to continue to support Extinction Rebellion

[54321nought]

carrying on from the first thread

here

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/a4327567-to-support-extinction-rebellion-more-London-action-tomorrow?msgid=110225062#110225062

However if you look at the UKs contribution to global emissions we rank so low

So the UKs contribution to climate change is too small to bother about, but a diesel car is worth bothering about?

The car and the flights annoy me as it is hypocritical, but I think that at this stage we need to let it go and look at the bigger picture. We are all hypocrites to some extent. We all compromise in order to function.

Well target MP’s then

That will get their attention

I know several people who are heavily involved in XR, they all fly abroad for holidays at least once a year because they feel like they’ve ‘earned it’. Most of them also drive big cars and vans and generally live lifestyles that really don’t match with what XR is supposed to stand for. From conversations I’ve had with some of them they genuinely seem to think their protesting cancels out the pollution they create!

(Obviously that doesn’t apply to everyone who’s involved)

@54321nought

They are not out to educate, or persuade the public, they are out to disrupt, and get government attention

They will certainly do that - no doubt the current government will point out the damage and disruption caused, then carry on exactly as before.

XR are the most pointless movement ever, not because there isn't an issue, but because they are making it worse.

Was there an XR Event? I had not the slightest idea until I read this post. Did any educational disruption happen, or tried to happen, somewhere?

It's so old news and XR is irrelevant at best and counterproductive at worst. The whole world is takng notice of Climate Change and Environmental concerns, XR has nothing to add and looks a bit silly.

Relying on individuals to make changes voluntarily won’t work, though. Most people will not self-limit, especially if they can’t exercise choice due to their circumstances.

However if you look at the UKs contribution to global emissions we rank so low on there

This is a myth, we contribute hugely, we import good that have been made in China, where they have caused massive pollution in their production, and we export our waste to countries like Turkey and Malaysia, where it causes massive pollution in its disposal

We are massive global polluters

If they were really clever they would cyber attack large polluting companies or take non-essential consumer websites offline causing disruption or loss of revenue without any extra pollution

What makes you think they are not doing that too?

@Darker

"However if you look at the UKs contribution to global emissions we rank so low

So the UKs contribution to climate change is too small to bother about, but a diesel car is worth bothering about?

The car and the flights annoy me as it is hypocritical, but I think that at this stage we need to let it go and look at the bigger picture. We are all hypocrites to some extent. We all compromise in order to function."

The point I was making was it's very much say as we say not as we do - if the world is in the state XR are trying to say it is then they shouldn't be driving diesel or flying around the place - not when they want others to change, they're not leading by example! If we "let it go" about their cars and flights then what on earth are we going to change? They make up the bigger picture - small changes lead to big results, if we all just "let it go" about everything no one will ever make any changes.

DuckDuckGooses I agree it’s annoying but we haven’t got time for everyone to make those sensible choices or for changes on that scale to make a difference. We need drastic action to stop vast amounts of fossil fuels being drilled and mined. It’s like worrying about a dripping tap while ignoring the flood.

@Darker if that's the view then I think XR aren't going to have much of an impact, their actions all just seem to cause disruption to ordinary working people rather than the "powers that be" that might be able to get the action they want? An economy like China can't just shut down production or shipping overnight, it'd ruin the country. I think their plan of a peak in the next ten or so years then carbon neutral by 2060 (I think?) is already ambitious for such a huge country. If XR want to somehow broker a US-China emissions deal then they might get somewhere!

XR can’t broker a deal - governments need to do that. XR can keep these issues in the public eye and normalise holding companies and governments to account.

There are other movements advocating for more environmentally sound consumption. XR don’t need to duplicate what they are doing.

I don’t speak for XR by the way. I’ve popped in to a couple of their events and that’s about it. But I think what they are doing is necessary. Our government will always back big companies because they want the revenue and the jobs.

I can’t believe after 2 threads people don’t really understand the point of them.

Hilarious

It's Tuesday.
Why weren't they at work?

