Climate activists

Montage of Feck

Back in the day activists used to be against capitalism, battle of Seattle and stuff like that. Generally followed either anarchist or socialist ideology. There was also the eco warriors who weren't afraid of roughing it out.

But the latest thing is climate activistism which is all a bit mopey in comparison and lacking any clear solutions. More emo than Rage Against The Machine, if you will.

The rather bizarre protest in Ballina a prime example, protesters breaking down in tears while demanding the minister for the environment give them back their future.

If you ain't willing to either stand by or endure hardship for your ideals why should anybody take you as being creditable.

Strumms

They lost the crowd when they started bullying people…ie. damaging people’s property, blocking traffic with people trying to get to work, to healthcare appointments, dropping off / collecting their children and so on…

that isn’t activism, that’s bullying.

activist : a person who campaigns to bring about political or social change.

bully : a blustering, mean, or predatory person who, from a perceived position of relative power, intimidates, abuses, harasses, or coerces people, especially those considered unlikely to defend themselves..

Padre_Pio

Ireland is a fairly progressive country and most politicians are on board with renewables, lowering carbon emissions and moving to a net zero economy.

It's slow, but it was never going to happen overnight. Mostly I see people protesting things happening in other countries, so it's always going to see weak.

It's hard to fight the power when the power here already agrees with you.

Montage of Feck

Most have been a bit grumpy starting this thread! The climate activists are harmless with good if naive intentions. But those absolute fruit loops attacking libraries in Cork, obviously inspired by US culture war bs, are just idiots.

Arthur Pants

Scum

pgj2015

Yer one crying was so cringy. 😂 Greta has a lot to answer for.

Flaneur OBrien

Interesting article in the guardian, that despite what the public think, disruptive protests do work as people start talking about what the protestors are trying to achieve.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/07/disruptive-protest-helps-not-hinders-activists-cause-experts-say

AllForIt

In my opinion the climate activists you see engaging in protests such as blocking traffic and invading sports events are slightly touched. I don't mean that as an insult I mean it as a medical diagnosis.

Who I would insult is the journalists and commentators that say these people are doing good work by bringing attention to the 'climate crisis'. They don't really do any such thing because all they do is bring attention to themselves as most sane people as they stare at their TV spend more time wondering what kind of people are they, why are they dressed that way, why are they taking in that strange way, why do they all look like same and act the same, rather than worry about melting ice caps.

Seeing those specific types of people on TV remind one of the types that wear billboards saying The End is Nigh, or some religious zealot with a megaphone on a street corner telling everyone to repent or go to hell, you know people who aren't quite all there, does nothing to get people on side rather encourages people to think that those people predicting climate catastrophe are a little bit dotty and it would be wise to ignore their hysterics, the complete oppose outcome of what they're trying to achieve.

There’s a type isn’t there?

elperello

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120821552#Comment_120821552

No need to insult anybody.

The article is based on research across a group of academics and it's just part of the discussion.

I don't approve of attacking works of art and letting the air out of tyres but it's the people who do these things that are accountable not the journalists who report on them.

tesla_newbie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058304170/climate-activists

It’s mostly ham theatre

Montage of Feck

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120822837#Comment_120822837

I'm sure they're all vegans now.

Water John

People should look back at the activist suffragette movement. They were labelled cranks in their time.

Finty Lemon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120823928#Comment_120823928

There is no equivalence between them though.

Suffragettes wanted greater control of their own lives, climate activists want control of everyone else's lives.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058304170/climate-activists

"protesters breaking down in tears"

Emotional teenager bursts into tears. In other news, water is wet......

Rosalinda Eyes

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058304170/climate-activists

Could provide clarity as to whether you believe in man made climate change or not?

lumphammer2

Climate activists are like all activists .... they come in different shapes and sizes .... from moderate to extreme .... most people are aware that climate action is needed and that extreme weather does a lot of damage ... we are all mostly aware that fossil fuels like oil do damage and that such fuels are finite ... we have to wean ourselves off them ...

But .... climate fanatics want to end usage of fossil fuels now ... if that was to happen the whole world economy would shut down .... governments know this and work on a hybrid model of oil/fossil fuels while developing the more sustainable greener alternatives ... which take time to develop ...

Just stop oil and their copycats are the most extreme and are senseless ... by doing things like sabotaging works of art, glueing themselves to roads and interrupting tennis matches they turn people off .... I believe it is only a matter of time .. and is the next step up from what JSO do ... before we get a climate activist terrorist group .... all causes have seen such things happen and this won't be any different ...

For the moment the likes of JSO are seen by more moderate climate change activists as fringe lunatics ... but these lunatics once their idea is out there become hard to stamp out .... expect more such things and not just for climate either ....

