Good God Extinction Rebellion blocking a funeral hearse.

[HelenaDove]

I know where they are coming from but for the love of God you dont block and/or lie under a funeral hearse. FGS think of the relatives and friends of the deceased and how they are feeling.

Unfuckingreal!

Speaking of Thames Water anyone seen the problem at Finsbury Park today.

Chardonnay The Grenfell residents have already shown how its done.

72 people died. They do a silent walk on the 14th of every month.

I’m Far too nice to ask directly. I know what I really would have liked to say, but that would be rude.

At least they're doing something to draw attention to the climate emergency.

I gather you’re not too happy with what they have achieved though.

Thats not the fault of the Grenfell residents and more to do with the shitty attitude towards social housing tenants.

But hey if its the fault of those protesting i hope you are going to apply the same principle to XR.

If they don’t achieve what they won’t then they aren’t doing it right.

Extinction Rebellion set out to raise awareness and they certainly succeeded.

From another site.

ReluctantBlonde
1 point
·
26 minutes ago
ER are a pain in the arse though - we have been warned to avoid leaving our offices through the normal exits and to keep our government ID hidden as there have been threats to attack civil servants. Whether their message is valid or not, they won't get anywhere by threatening the people who are in a place to make new laws. It isn't nice feeling unsafe walking miles out of your way to get a bus or a tube to the other side of the city to travel home, just because you work for tbe government*

Is this from Twitter?

Key facts
Climate change affects the social and environmental determinants of health – clean air, safe drinking water, sufficient food and secure shelter.
Between 2030 and 2050, climate change is expected to cause approximately 250 000 additional deaths per year, from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhoea and heat stress.
The direct damage costs to health (i.e. excluding costs in health-determining sectors such as agriculture and water and sanitation), is estimated to be between USD 2-4 billion/year by 2030.
Areas with weak health infrastructure – mostly in developing countries – will be the least able to cope without assistance to prepare and respond.
Reducing emissions of greenhouse gases through better transport, food and energy-use choices can result in improved health, particularly through reduced air pollution.
www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/climate-change-and-health

I'm very sorry for that man who missed his father's deathbed. I wish that hadn't happened.

I am far more sorry about the five million people - mostly in developing nations - who are predicted to die over the next thirty years thanks to climate change. They're mostly poor and live a long way away. But they still matter. I don't want any share in their death's on my soul.

The attached graph is world wide co2 emissions by year. The IPCC - a fairly conservative organisation - has said that we have to reduce worldwide co2 emissions by 45% by 2030, or the consequences of climate change will be much worse.

Have a look at that graph. Now tell me. How likely do you think it is that we'll reach that goal if all everyone does is sit at home, recycling, using low energy lightbulbs and cycling to work?

How likely is it if we follow Dryne's suggestion and all write earnest letters to our MPs asking them to follow an agreement already acknowledged to be nowhere near effective enough?

A bit likely? Vaguely possible? Or very very very fucking unlikely indeed?

I don't know if the growing global movement that is XR will achieve it. Maybe not. But I think it's the best hope we've got right now. I will probably still be alive in 2030. And I want to be able to look the relatives of those five million people in the eye and tell them that the lives of their families mattered more to me than my ability to get to work on time.

*In 2050.

TBH Extinction Rebellion cannot stop the damage that has already happened and still happening. I feel sorry for them. I get what they are going on about although what's done is done. If we all stopped driving stopped plastic stopped buying new clothes ect ect it would not change the damage that has already started to the earth. It's about 30years to late.

When I see all the tents in central London where they've been sleeping I do wonder where they're going to the loo...

CheerfulMuddler I completely agree that we need to do more and push the government to do more. (Though I do think we need to keep in mind global statistics/targets vs UK targets, which is all that is in our control). I will admit that although I knew the UK government had not included air travel etc in its reduction declaration, i’d thought that the original targets already took this into account as it was an accepted standard of reporting. Happy to be proved wrong on this point if true. (Well, not actually “happy” as it would in fact be very depressing, but you know what I mean!)

Climate change is an emergency, and needs large scale change not just on an individual scale; however I stand by my opinion that blocking ambulances and interfering with emergency services is not the correct way to advocate for this. They have really shot themselves in the foot with a lot of the shock tactics they are using and have lost a lot of support for an otherwise brilliant cause.

The protesters have already been written off by the government as “crusties”. I think the Conservatives are well aware that the protesters would never have voted for them anyway. The “Declaring a climate emergency” was a patronising pat on the head with no real meaning.

