To think this is awful? (Just Stop Oil protesters throwing soup over Van Gogh painting)

[TheCatsPyjamas1]

Just read that some Just Stop Oil protesters have thrown soup over a Van Gogh painting in the National Gallery in London. AIBU to think this is unacceptable?

I fully support the message of the group (investing in environmentally responsible energy rather than fossil fuels, and helping to make society more equal for everyone), but I find their protest methods are awful and risk alienating people who would otherwise support them.

They keep on doing crazy things, and seem to be escalating their action each time they protest. I don’t really know when or how it’ll end.

For those interested there is a report about a proposal in America to build a '15 minute city', meaning that almost all the ameneties for life (housing/work/recreation/shopping/schools ) are all within a 15 minute walk or cycle ride and I think electric buses/tranms to travel further afield. The proposal is to use state owned land in Utah (a prison site that is unnecessarily large for it's current needs). Should be interesting but will have many challenges as Utah is pretty hot in summer. If done properly it may be a useful test bed to research sustainable living.

{ivykaty44 · Today 09:01}
And what do you say about the 150,000 or more who have died as a direct result of the Tory Government ignoring scientific based health rules (some from way back Spanish Flu epidemic) when the procedures to limit airborne and contact borne pathogens has been established?

{Ivykaty44
governments need to ban fossil fuel not keep subsiding it and that is what the protests are also about}.

So please explain how banning fossil fuels will NOT cause mass starvation and death when there is no transportation for foodstuffs, Chemicals for fertilisers, Heating, medicines.

What are your thoughts on this?
{Quitting the ECT, which protects fossil fuel investors from policy changes that might threaten their profits, was ‘coherent’ with Paris climate deal, Macron said

France has become the latest country to pull out of the controversial energy charter treaty (ECT), which protects fossil fuel investors from policy changes that might threaten their profits.}

Several EU countries have already withdrawn from the treaty but what about the UK? The UK government are so in league with the oil industry that they have not sorted out a windfall tax. The EU is in the process of COLLABORATION to find ways to reduce the effects of climate change but of course with Brexit the UK will now be the dirty man of Europe as well as poor.

But what realistically can the average person do? People have died because of an avoidable bridge closure..
Normal people can only do so much.

Most people need cars. Most can’t afford an electric car, even they are not totally good for the environment.

Not everyone lives close to their work or can work from home. Some people work doing shifts , including bank holidays , 24 hours around the clock.

Do these eco warriors really think that the likes of Shell and BP give a shit about a few members of the great unwashed climbing a Bridge in little England? Or even the millionaires in Westminster who don’t have to travel on these roads?

The big banks ?

None of them really give a shit. Yet innocent members of the public suffer and in this case died. The public will turn against them the more ruthless they become.

The oil giants don’t care a jot about a couple of idiots who climb a bridge.

I've just read that paper and the list of contributors and they are not experts in their fields at all. And the disclaimer at the bottom of the list about them acting in individual capacities and not as their institutions speaks volumes too as the universities wouldn't support this as the research is weak.

The EU is in the process of COLLABORATION to find ways to reduce the effects of climate change but of course with Brexit the UK will now be the dirty man of Europe as well as poor

That's all very well, but the UK is acknowledged as being way ahead of the game. The EU has a long way to go to catch up with UK reductions on CO2. Eastern Europe and Germany in particular.

What particular advice? Most of it has, in retrospect, been disastrous whichever "science" one is following. The only science which prevailed was vaccination.

{That's all very well, but the UK is acknowledged as being way ahead of the game. The EU has a long way to go to catch up with UK reductions on CO2. Eastern Europe and Germany in particular.}
UK acknowledged by whom?
You do realise that the EU is 27 sovereign countries agreeing to act together.
The UK meanwhile is at the start of a serious recession so CO2 produced by UK industry will fall drastically while many thousands will be made jobless.
The war in Ukraine is causing massive waste of world resources and pollution. Send the ECO protestors to Russia so they can tell Putin to stop destroying Ukraine.

{What particular advice? Most of it has, in retrospect, been disastrous whichever "science" one is following. The only science which prevailed was vaccination.}

Preventing the transfer of an airborne and to a lesser extent contact borne virus is actually quite simple as the poeople in the Village of Eyam discovered a fe hundred years ago. Also in the Spanish Flu pandemic. sending people into care homes etc was obviously going to be a death sentence for many. Discovering what Covid was and how to deal with it took time but even basic preventative measures were not taken for months.

A point on the banks, this was brought up in the banking debate with the heads of some of the largest banks, jp Morgan, Fargo wells, bank of America ect.

The conclusion was that due to The current client relationships they have with the fossils companies and industry, it's seen as better to continue to do business with them, while transitioning the investments and also helping those companies to progress into using renewable and environmental friendly, technology.

How are they not experts…!? And what about the others I listed in another post, NASA, met office, Stephen Hawking etc.

The fact that you say them signing in an individual capacity means anything at all shows how little you understand about the professional world. It’s standard wording and of course they’re signing in an individual capacity, do you know what it would take for eg Cambridge university as an organisation to sign off on a paper?

LimpBiskit: "It would be helpful if protestors came together with a clear message and a clear way forward instead of being disparate and having different foci."

Meh. Not really. That's not a general expectation for other protests; "You can only protest against the closure of local libraries in Leicester if you also bring along a budget proposal for how the council can generate funds to keep said libraries open."

The public should definitely direct their concerns about the changing climate at those who have the capacity to make substantive changes, ie the government. It is up to the government to respond, to tell the truth, and to act as if the truth is real -that is, to implement climate policy congruent with what is actually, demonstrably occurring. It should be up to the government, our elected leaders, to WANT to find the best science and facilitate the most effective solutions for rapid change as a matter of absolute priority. That is what they are there for.

We are right to be concerned about the impact of global heating.

We are right to hold our elected leaders to account and expect them to be acting in our best interests and the best interests of generations to come.

We are right to be protesting and raising awareness of these alarming issues until the government acts responsibly and uses its considerable resource and influence to act on our behalf.

Dave, you are asking what you, an ordinary person, is expected to do. The protesters mentioned on this thread are not directing their protests at the individual decisions made by members of the public; they're all to aware that people live within the confines of society, and operate along it's restrictive frameworks which often precludes the making of positive environmental decisions. Extinction Rebellion, although not synonymous with Just Stop Oil, but ideologically sympathetic, have it written into its core values and principles that blaming and shaming (including members of the public for personal choices) is unproductive and acknowledges the toxicity of a system which damages all who operate therein. The focus is on holding government to account, not ordinary people.
They are using disruption as a strategy to communicate with policymakers at a time when it is alarmingly clear that, when left to their own devices, elected leaders are not taking robust enough action.

Did any of you listen to what the women said? Watch this video, and stop being so bloody ignorant.