Eco protesting

[Boomerwang]

Apparently there's a bill going forward to give police more powers to deal with protests and vigils that cause 'serious unease' or 'serious annoyance' and this bill has been blocked several times by Keir Starmer previously.

AIBU to think police should be granted more powers to stop protestors from blocking access points? I fully agree the right to protest must be protected, but what about when it affects others?

I'd argue to go even further and stop the waste of taxpayer's money by having to involve the police at all but then I know people would get seriously hurt this way and that's not okay.

At the same time, I wonder how effective these protests are by forcing us to confront what's going on and whether ultimately they are doing something good? Would they achieve results by sitting to the side of access points instead? Would anyone listen if daily life were uninterrupted? Does anyone stop to think of the cause just because they were physically stopped? Surely it's impossible to sympathise when you're angry?

Personally protesting is something I read about in the news but it doesn't prompt me to reflect on my contribution or research further.

Has anyone been affected by protests before and did it make you consider environment and ecology after the event?

@Fishwishy the biggest emitter of CO2 in the UK is land transport, not aviation. So while I fundamentally disagree with their methods their message is pretty spot on.

@Gilead if you want to understand present and future decarbonisation policy in the UK start here www.theccc.org.uk/publications/

Current funding calls are here should you feel you would like to take part apply-for-innovation-funding.service.gov.uk/competition/search

They cause utter disruption and threat to emergency services etc these kind of protests and peoples livelihoods , why is their protest more important that the 668000 million that live here

Yet here you all are supporting them whilst on a smart phone which has done zero good for the environment
Meanwhile ambulances and emergency services may not have enough fuel or be stuck in a blockade, a self employed person may now not be able to put food on the table as they couldn't get to work.
But hey none of this matters as its not directly affecting them .
Yes the poilce need more powers otherwise the public could start taking matters into their own hands
People have had enough of this group and they are not encouraging anyone to listen to them
We had some in our town not long ago , standing in the road
All from miles away , all came in cars , cars sitting idle causes pollution as wel
Caused choas for a day and not one single person seemed to be drawn to the cause

@carefullycourageous but you can insulate your house or do you think the goverment should pay for that ?

@Thebestwaytoscareatory why resign , we had grants for insulation people didn't all take it up
These rich people protrsring which many are could also fund other insulation, if people want it they can get it
But certain houses insulation causes more issues , buildings do need to breath
No govermemt is going to do what they want overnight and even if se did in the uk it will make hardly any impact
I bet these people still order tat from china and replace their mobiles every 18 months etc

@Chely what you think its ok to grab someone who is going to work , they are a member of the public too you know
If someone grabbed me I would punch them , no one has a right to lay their hands on me

@Daftasabroom but we are a drop in the ocean to the rest of the world , we can't save the planet
And you know many of us have to drive to work and feed our kids
I know noone that is really listening to this lot and they seem to be doing more harm than good with the general public who they need on their side , so why continue

@Stabbitystabstab because they can't answer and its a very good question
Where were they all winter

@carefullycourageous don't accuse people of things , accept that this group are doing no good for their cause
When someone can't feed their child as they have not been able to work then they are not going to listen to sometime priviledged people who are causing issues

Its looks like they my of even united labour & cons
Go them aye , doing a grand job of bringing about change

@RagingRagingAndMoreRaging I will ask you , why don't these people become MP's and change things from inside? Do also believe if we do all they ask in the uk suddenly the world is saved
You think its ok that they may cause a family now to not be able to have food on the table as parents can't get to work , or that someone dies in the back of an ambulance as they can't get passed a road block, is that all ok ? As its not their relatives or their lifes being affected
Protests are one thing but there are a lot more they can do
I bet most of them own the latest smart phone and various gadgets etc and aren't all living the simple life

@RagingRagingAndMoreRaging to also think that nothing had changed in 30 years is also wrong , changes have been made
But you think its ok someone dies now in the back of an ambulance as they have tried everything else
None of these people seem to lay their lifes bare of what they do and don't have
None of us writing in here , really need a mobile phone, we survived for years without them.

@worriedatthistime the UK bears a significant responsibility for past emmisions and we can only benefit from reducing our future emmisions and developing the technologies and skills to do so. Reducing emissions will positive local impacts as well as Global benefits. Business as usual is naive, arrogant and will harm us as much as anyone else.

climate.leeds.ac.uk/news/discourses-of-delay-arguments-used-to-avoid-climate-action/

@worriedatthistime there are between 28,000 and 36,000 in the UK each year due NOx and fine particulate pollution. PM2.5 is almost exclusively locally generated fossil fuel combustion emissions.

But they are definitely doing more than good I agree.

