by Tilly Goldman
As a regular Tesco's shopper, I know that 'Every Little Helps'. Every bit of plastic I pick up off the street and every time I turn off the lights, I'm doing my bit to save the planet. I'm protecting my Earth, my future, my environment, that is until I have my cup of tea in the morning. My favourite mug is from China. My teabags are from Africa. My splash of milk, albeit a tiny bit, comes from methane factories 200 miles away. So, in total, my cup of tea includes 2 flights, a drive and a farm to get to me, essentially cancelling out anything I've tried to do. Subsequently, I find myself asking the cliche of what can I do?
Many have been asking the same and have, consequently, found themselves on the streets of London as part of the Extinction Rebellion. In many ways I agree with this movement in that the governments of the world haven't done enough to prevent climate change. Although I believe in the right to peacefully protest, I am sceptical of the methods: smashing windows, gluing themselves to trains and stripping in the House of Commons. Members of the Extinction Rebellion do not always abide by the law and even justify some criminal actions which, to some extent, undermine the democracy within our country.
Greta Thunberg may be prepared to leave school for her cause, but that remained her choice, not that of a political movement that many children may not even know about. The abuse faced by people simply going about their day to day business, attacked for wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase, seems entirely unacceptable to me as we are privileged to live in a free and democratic country. Equally, the dangers of this protest seem somewhat ill-considered as ambulances cannot pass through direct routes and the very politicians that they want to act cannot even get to work. Personally, I find this extent of radicalism quite scary as it suggests to me a level of disregard towards the implications of these actions (ironic, given the cause). This is particularly evident considering the extra cost of £7.5 million for the police during the 11-day protest in April. Surely, money like this would be better spent on protection of those in need than a protest.
In my view, the most successful movements have been those focused on care for our surroundings with an attitude of cooperation. An evident example of this would be the impact of simply raising awareness of plastic straws to help turtles. Here, we see an action inspired by an inherent respect for wildlife that I believe resonated with a much wider audience than protests motivated by fear and hatred.
I agree wholeheartedly with the need for immediate action but how can we expect an entire population to disregard their current living standards, the food they eat, the clothes they wear, the appliances that simplify everything we do, in order to save the planet? Put like this, it seems obvious that we must prioritise the Earth on which we live because all subsequent luxuries rely on it entirely. However, we are so heavily reliant on these things that to remove them would be near-impossible considering that so many people still don't understand or care about the gravity of the threat.
Even still, I remain optimistic about the future of the planet as our intuition and curiosity as a species have managed have managed to get us this far. Equally, I am curious to see what the next week of protest will bring from the Extinction Rebellion.
Many have been asking the same and have, consequently, found themselves on the streets of London as part of the Extinction Rebellion. In many ways I agree with this movement in that the governments of the world haven't done enough to prevent climate change. Although I believe in the right to peacefully protest, I am sceptical of the methods: smashing windows, gluing themselves to trains and stripping in the House of Commons. Members of the Extinction Rebellion do not always abide by the law and even justify some criminal actions which, to some extent, undermine the democracy within our country.
Greta Thunberg may be prepared to leave school for her cause, but that remained her choice, not that of a political movement that many children may not even know about. The abuse faced by people simply going about their day to day business, attacked for wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase, seems entirely unacceptable to me as we are privileged to live in a free and democratic country. Equally, the dangers of this protest seem somewhat ill-considered as ambulances cannot pass through direct routes and the very politicians that they want to act cannot even get to work. Personally, I find this extent of radicalism quite scary as it suggests to me a level of disregard towards the implications of these actions (ironic, given the cause). This is particularly evident considering the extra cost of £7.5 million for the police during the 11-day protest in April. Surely, money like this would be better spent on protection of those in need than a protest.
In my view, the most successful movements have been those focused on care for our surroundings with an attitude of cooperation. An evident example of this would be the impact of simply raising awareness of plastic straws to help turtles. Here, we see an action inspired by an inherent respect for wildlife that I believe resonated with a much wider audience than protests motivated by fear and hatred.
I agree wholeheartedly with the need for immediate action but how can we expect an entire population to disregard their current living standards, the food they eat, the clothes they wear, the appliances that simplify everything we do, in order to save the planet? Put like this, it seems obvious that we must prioritise the Earth on which we live because all subsequent luxuries rely on it entirely. However, we are so heavily reliant on these things that to remove them would be near-impossible considering that so many people still don't understand or care about the gravity of the threat.
Even still, I remain optimistic about the future of the planet as our intuition and curiosity as a species have managed have managed to get us this far. Equally, I am curious to see what the next week of protest will bring from the Extinction Rebellion.
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