees in my name” .

More support for Anja, crystaltipps and Lazigirl. Famous people getting involved and the demonstrations are ensuring the issues around climate change and the environment are centre stage.
Richard Attenborough has been raising this, along with others but it's only in recent times that a Big Noise has means it's front page news.
Are we seriously suggesting that if we become famous, or are members of the RF,, we don't have the right to express of views?

I completely agree with Anja and crystaltipps. I suspect some XR supporters don't have "pure" motives, and some of their actions are silly, but at least they are raising this issue which is the most serious threat to our future, and puts Brexit in the shade.

It is easy to be complacent living our comfortable life styles but things will change soon and we are leaving this terrible legacy for our grandchildren.

We may feel smug that unlike celebs we don't take trans Atlantic flights, or go cruising in our leisure time, but the clothing and footwear industries together account for more of a global impact than airline flights and maritime trips put together.

It's worth thinking about this when we buy our next fashion item.

Anja
Many years ago when we first became aware of this problem a Native American Indian gave an interview on the subject of the planet dying.
He maintained that if/when we as a species wipe ourselves out the planet will survive.
It will be wounded but it will survive ?

Oh Urmstongran, what would I do without my beloveds? They are the reason that I recycle, use less plastic etc. But government needs to do the big stuff.

I don’t know if you still work crystal, but my son, along with many others, works in central London. Disruption of this level prevents many people from simply getting to work on time. It doesn’t help the cause at all. And at the end of the day, we ordinary citizens can only do our own small bit to help the environment. Governments are the ones who make policy and can change things. Beckett makes an interesting point about one of the founders of XR, because she is right, paralysing central London would seem to be more in line with the objective of bringing about the downfall of capitalism.
I think the posters on this thread have shown complete respect for, and awareness of the problem. No one is treating the subject lightly as in the way the suffragettes or civil rights movement were treated in the past, but they are saying that the ‘luvies’ are hypocritical, as they regularly turn up at the latest demonstration in order it seems to be seen. The ‘conference’ that Prince Harry and a host of celebrities turned up for during the summer is the best example of this, and unfortunately the more celebrities that turn up, the more the ordinary citizens feel they are hypocritical, which then defeats the original point of the action. Paralysing central London probably has a similar effect, particularly among those directly affected by it.

I also read that Urmstongran and then read that Juliet Stevenson has four children.....and they expect us to taken seriously!

Crystaltipps I've got no time whatsoever with protesters of any sort ! It's they who are stealing oxygen with their inane lip-service which is an excuse to either skip work or school or just to follow the tribes, many masked ? then get arrested. Where's the sense in that ?? What do they achieve ? Look at the mess they leave behind. Do they return to clean it up ? They can pontificate all they like but I won't be listening !

The biggest single act to help climate change is to remain child free. Fact.

Where would us GN’ers be without our DGC??

Disagreeing with XR methods does not mean someone is not concerned about climate change.

It also concerns me that one of the founders of XR has said he wants to bring about the downfall of capitalism - so attempting to close down London's business centre seems more in line with that aim.

I like in London and there is travel disruption of one kind or another every day. I was recently held up for an appointment by taxi drivers protesting and blocking a bridge. Now taxi drivers are moaning about disruption.

Who rattled your cage? Talk about sweeping generalisations. I expect you’d have said the same about the suffragettes and civil rights protesters.

Anja have you ever tried getting to work in Central London when there is travel disruption?

What menaces these protesters are. Selfish, brainless useless individuals. Disrupting people's lives, costing millions in policing and also driving the police away from other more urgent matters that go on in the streets of London.

Time for the hose's !!

I'm with crystaltips on this. Not just her last post, but that one sum up what I have been thinking while reading this thread.

No-one said that thousands were hypocrites.

Just the celebrities with their celebrity lifestyles.

crystaltips exactly. I’m seriously shocked by those on this site who have no idea of the seriousness of the situation.
Those who think that 95% of scientists have got it wrong. That they know more than people like David Attenborough.

As the planet warms up our ice caps at both poles WILL melt. That will release billions upon billions of water. Sea levels will rise. Firstly coastal communities will flood then further inland. People will seek refuge from this permanently and I’m not talking about ‘foreigners’ this will happen in the UK, the USA and all over the first world too.
Secondly this increase in oceans will permanently alter our weather patterns. More severe storms, hurricanes, typhoons, etc.
There will be food shortages due to shifting climate patterns.
More CO2 and CH4 will. be released into the atmosphere causing the planet to heat up even more, and so on.
All this will cause riots, havoc, deaths, famine, disease.

This is the future we bestow on our grandchildren. So those of you who haven’t read or understood the implications, or simply dismiss them like that moron Trump, please don’t mock or denigrate those who are trying to move governments to do something.

Try to understand what they are doing,

jennifer ‘the planet isn’t going to die for heavens sake*

WTF? Oh yes it is!

A lot of people have missed the point- it’s not just about individuals recycling or cutting down on meat eating, it’s about governments taking this seriously and big business and industrial agriculture changing harmful practices. Yes, as individuals we should act but without the political will, species will continue to decline, air and waterways will continue to be polluted. I don’t give a monkeys about any of the celebs spouting, but I do think ER has shown that it’s not just about us. Sneering and calling thousands of people you don’t know hypocrites, is lazy generalisation.

I just heard a suggestion:

Perhaps well known personalities, ER leaders etc, should be setting up local groups educating people on how we can all do our bit to save the planet, telling us what they do themselves to achieve that aim.

Thank you to Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall who has spearheaded such campaigns.

That sounds like a sensible idea to me, if they do indeed have all the answers.

Dinahmo
You don't seem to have understood the OP at all.

Gabriella has never claimed to only wear UK produced clothes produced from organic cotton grown in the UK, nor to eat vegan food grown just along the road from where she lives.
I may not agree with Gabriella some of the time but I agree with her point about the hypocrisy of many of those celebs.

I've just watched farmers harvesting their fruit (pollinated by bees) ready for the markets. Hand picked, crated, taken a few hundred yards to the packing shed in a diesel or petrol driven small vehicle, lifted by motorised forklift to be graded by a huge machine powered by electricity. Hand packed in cardboard boxes lined with paper.
Then has to be transported by truck to the supermarkets.

Do you know exactly where your food is produced, how it is transported? How do you cook it, or do you eat it raw? Some vegan food takes a lot of cooking.
Do you have any suggestions on how to produce food for the world population? How to avoid the criminal waste of food that takes place, enough to ensure no-one in the world goes hungry?
There are more questions than answers, yes, but intelligent answers are what we need, not people gluing themselves down (did he use flour and water paste or 'real glue'?) or pouring paint everywhere with the aid of a diesel powered ancient fire engine.

I'd like to hear some answers.

Anja on this and other threads you seem to be under the impression that anyone who questions ER, Thunberg or their methods is not concerned, not interested in reducing their own carbon footprint and do not care about any of the forward thinking which is happening by those working towards these aims without fuss or fanfare.

This is simply not true.