Strumms

Climate terrorism? Could be a thing ? And why ? Because the crimes climate activists and enablers commit now are treated with kid gloves… so there is no positive or responsible deterrent.

next one interferes with traffic, arrest, convict and jail…

kneemos

They made headlines for a while,but have become a sidebar at best to the main news and are generally regarded as a nuisance.

As with all shock tactics people become quickly jaded and they'll need to up their game to not become a joke.

Water John

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120824222#Comment_120824222

That's the stamp of a totalitarian state.

We need to have our boundaries pushed a bit, in many different spheres. Complacency is a dangerous default position.

nullzero

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120821386#Comment_120821386

Agreed.

The emotional incontinence of these people is peculiar to say the least.

pgj2015

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120824597#Comment_120824597

Snowflakes. weak humans and the generation that does everything for likes and attention.

Flaneur OBrien

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120824600#Comment_120824600

Better to be a snowflake that does something than a cry baby that just whines about how the world is changing 😉

Arthur Pants

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120825519#Comment_120825519

Is 'whines about how the world is changing' not exactly what the one who was crying is doing? 🙄

John_Rambo

Farmers blocking traffic - heroes.

Climate activists blocking traffic - scum.

There's a good chance they'll be viewed in the future the way suffragetes are now. But it will take time, probably not in my lifetime.

NIMAN

I'd love to know how all these folk get to these events to protest?

Do they live within walking distance of the event they plan to disrupt? If not, they probably including burning some sort of oil to actually get there, be it on a car, train, bus.....

Arthur Pants

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120827962#Comment_120827962

Maybe Greta lends them her yacht.

Thelonious Monk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120827941#Comment_120827941

Don't forget - Irish working class concerned mothers etc. dragging their children out into traffic on the busiest Dublin city streets to protest against foreign bogeymen = heroes.

The same people commending them talk about running over climate protesters and how they're a bunch of attention seekers.

Thelonious Monk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120827962#Comment_120827962

I'll counteract this ridiculous cliche with this overused cartoon

AllForIt

https://twitter.com/BBCNews/status/1678068770319785985

So a climate activist not only targets a specific individual but did so on the targets wedding day. No rational person would think that to be a good idea.

Thelonious Monk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120831215#Comment_120831215

what makes you think it was a climate activist?

kneemos

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120831256#Comment_120831256

The favourite orange colour.

Maybe she was just throwing some confetti.

Thelonious Monk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120831265#Comment_120831265

nothing linking her to climate activism, more likely just some nutjob or someone who doesn't like george osbourne, i'm sure that's a long list of people

AllForIt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120831256#Comment_120831256

https://news.sky.com/story/mystery-over-woman-who-threw-confetti-at-george-osbornes-wedding-12917729

But a statement from the group said: "As much as we applaud the use of orange confetti at this wedding, we were not responsible."

It added: "If it was a form of protest - which is yet to be established - we applaud it and thank the person concerned.

Well JSO applaud it so what difference does it make really.

John_Rambo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120830873#Comment_120830873

I heard about that. While we in Dublin are used to people coming from all over the country to protest the East Wall residents got a bit sick of these ones and called for the end of them.

end of the road

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120820763#Comment_120820763

so they lost the crowd when they well, protested?

not really to be honest, it's just a small vocal minority of angry people spoiling for a fight because their lives are **** because of the con artist servatives wrecking britain who are whinging about things like "disruption" which is a part of any protest.

anti-brexiters get the same treatment as well and the far right are involved as well in pushing the fake outrage.

once upon a time nobody would hugely care about groups like JSO etc, they would just work around them and if groups engaged in criminal damage they would just be arrested and job done, none of this fo outrage and cries for violence to be met out to peaceful protesters.

end of the road

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120824222#Comment_120824222

except crimes engaged in by climate activists are and always have been prosecuted.

every protest disrupts traffic as the traffic has to divert elsewhere, so what you and the other generally, angry men are looking for ultimately is for protesting to be a crime, since disruption is a fact of life with protesting.

there isn't going to be any deterrent because there is no such thing as a deterrent for individuals who plan on committing crime because ultimately they don't care about the consequences, seeing as if they did then they wouldn't commit them in the first place and yet they do regardless.

the fact is, the actions generally engaged in by XR, JSO ETC are mostly very low level stuff which have only become a big issue for a vocal minority due to the culture war nonsense and a want to implement totalitarianism in britain.

in normal circumstances the relevant processes for dealing with such work.

Sonic the Shaghog

Ah EoTR! I remember often reading your posts years ago and while I didn't agree with a lot of what you say it's good to see you see still knocking about. Hope you are well

Fathom

Wonders. If protesting Big Oil and associated climate change consequences, what form of protesting would be appropriate? And if appropriate, would it actually work to change laws, policies, regulations, and outcomes?

