What do you think?
- I support this action and will attend
- I support this action but wonât attend
- I disagree with this action
- No strong feelings
- Other (please comment)
0 voters
Slightly off topic, but similar to the discussion in hand. I was watching the BBCâs show about plastics and got into a debate with some green activists on Twitter about using bottled water.
Now I have no issues with them doing the recent campaign in London recently which correctly raised issues surrounding the planet which directed their attention on the big corporations, but to dare to critisise people for using bottled water or disrupting peopleâs day to day lives when theyâre trying to earn a living isnât the right way of doing things to get people on board.
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Frustrates me too.
David Attenborough, for example, created global public sympathy for the environment and wildlife â without inconveniencing a single person.
I wish XR could find a similarly positive way to draw attention to the cause. The way theyâre going, they risk destroying public sympathy. They threatened to use drones to shut down airports. That would cross the line for a lot of fellow environmentalists.
Linking environmentalism with civil disobedience casts environmentalism in a negative light. Civil obedience might be dull, but it keeps society safe, friendly and co-operative.
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Sky News also had an excellent strand called Ocean Rescue which exposed the use of single use plastics which used the power of television to get people to listen which led in the end to larger social awareness and the likes of McDonalds and co banning plastic straws for paper ones for example.
XR, Greenpeace and co need to really redirect their efforts into reaching the common person without being patronising and being borderline religious in their methods of persuading people to be more green as I experienced this evening, they can be as patronising without really getting anywhere to make my opinion different to theirs. Listening to people who arenât in that bubble would be a start instead of patronising them for being different.
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A more sensible solution will be when cars are either hybrid or fully electric. Uber, the private hire cab app have regulations on the type of cars that can be used which are mainly hybrid cars such as Toyota Priuses for example.
There will be a point when diesel, followed by petrol will eventually be phased out. Electric vehicles are getting better at covering more mileage compared to 20 years ago.
Buses have become more of a hindrance than a help, yes theyâre cutting emissions from diesel guzzling vehicles and introducing hybrids. Forest Hillâs double decker routes will be fully hybrid from the end of August when the 197 replaces their diesel polluters with hybrids, yet with reduced speed limits and traffic jams have made them less reliable than before, which drives passengers back into petrol and diesel cars.
If this action takes place, whatâs not to say that itâll drive those commuters onto using their car or another form of polluting transport instead? On the other hand the XR protest in London did cut pollution down when they closed Waterloo Bridge and Marble Arch.
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Interestingly, there are possibly divisions within XR; this doctor was against the drone plan:
Evening Standard - Founder of Doctors for Extinction Rebellion group âdraws the lineâ at sending drones above Heathrow
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Its the old âlets annoy the people who want support fromâ. Then express surprise when it goes wrong.
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I do have some sympathy. The South Circular is awful and the pollution is actively damaging the health of people in this area. Many Londoners do not need to make many of the short car journeys they take - so maybe it takes a shock or disruption for people to really consider changing the way they behave.
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Very true, many people do not need to make long journeys, but some do. What about those on busses, alternative fuel vehicles and bicycles who will get caught up in this?
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Well itâs not a perfect solution but what is? I am coming round to the idea that people are not going to curtail their car use easily so some headline grabbing activity is maybe needed.
Cars and traffic really is blight on our health and urban environment but any tiny action to try and nudge people in a different direction is met with howls of protest or excuses as to why THEIR car journey is completely necessary it is just other people who are the problem.
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Who would drive in Lewisham by choice at rush hour?
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Iâm a big fan of pool riding. The cab app ViaVan offers this service, along with Uber Pool where you can share a ride in a hybrid vehicle and share the cost which brings the price down compared to using a normal cab.
Sharing a ride to work with a colleague is also a great idea, it cuts down on the amount of cars on the road. Iâve done it in the past and has worked out well for me in the past. It reduces the stress of travelling on public transport and helps the car owner with their fuel costs.
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If Extinction Rebellion walked the length of the everyday gridlocked traffic, posting leaflets for Uber Pool to idling drivers, that would be a very positive action - helping people, rather than inconveniencing them.
The future is electric vehicles and efficiently-allocated ride sharing via mobile app. Uber is pushing both.
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I donât disagree in principle, and support the actions generally. However, theyâve yet to learn what the trade union movement (mostly) and Poll Tax movement learned decades ago: donât hit the public where it hurts, hit the government.
Persuading the public is barely a task. They are mostly persuaded. And these events donât persuade anyone anyway.
Hit the government in votes or income.
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Good job there arenât any hospitals or A&E departments nearby this disruption.
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Well clearly some people do - we have pretty good public transport by the standard of the rest of the country or even other cities. Most of can also walk a lot more than we do.
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At least make a start with using the bus and remove a 5 seater car thats often filled with one person?
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Well there is the Ambulance Station behind Sainsburyâs so they need to get out either on a back rat run or onto the South Circular.
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I support this action. It is annoying and it wouldnât be necessary if governments were acting responsibly, but theyâre not, so we are where we are.
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UK emissions were 43% below 1990 levels in 2017. The first carbon budget (2008-12) has been met and the UK is currently on track to outperform the second (2013-17) and third (2018-22) carbon budgets
The UK now has more offshore wind turbines than any nation on Earth, and in the space of just six years, coal power has gone from 40% of our power mix to nearly zero.
Whilst our domestic record is very good, itâs fair to say we import some consumer goods from China (which is a massive polluter), and so perhaps we should follow Americaâs lead and implement some Trumponomics?