Just Stop Oil - I couldn't care less

[savannahowl]

Those protestors actually make me feel even less bothered by climate change. I genuinely don't give a shit anymore.

Have they managed to convince anyone?

‘JSOs cause’ - I’ll correct that for you. ‘The breakdown of our climate here on earth, leading to food scarcity, water shortages, more extreme and dangerous weather events, far less habitable land, mass migration, higher mortality and morbidity, less stability and more wars.’

It really isn’t a ‘cause’ like animal welfare. It’s our existence. And whatever JSO do or don’t do and how you feel about it, you have be either uninformed, of low cognitive ability or dead not to care.

What happens when future generations can’t access hospitals or use roads because of the long term effects on infrastructure?

JSO inconveniencing people for a few hours is nothing compared to no action being taken and roads becoming unusable. Then how are people going to get to the hospital?

Re the soup. Although in no way comparable to their previous actions - the attempted murder and manslaughter (delaying ambulances etc), it's very unenvironmentally friendly to waste food.

They want to help the environment? Then give the soup to foodbanks.

Reuse, recycle and donate unwanted items - including soup, mend and repair.

If JSO care about climate change, why don't they do constructive things like that instead of harmful, damaging - and unenvironmentally friendly actions?

No one is going to be able to be zero carbon in this country but most of us can do something to lower our own admissions and if the majority do then that does make a difference. It will motivate others to do the same. Industries will adapt to the consumers. We can all lobby our MPs when climate related issues come up. We can all talk about it.

It’s not about wearing hair shirts and eating grass. It’s making small incremental changes.

It's not "inconveniencing people for a few hours". It's potentially killing people - including babies (mothers in labour, especially if any complications) could be amongst those delayed getting to hospital. Those "few hours" could be the difference between mum and baby surviving or not.

There won't be future generations if current ones are killed.

How does harming everyday people help "the cause"?

Why don't JSO do constructive and positive action instead? (I've given some examples of what they can do in previous posts).

https://www.imperial.ac.uk/stories/climate-action/

This is what we can do if we choose to. I struggle with making too many changes at once so I go with picking one small change at a time. It’s really not that bad. No hair shirts or gruel in our house.

I worry about climate change and I would look like to see more global progress ….it doesn’t help to throw soup at paintings and it doesn’t help to chuck powder over plants at the Chelsea flower show. It’s stupid gimmicks by people who all own a mobile phone, use central heating and drives cars, so it’s a bit pathetic really, and just upsets ordinary people going about their day.

Also why don't they practice what they preach? They seem to only want other - usually poorer and more vulnerable people - to be "inconvenienced" aka harmed.

Cynics might say they want the future, and actually the present too, to be only for the select privileged few. Dystopian future indeed.

So it’s ok for future generations to suffer, be unable to get to hospitals or get life saving care? Either you care about this or you don’t.

Of course everyone should be able to get to hospitals, the difference is some of us see past our current relatives and care about the future for our children.

And I care about my adult child who has various chronic health issues and has to get to hospital very quickly at times. But I suppose that doesn't matter to some?

‘I think it’s too late despite 100s of global scientists with way more knowledge than I saying that we still can lessen the worst of it and may still be able to avoid irreversible tipping points.’

Translates to;

’I like my life the way it is, I don’t want to change and am too selfish to care about the impact on others. I can’t actually say that out loud and so instead I find spurious reason after spurious reason to avoid having to change, the latest of which is, pretending to believe that it’s too late anyway.’

Sorry, I know I’m being very confrontational there but really it is so frustrating to read such twoddle.

You care about our children? Not the children who may die or become very unwell because their ambulance is delayed.

Killing or harming the current generation means there's no future generation.

Why don't JSO (including you if you're a member?) do constructive and positive action instead of harmful and antagonistic things?

I’m not commenting on the rights or wrongs of JSOs actions but I really don’t think your argument makes sense here. Climate breakdown is a global phenomena that has already taken thousands of lives and cause untold suffering. It’s only going to get worse.

Weather events are only going to get more extreme, food harder and harder to grow, more and more of the planet will become uninhabitable, leading to mass migration, instability and more war. We are already seeing it start.

That’s really not in the same ballpark. Is it?

You can condemn JSOs actions without ridiculous comparisons like that.

Why don't JSO do constructive and positive action instead? (I've given some examples of what they can do in previous posts)

Maybe it doesn't make for such a good day out, @Windchimesandsong, or such "exciting" images for their SM accounts?