Why were they using up police resources?

How did they all get there?

They do little to inspire support or engagement with environmental issues. They just bring attention on themselves and their higher ups. I would not be surprised if money is flowing from the lowers to the uppers or some kind of patreon / book deal is funding them.

It's Tuesday.
Why weren't they at work?

not everyone works Tuesdays!

Lots of retired doctors, lawyers , teachers, police etc are there

Lots of people on annual leave, or unemployed

Haha
Is it Tuesday. Why aren’t they at work

Genius

Because everyone is a homogeneous blob who all work 9-5 in Staines counting paper clips

Sorry work from home zooming counting paper clips

@54321nought

It's Tuesday. Why weren't they at work?

not everyone works Tuesdays!

Lots of retired doctors, lawyers , teachers, police etc are there

Lots of people on annual leave, or unemployed

I see.

Shame they didn't have better ways to spend their time. Like staying home, recycling their cardboard, writing verbose emails to Apple or harvesting their allotment veg.

@Flyingantday

If they were really clever they would cyber attack large polluting companies or take non-essential consumer websites offline causing disruption or loss of revenue without any extra pollution, public littering or stopping people on low incomes getting to work or patients to hospital appointments.

What if they're not 'really clever'?

What if they're just ordinary people who don't think the population as a whole are listening to the scientists about the risks of climate change and so are trying something disruptive?

Why do XR attack the most vulnerable in society? How does that 'get the message across'?... unless their message is hate of the elderly, disabled, and poor.

I wonder how many people will die because of this latest festival of disruption in densely populated overcrowded London? The city with 165,000 vulnerable homeless, over 1 million elderly, and millions more clinically vulnerable. Covid cases, hospitalisations, and deaths already rising.

The media is reporting 'concerns' about tourists in Cornwall during the pandemic. No such concerns apparently for the millions of vulnerable Londoners.

How many people will die or suffer because XR's road blocks delay ambulances and travel to hospital?

How many victims of violent crime including domestic abuse victims and vulnerable children/teenagers caught up in gang crime will be injured or die because the overstretched Metropolitan Police are busy with the arrogant XR lot - with their pathetic little floppy trick, deliberately taking as many police as possible to arrest them.

@Tealightsandd
That’s got to be a joke right?

@Tealightsandd

Why do XR attack the most vulnerable in society? How does that 'get the message across'?... unless their message is hate of the elderly, disabled, and poor.

I wonder how many people will die because of this latest festival of disruption in densely populated overcrowded London? The city with 165,000 vulnerable homeless, over 1 million elderly, and millions more clinically vulnerable. Covid cases, hospitalisations, and deaths already rising.

The media is reporting 'concerns' about tourists in Cornwall during the pandemic. No such concerns apparently for the millions of vulnerable Londoners.

How many people will die or suffer because XR's road blocks delay ambulances and travel to hospital?

How many victims of violent crime including domestic abuse victims and vulnerable children/teenagers caught up in gang crime will be injured or die because the overstretched Metropolitan Police are busy with the arrogant XR lot - with their pathetic little floppy trick, deliberately taking as many police as possible to arrest them.

Out of interest, did you have the same opinion of BLM as above?

@54321nought

They are not out to educate, or persuade the public, they are out to disrupt, and get government attention

Utterly pointless then.

We have a Conservative government - voted in by conservative voters. Conservative voters are the least likely to be convinced by the antics of XR. It is therefore not in the interests of the Conservative government to pay any more attention to XR than they do to any other criminals.

Who knows what is or isn’t pointless.

Bollocks XR care about the environment.

Not a peep from them over the last year about our wide open borders - millions of non essential travellers during a pandemic.

Why do they never protest in sleepy market towns and villages. In the affluent shires - where the CEOs and policy makers live? Where most of them themselves live.

Blocking roads (and delaying ambulances during a pandemic) makes pollution worse - due to the traffic chaos.

These people don't care about climate change. They just hate poor people and the vulnerable.