Strumms

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120832117#Comment_120832117

Awwwhh ‘ angry men ‘ well the personal attack is really an argument winner there isn’t it 😉 great job 👏🏼

not looking for protesting to be a crime. You are being typically disingenuous. People can and do protest without breaking the law, without endangering other people, without harassing other people , without intimidating or even inconveniencing other people a great deal.

people do and will care if the level of deterrent is significant enough. But….they are not ‘always prosecuted’ as you claim.

problem is with these climate bullies is when they start endangering and harassing the public, the public if seeing that police and or politicians are being soft on them, they might and will just decide they won’t stand for it….. self defence is a thing… climate bullies taking the violent or intimidatory route may end up having to eat a slice of that pie themselves…. They in fact have had to, in other countries.

‘Legitimate’ protest ends when criminal acts occur…. Empathy for ‘protesters’ ends when they stop protesting legitimately and legally and responsibly.

Jack Daw

Climate Activist Leonard Di Caprio recently took a helicopter to his yacht

https://torontosun.com/entertainment/celebrity/eco-warrior-leonardo-dicaprio-takes-helicopter-from-yacht-to-dinner

The utter hypocrisy of the likes of him lecturing everyone on the climate kind of turns people off climate activism.

bluedex

I've seen climate activism and "Greenism" described as the new religion, it seems appropriate imho.

It gives meaning to peoples lives, if you oppose it you're basically called a heretic and best of all they now have science and stats to back them up!

Grayson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120820971#Comment_120820971

We have some of the most destroyed ecosystems in Europe. We need to cut down on stuff like farming and rewild stuff but we can't get started on it. We're nowhere near meeting any of the targets we need and every green policy, whether it's cycle lanes or increasing wind power gets pushback.

In some ways we're progressive. We're ok with gay marriage for example, but in other ways we're way behind.

Editing to add: most of our political parties are terrible at this stuff too. FF & FG couldn't seem to care less about it. And SF completely avoid the topic except to give vague promises. They never provide details.

Grayson

BTW, expect someone to reply with "but what about china". That happens in every single climate change thread. Someone saying we should do nothing because of china.

Arthur Pants

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120840038#Comment_120840038

It is shocking that a Hollywood star would display such hypocrisy.

Water John

Perhaps, each start with their own lives. It's a realistic place to start. That's if you accept their is a problem.

AllForIt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120839923#Comment_120839923

I'm aware there is a right to protest but I've never heard there is a right to get what you want because you protested.

end of the road

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120839937#Comment_120839937

people in the uk don't protest without breaking the law as protesting is now effectively illegal without being specifically illegal, but may as well be with the amount of restrictions on it.

every protest inconveniences somebody, inconvenience is just that and individuals need to grow up and get over it.

one is not entitled to not be inconvenienced seeing as if they were, nothing else could ever be done around them.

intimidation and harrassing were already illegal and were prosecuted where it actually happened.

the level of deterrent for protesting or tiny level criminality will never be significant enough because britain already has the highest prison population in europe yet criminality i getting worse.

the only people who think politicians and police are being soft are the violent angry at everything types and the far right who have always been violent, are looking for any excuse to be violent, and have found an opportunity to, in their heads legitimately engage in violence by beating up peaceful protesters.

if it isn't climate protesters it will be anti-brexit protesters.

what this comes down to is, i don't agree with them so they are bullies/whatever when they are just peaceful protesters, some of who do engage in very low level criminality and have always been dealt with by the police when they do so.

this crap is all down to the tories culture war crap.

end of the road

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120839894#Comment_120839894

still here yes, and very well thanks.

hope you're well also.

Padraig Mor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120840394#Comment_120840394

"cut down on stuff like farming" - Jesus wept. Yip, that there farming 'stuff', sure it only does bad 'stuff', nothing good comes from it at all!

Grayson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120841730#Comment_120841730

You know exactly what I meant.

The biggest carbon generator in Ireland is the agricultural sector. Especially the livestock sector. And it's been massively expanding over the last few years. We need to cut back on the dairy herd. We need to cutback on sheep and rewild our mountains. We have the most damaged ecosystems in europe. And it's because of the farming sector.

Farmers like to portray themselves at the custodians of the land. they're not. They are destroying it.

It's going to involve a huge shift in the way we think to turn Ireland into the green isle it pretends to be. The government needs to get ahead of the curve and start implementing the targets we need. yes, some farmers are going to find it financially difficult. The government needs to start preparing packages so that they won't be in financial pain.

But the current system of agriculture is just unsustainable.