To risk arrest for protesting about the climate emergency?

[medicellen]

I have recently taken part in climate protests with Extinction Rebellion but have stopped short of activities that would lead to an arrest.

I am a scientist and it has been beyond doubt for some years that the climate emergency is accelerating.

And yet, global carbon emissions continue to increase. Our government is granting new licences for fossil fuels, whilst oil companies rake in massive profits. This is utter madness (aka "collective suicide" according to the lead of the UN).

I have an 8-year old son who says one day he might like to have children. I have avoided saying that this may be either not possible or not desirable due to the state of the climate by then.

Petitions, campaigning, pleas, marches have failed. In my mind, the only option left is civil disobedience. Mass arrests advanced the causes of suffrage and civil rights and I am now contemplating arrest as the only meaningful contribution I have left.

Do you you glue yourself to things? What have you done?

I agree with the sentiment but we had to cancel a heart transplant last week because the ambulance transporting the organ got stuck behind people who had glued themselves to the road. No way round.

No. It's your posts to the thread as a whole. Coming straight out of the manmade climate change denier playbook.

We may be able to reverse climate change but (imo) you and I probably won't be around to see it. Yes, we can reduce our impact in a and we can mitigate against the affects of climate change too to protect ourselves, future generations and the rest of our planet. It won't be perfect, but that doesn't mean you do nothing.

(But I would see glueing myself to a motorway as basically doing nothing in terms of impact so I won't be doing it)

Nice, but what's your answer to the actual questions.

I think fewer people is really the best and only solution personally, and fewer carbon-based lifeforms in general.

Shut down the entire meat and dairy industry for one and adopt a one child policy - these would have the biggest impact.

I don't drive, eat animals, and have one child. I'm never going to do anything more than that because I want to enjoy life. I don't fly.

I still would like to know from OP what exact outcome she wants from the protest and how the protest will achieve it. She'd do well to ask herself that question but I 100% believe XR are all about virtue signalling and being pleased with onesself.

You thinking I deny manmade climate change doesn't explain how you could think I deny climate change is a thing because I think it happens naturally.

Are you able to explain that one?

Fair enough if that isn't the point of them... I have never really understood the point of them in any case.

I don't think we need a citizens' assembly to demonstrate a commitment to do something/a desire to accept solutions. Either that commitment and desire is there or it isn't, and a representative assembly will reflect the mixed views of the population as it stands at the moment.

Creating a citizens assembly to resolve that we should "do something" seems utterly pointless to me. Just a talking shop to tell us what we already know. Most politicians have already seen enough of the science to know that action is required. The question is what.

Of course, trying to get consensus on the detail is incredibly difficult, and that's what is holding us back at the moment. Nobody really knows how to do what we need to do because it is clear that it will have a major impact on how we live. The detail is the only important bit, though....it is the only hope we have.

@Theluggage15 - do you advocate giving up and doing nothing?

Does civil disobedience work?

People always point to the suffragettes as the classic example but it's not that simple.

Its been argued that whilst it drew attention to the cause, it didn't change opinions.

What changed opinions were the less hailed and unfashionable suffragists and circumstances changing to force necessities to change (WWI).

We are at a moment where energy prices are focusing minds far more than protestors on the M25. And where the politics of dealing with certain countries is pushing the political agenda to seek energy security long term. In terms of science if the uk can get its act together there's money to be made in renewable technology.

If the wise push this angle its far more likely to be successful than dickheads in art galleries.

Make it connect with day to day life in a positive way to get people on board.

Low birth rate isn't always the best option all round. Larger populations in Western countries is usually down to higher life expectancy which itself leads to lower birth rate, so we end up with an ageing population which can be problematic. So I'm not sold on the one child policy necessarily. But perhaps in the UK we could if we allowed more immigration. But then think how that idea would go down with the electorate and no right minded politician would go with it

In a battle for hearts and minds speak to both...

Are you talking about work visas?

How much do we allow now and how much do you want us to allow exactly?

No you are wrong, the blog is a totally hypothetical look 2500 years into the future.

Enthalpy essentially means that in a closed system energy can be transferred from on place to the other and from one form to another - e.g. kinetic energy from wind into electricity. But the release of greenhouse gases, primarily from the burning of fossil fuels means that earth absorbs more of the suns energy, the enthalpy is changing. This absorption of that energy is what is driving climate change.

Assuming we get to net zero and a constant amount of GHGs in the atmosphere the enthalpy we also be constant so it doesn't matter how many times you move the energy about the total will remain fixed.

@MrsBennetsPoorNerves - the Brexit decision was influenced by a media and politicians with vested interests who deployed frank lies to the public. I dont think it is because they are incapable of making a sensible decision

Nothing is truly objective but a CA would be considerably better than existing structures (parliament) both in terms of representativeness and coming to the fairest possible decisions.

Clearly this is highly complex but there could be immediate CA votes on issues such as:
Ban all private jets
Limit business travel and holiday travel to x number flights per year
Massive taxes on fossil fuel companies and their finances
Heavy green taxes on those who use a disproportionate amount of resoucres

Sorry? I was responding to you saying there ought to be a one child policy which I believe would not work in the UK without increased immigration to make up for the shortfall in working aged people to run the country and fund it through taxes

Ban all private jets
Limit business travel and holiday travel to x number flights per year
Massive taxes on fossil fuel companies and their finances
Heavy green taxes on those who use a disproportionate amount of resoucres

Explain how your protests achieve this.

Why would a member of the CA vote on this for me? How do I elect them

I have an MP who represents my area

@glowtorch - XR demand of the government are to tell the truth, act now and hold a citizens assembly. The government havent listened via the usual channels (as they didnt about womens votes, civil right and INdian independence). Protest aims to get them to implement

Yes, I'm asking by how must we would need to increase immigration.

Also asking which type of immigration you meant, and if you meant those coming to work here. How many do we allow each year currently and how much would we need to increase it by in your opinion?

You could write a rebuttal letter to Nature Physics where this was published in August 2022 and point out where Murphy goes all wrong @Daftasabroom

@MarshaBradyo - has you MP achieved anything effective in relation to the climate emergency?

We could make a start with smaller actions. Ban all wood-burning stoves for a start. Terrible for air pollution even the "environmental" ones. Ban all gas agas. Having an oven on all the time is a terrible waste of resources. Limit the size of private cars or tax to hell large ones. Estates with lots of seats are fine, but no one needs an enormous 4x4 to transport 2 kids.

But anything effective affects the rich and middle class most, which is why it will not happen.

Look you climate activists have got it all wrong. You are preaching doom and gloom at some unspecified time in the future.
THiS WINTER is your big chance. Explain how being green IE walking not driving, boiling only the water you need. Turn off lights, unplug non used electronic equipment etc will say people money right here right now
I am sceptical about climate change, but have done all the above, have solar panels, air fryer and slow cooker etc just because I am tight and don't waste money

So when you say emergency, how long do we have until it's catastrophic?

They are voted in on the mandate so if you are convinced that the public want what you want we’d see it in votes - for the Green Party for example

You can’t force it through in another way, whoever makes the decisions needs to be elected