@Daftasabroom but we can't change the world and its ignorant to think we can
These protesters are not doing good most everyday people hate the disruption and switch of when most of these privileged people come on and talk
When they protested in my small town , they all drove from miles away

@Daftasabroom i never said they were doing more than good maybe read my post
The average person is not listening to them now due to latest antics
And as another poster said where were they all winter

@worriedatthistime one thing is certain, and that is the will change and now is the opportunity for us to drive and influence that change for the better.

@Daftasabroom sorry it doesn't make sense

The trouble is that people having lower energy bills directly contradicts their motives for protesting - to reduce use. Higher costs result in non essential use being reduced. So in reality, what they would actually want is homes insulated AND prices raised even higher.

It's the same with water. Water meters reduce usage. It's a fact. But they also cost poor people and disabled people a far greater proportion of their lower incomes. Because if the prices are so low that it doesn't negatively affect somebody on a low income to use what they actually need, it has even less effect upon the people who can easily afford it and don't care about the size of the water bill filling up their baths and Jacuzzis and putting the sprinklers on through the day.

@worriedatthistime apologies. One thing is certain and that the world will change....

@RagingRagingAndMoreRaging

MeasureTwice

TBH it’s not you they want to influence. Your opinion is irrelevant here. Im not being rude. Mine isn’t relevant either. You will have seen the protests and marches, perhaps the petitions, you may have read the scientific reports or the media coverage of them, you might have watched David Attenborough etc but if none of that made you see what is happening and what needs to be done, nothing will.

Everything that can be done to help people to understand and make changes, has been done, for well over 30 years.

Direct action and civil disobedience isn’t about changing public opinion. It’s about disruption, sending a clear message. It’s an act of deliberate defiance to try and get Governments to act in the best interests of the people.

If an otherwise law abiding, emotionally stable, professional, middle aged woman is ready to be arrested and go to prison to get her message to the Government then that says something.

I know people whose working lives have been dedicated to studying climate change and they are SCARED! They lose sleep worrying about their childrens future. Trying to figure out which country might be the safest for them (space to avoid social unrest, cooler climate to grow crops,etc). We should all be out there protesting and shouting because our Governments have sequentially chosen profits before planet and people. Across the globe. Their decisions are putting lives at risk and they KNOW it. The science could not be clearer. For years now.

Again, I’ll ask, what else can be done, other than nothing - which in the face of very possible complete extinction of the human race, seems a bit silly?

Yes. It says that she is financially secure and will not face eviction for failing to pay rent - unlike the poor fuckers she's preventing from getting to work.

And that she doesn't give a shit about whether they end up dying because they can't get to a hospital appointment because 'ideals' and the future of future inheritors of her wealth and DNA is of more value to her than the immediate risk to the people she is harming.

The best thing that could happen to the planet as a whole is that those grandchildren do suffer and do not make it to reproductive age. The planet would be fine, different, but fine. People on the whole, however, not so. But that's what has been happening for millennia. Poor people get shafted, the rich wish to protect their assets and genetic line. The protestors don't appreciate that they are the rich to the vast majority of the world and explain this as being oh, so very distraught at the thought of the future where their genes might not get propagated and great grandchildren may not inherit the comfortable houses and work in comfortable offices with the knowledge that there will be enough money to go and get themselves arrested.

the UK bears a significant responsibility for past emmisions and we can only benefit from reducing our future emmisions and developing the technologies and skills to do so.

We bear a significant responsibility for current emissons. The UK, and much of the West, are net importers of CO2e emissions. China, so often highlighted as the big bad polluter, is a net exporter by quite a significant amount. In essence, China are only the biggest source of emissons because we've offshored our production and they're the ones meeting the demand of our consumption habits.

The Global Carbon Project do huge amounts of research into embodied/embedded carbon emissons, which is widely ignored by Western media because it reveals us to be the issue, and we want to continue to pretend there's nothing we can do cause...China!

Tbh this thread has just reinforced the idea that discussion, debate, education, stats, figures, and facts are pointless. Huge chunks of the population don't believe, or just ignore, the truth.

Instead they'll close their eyes, stick their fingers in their ears, and scream "what about...X!" while they march off towards the cliff edge. Which would be fine if only they were going to be affected but, unfortunately we're all chained together and once they go over we're getting dragged over too. It's fucking depressing when you think about it, it's a genuine don't look up scenario.

@NeverDropYourMooncup exactly and they we are all stupid and think they are doing it for us and our children

Business as usual is naive, arrogant and will harm us as much as anyone else

This can be true, but isn't there also a certain arrogance in believing we're all that counts with the planet, when from a climatic perspective we're a microscopic pinprick?

Personally I believe a lot of the angst is down to social media, where any fool can (and often does) post utter nonsense in the knowledge there'll be enough credulous folk to form an audience. Doubtless someone will mention modelling, but as we've seen with Covid, it amounts to little more than guesswork

@Thebestwaytoscareatory typed from non essential chinese smart phone