Just Stop Oil's daily protests

[CatsAreAlwaysCute]

Is anyone else concerned about where these daily protests will lead us?

The public are clearly getting more and more irritated by their antics. It's only a matter of time before one of the protestors are seriously injured.

I'm also worried that the government will ban certain types of protest as a result?

Thank you. I was trying to articulate something along those lines and then saw you;d already said it better.

I think they're a bunch of twats. I'd love to know how they think their vegan shoes are made if not from oil based products:

@BigFatLiar you really don't know what you're talking about

The irony of the Stop Oil actions: the pain they use has petrochemicals in it, the glue they use has petrochemicals in it!

Natural fibres and rubber perhaps?

I haven't gone on protests that require me to use oil based fuel to get there. Thats a good start to my commitment surely?

It takes about 5 -10 years to build a nuclear power station.

You can build a solar farm in 3 - 6 months and a wind farm in 6 - 12 months.

It most certainly is not! Here’s a balanced article from the NYT on this

t.co/uVhanl7tjM

The wind and solar farms won’t give you the kind of reliable energy you need though, so you could destroy the entire landscape with renewables and still not replace fossil fuels as effectively as nuclear can (in electricity generation ofc, as fossil fuels cannot be replaced in other contexts like heavy transport or agriculture)

Underanothersky the suffragettes got the vote not through their violent acts and demonstrations but through the peaceful, persuasive work of the suffragists and the meaningful contribution of millions of ordinary women during the first world war. If it had been left to the suffragettes we could still have been waiting. I get the circular argument, Catch 22 and all that, but it wasn't the suffragettes actions which actually really brought about the change.

People are facing huge issues. Some middle class twonk gluing themselves to a train won't solve a darned thing.

people are talking about the idiots protesting - not their cause

This appears to be lost on quite a few here.

Well it’s subjective and dependent on who you talk to/who you’re listening to isn’t it? Lots of people in my circle are talking about the cause. Perhaps in yours they’re frustrated about the “idiots” protesting, but that’s not necessarily true for everyone.

Can anyone explain why hydroelectricity isn't used more? We're an island, we have a lot of sea and tides. I remember learning about this stuff back in the early 90s and all the pros/cons of alternative energy sources, and tidal power seemed a no-brainer. What am I missing? (Clearly fishing, which would have to be sorted, but what else?)

I quite enjoyed the German response (i think it was the Germans) when the protesters glued themselves to that factory floor.

The press is taking less and less notice now, the public are fast becoming bored with their antics and their message is lost because they are now just seen as vandals and idiots stopping decent people working. I have no time for them and certainly don't like being preached too by hypocrites (didn't one of them drive round the world in a gas guzzling van but now feels we should all stay home). One of the worlds worst polluters is China (I believe) why not go and glue yourselves to the road there? Or is it because you don't fancy consequences?

Well I suppose their argument would be that the environmental impact of getting there isn’t a price worth paying

Passing people off isn't going to make them listen to your cause. People paid attention to single use plastic because David Attenborough showed them the consequences. No one is going to listen to Steve, the guy who glued himself to the road and made you late for the dentist.
I agree with the message but the methods? Nope. Same with vegans who spill milk in shops. I'm a vegetarian and would never, ever waste an animal product like that. I certainly wouldn't give up dairy because they do that either.

@electricdreaming handy excuse I guess, but they cause more pollution with all alternative routes getting clogged up when they stage their "protests" then if they just left everyone to get on with their lives.

Underanothersky the suffragettes got the vote not through their violent acts and demonstrations but through the peaceful, persuasive work of the suffragists and the meaningful contribution of millions of ordinary women during the first world war. If it had been left to the suffragettes we could still have been waiting. I get the circular argument, Catch 22 and all that, but it wasn't the suffragettes actions which actually really brought about the change.

Agreed.

A fair few other countries had already given women the vote and Britain was increasingly seen as being behind the times.

Really, though, we probably need to make some huge societal changes in our expectations and way of life in order to become more sustainable. I work in the construction sector and our fleet averages 5mpg, easily going down to 2mpg when a fully loaded truck is going up a hill.

Problem is that most of the houses our clients build are sold before even being finished and said clients are mostly back to pre covid levels of turnover. They won't willingly change whilst the £££ are rolling in.

The waste is terrible. A significant amount of the mortar we deliver ends up being dumped in skips as they have to pay a charge per tub to have it taken away if they refuse the delivery after ordering it, so they usually just accept the excess even if they don't need it and dump it. It then needs collected by another truck and disposed of, often to landfill.

I used to work for Biffa and 40% of all dry mixed recyclables (DMR) ended up going to landfill due to customers contaminating the wheelie bins and by extension the whole load - e.g. a whole truckload of plastic and cardboard going to landfill because a school put their food waste in the wrong bin and the driver didn't notice because the school covered the top with cardboard in the knowledge it wouldn't be collected otherwise and they'd have to pay for an extra general waste collection. Of course, the tip would notice once it was all tipped out and they'd scoop up the whole five tons of recycling with the JCB and move it to the general waste bay due to having no way of separating the food which was now compacted through the whole load.

Our depot alone collected approx 500,000 tons of recyclables annually so 40% of that being buried is a lot. Across all the UK you're talking literally millions of tons of plastic/cardboard going to landfill whilst we continue to chop down forests to make more cardboard and manufacture loads more plastic for disposable things like throwaway vape pens and general tat etc. It's quite depressing really, especially when you consider how light cardboard is and the sheer amount of it required to make up a ton.

Galaktoboureko
Really, though, we probably need to make some huge societal changes in our expectations and way of life in order to become more sustainable.

Its not just about fleets of vehicles its about having the infrastructure in place to replace what we have. We need reliable public transport and not just that but people who are not going to be arseholes when they use it.

I used to live in Brighton, good public transport, but they was always someone (or two) that thought that everybody wanted to listen to their music or phonecall, and that is just the start of it.

Perhaps we could do away with gas and electric central heating.

I admire them, tbh. And if I was young and fit, instead of old and crook, I could be quite inclined to join them. Nothing of importance ever got changed by sitting at home and doing nothing, and climate change is a very real threat imo.

Seems like a sewer of selfishness here! Media will happily air the 'naughty protestors' debate, not the 'how do we get to what the overwhelming expert advice says' debate. Tories want it that way as they are fossil-fuel sponsored. Women wouldn't have the vote without similar protests, for instance.

TBH, when they glue themselves to the wall, I'd just leave them there. Their choice, their consequences. Clean the artwork up, and let them be.

They'll get hungry or need the toilet eventually.

I fully agree that the world needs to drastically and quickly remove its dependence on fossil fuels. However, chucking food stuffs over paintings makes absolutely no impact on furthering this cause, other than to piss people off and alienate. Fuck em, leave em there with their hands glued to the wall...