XR are going after the wrong people

[AsAMatterOfMyArse]

And the entire Green movement is too preachy and finger pointy. Plus a bit nihilistic.

Looking at my own life, I don't earn a lot of money and I can't do much to change the world. When folks sit down on the road I'm on to get to my just-over minimum wage job it only makes my life harder when it's hard already. I kind of agree with what they're saying but I can't do anything about it and it makes me stressed when they stop me from getting to work. And yeah I'd like to not have to drive there but I did that for years, getting on buses, and it took a lot of time and a lot of money and I missed out on doing lots of things because I couldn't get to them, and I don't want to go back to that when the enviros aren't giving me a viable option.

I just kind of think they're doing that thing of raising fights against people who are not at the top, like the Tories always want us to do.

Plus they need to wash.

They are middle class and bored. Needed and hobby and a way to show off their progressive credentials. So they found a ‘cause’. The problem is that they are not too bright. Because UK produces less than 1% of global carbon emissions. Somehow they are not brave enough to protest directly to comrade Xi and grandpa Biden. Wonder why? Because protesting in central London is a nice day out and they feel like martyrs at the same time.
On a separate note, it really is comedic that climate warriors drive diesel cars. Less comedic that they emphatically claim they would block an ambulance that carrying a dying person.

@IsleofRum

They do not target China they do not target Russia the do not target India. They do not protest outside these countries embassies, consulates. They are racist / xenophobic.

Because virtues are there to be signalled not lived. Clearly

I'm not sure how I feel about Insulate Britain.

I know how I feel about OP though. 'unwashed' - nice stereotyping. Walk through London when extinction rebellion are protesting and go and have a chat with them - turns out they are normal human beings, rather some simplistic daily mail caricature - which is clearly designed to ensure there's no rational debate about climate change action.

Probably the same kind of person that thinks Labour are all communists and the Tories are all Toffs.

I think the poster who pointed out that well insulated homes could be unbearably hot in summer is onto something. I am lucky that I could afford to insulate and put double glazing in my 70s house. Due to large windows, the solar gain in hot weather is huge. Solar control blinds and curtains mitigate a bit but not enough. IB should probably add shutters, white roofs and public cooling facilities to their list.

I'm def up with the problem being ours. The little man

Yes we can do some small steps but for change to really happen

Big bio needs to carry the load

Change packaging in supermarkets
Govt need to invest in wind and kelp farms
Take away cups need to be banned. It's not hard to carry a reusable cup some even fold up and fit in pockets
Investment in cheap and reliable public transport that actually goes to places people want and need. Not just cities
Food rationing. I'm not suggesting a war time style but we can be rationed in meat sales for example. Only 4'meat dishes a week per person ? Seems reasonable.

I'm Sure there are plenty Fast fashion needs to stop. Maybe swop shops can can set up in city's and towns for good quality clothes

God a ton of spell errors in there. Hope it makes sense

They aren’t «going after» anyone, much as in the same way climate change / global heating aren’t «going after» anyone in particular. But your pov encapsulates the biggest challenge to making the changes that are needed.

Global heating doesn’t care that you’re on minimum wage. It doesn’t care why you drive now rather than getting the bus. It doesn’t care whether you think the protestors are grubby looking - or indeed whether they are or not. It doesn’t care if you / we use cloth bags or beeswax wraps 🙄. It doesn’t care about your little life. Or mine. Or our childrens lives.

But we do care about these things, hugely. We care about ‘petty’ little things like finally earning enough to not be forced to get a on crappy bus every day. We care about being able to take our kids on a cheap sunshine holiday once in a while. The changes that are needed will require people to make choices that are directly contradictory to our short term interests - and humans are really bad at that.

Plus, the scale of change required utterly dwarves the impact of individual choice. This realisation is finally starting to dawn on the environmental movement: that the “individual carbon footprint” was invented by BP and marketed by Ogilvy & Mather as a way of shifting focus from their commercial actions not individual lifestyle choices. Hence all this pointless focus on “easy ways to go green” which make absolutely fuck all difference.

So we need governments and multinational corporations to do it for us. Because we cannot do this at an individual level, no matter how many bamboo toothbrushes we buy 🙄.

#workwoes

Yes totally agree. I pray this summit actually brings a level of acceptance and appreciation and more importantly ACTION from all governments

I personally know someone who is often featured in the press for XR. He's a heavy drug user who steals from his own parents and a horrible little creep who likes to touch up drunk or sleeping women in the various houses he crashes at. He's in his 40s and he's been the same since he was a teen. And yeah, I'd definitely say the term unwashed is fair when applied to him. I can't speak for all of them. But that one, for sure. He also protests against the vaccine and various other things. He protested against anything he could 20
years ago, was always attaching himself to a cause, got done for criminal damage loads of times.

I bought a 1870 house in 2019 so single brick

So far we have spent £2000 insulating bedrooms
12k on new Sash windows and new doors front and back
3k new efficient boiler.

8k on damp roofing side wall and floor

We knew we had to do the work and factored in the cost on our offer.
We have most likely increased value but it has made a huge difference so our comfort and efficiency of the heating.
The first winter I was here it was freaking freezing. Now it's been too hot at times and we are comfortable at heating at 19 degrees It's a massive house so that's a huge achievement. Think the windows and doors made the biggest impact

But in order for most to do this three things need to happen

1.Grants or cheap loans provided by govt

1. Prices to be reasonable and regulated. The difference between some of our quotes was a piss take.
2. Grade 2 listed homes need to have some of their restrictions lifted windows and doors etc

Yep. There needs to be massive, fundamental shifts in government policy.

The “what about China?” argument doesn’t really stack up either. Yes, China has an enormous carbon footprint but a huge chunk of that carbon footprint is generated producing the stuff that we consume and buy in the West. If you allocated the carbon generated in producing goods to the countries where they end up being bought and used then it paints a different picture.

Individual consumer choices aren’t enough. Most people can’t afford to choose more expensive, small-scale produced British goods over mass produced goods from China. Ultimately, the government has to take action to remove the worst choices and worst options. They need to increase regulation on big businesses and force greater environmental responsibility. Prices will go up significantly, businesses will be angry and withdraw political funding or even go bust and the measures won’t be popular, which is why it hasn’t been done already.

IB are a walking PR disaster for the environmental movement but something very fundamental needs to change. It’s not enough to just shrug our shoulders.

If climate change continues, Britain is going to get significantly colder, not warmer. Uninsulated homes will be a huge problem if the Gulf Stream stops. London is further north than Calgary in Canada and Edinburgh is further North than Moscow. If climate change ends the Gulf Stream we really won’t be worrying about our homes getting too warm.

Climate change making summers hotter and hotter. UK homes even if old built more to keep heat in than stay cool.

In the UK it's more likely that it will eventually make us much colder as the gulf stream shuts down. Even if not, a two degree difference over a century will not make insulated houses too hot.

On the OP: I agree that IB and XR are imbeciles who are damaging the cause they claim to support.