I am just concerned that there will be no actual concrete outcome or benefit of these protests; and yet lots of people will go away patting themselves on the back for a job well done and do absolutely nothing else to drive change. I see it as a bit smoke and mirrors - with no actual tangible benefit.

When I see all the tents in central London where they've been sleeping I do wonder where they're going to the loo...

I wondered that - especially at 4am.

I worry for women’s safety myself...

I've had a quick Google for disrupting ambulances, because that's come up a couple of times on the thread. XR say:

What is your policy on emergency vehicles?

We have no intention of delaying emergency vehicles and are working with the police to make sure this doesn’t happen.

Giving notice to the police allows plans to be put in place to reroute vehicles.

What if an ambulance doesn’t get to the hospital in time because it is delayed by you, and someone dies?

When there are traffic jams, ambulances are redirected by their HQs. If the ambulance is already very close to the roadblock, it is let through by the protesters. We usually advise of disruption before it happens, there are frequent traffic jams in London due to all manner of things such as road works and accidents and the services have strategies for coping with them, we aim to give them the necessary advance warning so they can alert crews and re route on the day.

rebellion.earth/the-truth/faqs/

Despite some pretty scathing articles in The Telegraph and The Mail, the worst disruption of emergency services anyone seems to be able to find is a non blue-lighted ambulance who got stuck in the queue. All blue-lighted emergency vehicles have been let through. There's a quote from Bristol Ambulance Service about the summer uprising here:

"We have been working closely with Avon and Somerset police, health care partners and other key organisations, in monitoring the situation very closely all week, to ensure that the delivery of patient care has not been adversely affected by the protests.

"Through this partnership working we have been able to keep our staff fully updated on any disruption, including road closures and mobile protests around Bristol City and normal trust services have been maintained for the community.”

www.google.com/amp/s/www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/what-ambulance-service-says-extinction-3113014.amp

I think it's pretty telling that the worst crime the PP could find was a man who missed his father's death bed. If XR really were blocking ambulances and interfering with emergency services don't you think she'd have found something that impacted on a blue-lighted vehicle? Somewhere? Anywhere?

Speaking personally, I've not been to the protests in London, but I did take part in the climate strike and it had quite the opposite effect to the one you suggest. I came away fired up to do more. There are even more protestors at this one than the last, and they show no signs of letting up the pressure.

The crusties comment made me laugh. Half of this thread is insisting the protestors drive 4 by 4s and love shopping. While the prime minister is insisting they're all hemp-wearing hippie vegans. Which is it? It can't be both.

By the way.

The white horse is completely undamaged.

The “Declaring a climate emergency” was a patronising pat on the head with no real meaning.

Sadly, I agree with that one. But action is being taken, particularly by local councils. And like I say, I was pleased to see climate change front and centre in the Labour and Lib Dem manifestos, which is a welcome change. Though fuck knows what will actually happen if there's another election.

Climate change is also being talked about in a way it hasn't been in my memory. It was the most-read story on the BBC website yesterday. And that can only be a good thing.

I think it's pretty telling that the worst crime the PP could find was a man who missed his father's death bed.

I have to say that I really really dislike this kind of sentiment. I think you may look back at this comment and be ashamed. I hope you are never in this position to have the regrets and “what ifs” hanging over your head for the rest of your life.

“Who cares if a man couldn’t get through to say goodbye to his dying father? Who cares if a cancer patient was forced to walk around the protests to get to an appointment? Our cause is so much higher ”

In my view, there are ways of getting your point across (the recent climate strike protests being one of them) without shitting all over the “little people”.

Disregarding the impact on vulnerable individuals in the pursuit of some nebulous “higher motive” is a slippery slope. If we chuck aside our humanity and compassion in order to save ourselves as a species... do we honestly want that future for ourselves?

@HelenaDove

Chardonnay The Grenfell residents have already shown how its done.

72 people died. They do a silent walk on the 14th of every month.

Helena, I know we are on opposite sides of the political spectrum but I completely agree with you.

Wasn't it you who wanted them shot, Soola?

Good post Dyrne.

There are more than emergency vehicles that need to get to a hospital.

a. Chemo appointments.

b. Heart rehab. DH had to attend appointments for this for six weeks. This was after his heart attack. He had an emergency ambulance when he had his heart attack but not for appointments to his heart rehab course.

c, staff need to get in.

The cancer patient who had to walk is now a story that has been picked up by the press. I said upthread they would jump on something like this if it happened and got posted on social media.

I (clearly) haven't read the whole thread, but ITV news reported that ER hired the hearse to represent the death of the planet. They did not hold up a funeral service. Classic case of jumping on the bandwagon without knowing the full facts probably. And I am neither a supporter nor unsupportive of ER.