I had to smile at a bunch camped out in my city recently, with their latest phones, fast fashion, designer trainers and plastic wrappings - to say nothing of the litter left behind - but remembered that they'll mostly grow up and acquire a bit of sense in time

Regardless of the rights or wrongs of JSO tactics, your adult child is going to have a lot more to deal with than chronic illness and hospital appointments if we don’t take stronger action on climate change, I’m sorry to say.

Anyone who doesn’t immediately disagree with JSO is automatically a member? Never said I agree or support their tactics.

My point is that a few roads are stopped for a protest. It’s short sighted to think that infrastructure won’t be universally affected for future generations and affect many more.

JSO are wrong to block roads, but I want my future relatives not to suffer either.

I agree but I do need to correct you when you say that it’s future generations that need protecting. It’s happening now.

The recent floods in Europe created massive issues for the infrastructure in those places. It’s happens here too. Any major weather event puts a strain on emergency services and runs the risk of damaging infrastructure. If the concern is hospital access and ambulances getting through, extreme weather events are already impacting on this.

This really isn’t a distant future concern. It’s happening now, it’s just if we don’t change, it will keep getting worse and worse.

Thank you so much for your sympathy. I'll let them know of your concern when we next dash to hospital in a life or death situation.

@SodaFountainMountain But how are JSO helping?

They're actually making it worse. Their actions are unenvironmentally friendly.

It's not as if the government (and the previous one) aren't taking action - although as others on here have pointed out the UK is a tiny and insignificant country.

None of the posters trying to defend the harmful (to people and the environment) actions of JSO have answered my questions - about why aren't JSO doing positive and constructive action?

Huh? What? I’m not commenting on the rights or wrongs of JSOs actions, but that really doesn’t make any sense. Don’t they want policy change - no new oil? Haven’t checked but that’s my understanding. No new oil means less profit for oil industries and their shareholders. They are not the poor and vulnerable.

So if JSO want no new oil - why aren't they practicing what they preach? Why haven't they given up everything they own and use that's made with oil?

They’re just awful, hypocritical, vandals. They try to sound all wise and knowledgeable but really they just sound like preachy twats and I want to punch them 😜

Was thinking the same but you put it so much better than I could.
When you see what a mess we are making of our own environment with litter ,graffiti, anti social behaviour ( dangerous cars,electric bikes and scooters risking safety of children,the elderly and disabled) and terrible violence it would be nice to see JSO organising something productive like picking up litter!
Most of us care very much about wildlife ,displaced people and the planet. But I do not need some time wasting , self righteous toaster ( dry ,crusty and keeps popping up? ) who in many cases appear not to have contributed much to society yet, lecturing me.
And if they use their prison time to lecture most of their fellow prisoners and the over worked stressed out,under paid staff ,well good luck with that !

You're forgetting the script, Windchimesandsong ... when the activists do something damaging to the environment we get "It's not about individual actions but driving governmental/systemic change", and the hypocrisy of telling other individuals what they should be doing or caring about gets brushed aside

Edited to add the same applies to the script about the apocolypse being upon us. When activists say this it's supposed to be regarded as if carved in stone, whereas others using it are told they're dissuading folk from making necessary changes

As usual with extremist causes the whole thing falls apart upon even the mildest enquiry, but it's not going to end while it remains catnip for the funders

I’m not commenting on JSO’s actions.

My position is that regardless of what they do we should all care about climate breakdown and if you don’t then you are either uninformed, of low cognitive ability or dead. To care less because of their actions is illogical.

I don’t know why JSO choose the actions they do. In terms of doing other things though, I’ve been aware of environmental campaigns for over 30 years.

I’ve seen report after report. Lobby after lobby. Campaign after campaign. I’ve seen peaceful protest after peaceful protest. I’ve seen direct action and low key action.

How many COPs have we had? How many major, global reports have we had using the very best of global science using different models and different areas of expertise?

Yet still the oil industry is allowed a seat at the table. Still our policy and legislation around this major issue is weak. Still we all individually carry on as if everything is fine and our actions aren’t harmful.

So in terms of doing something else, it has already been done a gazillion times over several decades and the can has been kicked further and further down the road, until now we are perilously close to irreversible tipping points after which we will have no control or influence over what’s to come at all. It’s now an emergency situation.

So I am not really sure what more positive and constructive action could be done that hasn’t already been done again and again over a long period of time.