I love people that express their love for the environment. That being said, I do not believe in breaking the law in order to get your point across. In other words: if you do not agree with some politician about his or her view on immigration, please do not throw a bucket of fish over his/her head. It just looks stupid and doesn’t help the cause.
This is not about immigration though. I will show you five times that Climate Change activists went too far when their “political activism”:
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Table of Contents
- 5 Climate Change Activist Campaigns That Went Too Far
- Do Climate Change Activist Demonstrations Really Work?
- Additional related questions that you might (or might not) need to know
5 Climate Change Activist Campaigns That Went Too Far
Let’s start.
PS! This is going to be juicy.
#1: Activists glue themselves (!) to the side of a train in London [2019]
During a demonstration in London, several activists put super glue on their hands and touched the side of a train. What happens when you do that? Well, it’s quite hard to get you away from the train. Also, you literally stop the train from moving.
There were numerous reports on this incident, but neither of them gave any answer to why the climate activists would target public transport. After all, I would believe that it would be more eco-friendly to glue your hands to a cruise ship or an airplane..?
Video of the police taking action on these climate activists:
According to Metro.co.uk, this type of demonstrations occurred all over London and had some sad consequences, quote: “The protests have led to road closures, traffic gridlock and serious disruption to public transport and local businesses, with 55 bus routes closed and 500,000 people affected.”
Attacking public transport might not have been the best move. However, I mean, you have to give them creds for being innovative, right?
#2: Greenpeace Trying to End Oil Business in Patagonia [2019]
A handful shouting Greenpeace members gathered close to a toxic waste facility in Patagonia, Argentina.
One thing is to be active in the debate about “oil versus renewable energy”. Another thing is to actively go in and make yourself a criminal by blocking the entrance of a building where people try to get to work.
To me, the method being used in this demonstration is not extreme or violent at all. I just find it weird that they would target people who do their job on a daily basis rather than actually addressing the people who own and finance these oil companies.
Video of the Environmental Damages in Patagonia
This is a Youtube video from Greenpeace where they justify their actions. You can judge for yourself whether or not such drastic actions were required to stop the oil business:
Neeeext…
#3: French Farmers Harassed and Threatened by Militant Vegans in France [2018]
As the story went global to nearly every newspaper around the world, people started to get some new arguments for why veganism is s**t.
Moving to a plant-based diet is better for your health, better for the animals (obviously, as they aren’t slaughtered) and better for the environment. But that’s not the point. If you go to the extreme and make a large group of people feel unsafe, you have, by definition, done something wrong.
So what did the militant vegans do to the French butchers? Well, these are some of the incidents that have been reported:
– Death threats by e-mail and post.
– Throwing fake blood on various butcher shops across the country
– Spraying graffiti on the same shops during night time, very often with words such as “murderers!” or “close your shop!”
– During a hostage drama in a butcher shop in France, a butcher was killed. A militant vegan went on social media and praised the murder, which is an act that he was later given 7 months in jail for.
I guess this type of Instagram posts are a part of the reason why people become so extremely emotional about what other people eat:
Once a group of people establishes an “everyone against us” type of mentality, you will see that people feel threatened and take severe action.
#4: “Are Militant Vegans Going Too Far?” TV Discussion [2018]
Well, the word “militant” in that sentence would assume that they do. Once you become violent about what food which is being produced and sold in a democratic country, I would definitely argue that you have stepped over the line.
Anyway, this was the title used in a Youtube clip uploaded by a breakfast show called This Morning Britain.
And this is how the discussion turned out:
#5: The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement [Founded in 1991]
The first time I was introduced to this idea, I did not believe it. At that time, there were no smartphones going around, so I literally had to run home to my desktop computer and Google “The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement”.
Before you do so; let me tell you what they are. TVHEM is a group that believes the world is better without humans. If you join the movement, you pledge to not become a mum or dad. This is the slogan that you are met by when you enter their official website:
“Phasing out the human race by voluntarily ceasing to breed will allow Earth’s biosphere to return to good health. Crowded conditions and resource shortages will improve as we become less dense.”
Well, at some point you can’t really argue on it. Planet Earth would be MUCH better without any humans…but this might be a bit drastic?
Do Climate Change Activist Demonstrations Really Work?
It definitely helps to get people aware of the issue. I mean: the news coverage of gluing yourself to a train in the middle of London is huge. But there is one question I want to ask; is this the type of newspaper articles that we really want people to write about climate change? The ones that portrait environmentalists as half-naked maniacs? I am not sure about that.
On the contrary, there is no doubt that such activism also helps “the other side” to get some good arguments. People that strongly believe that climate change is fake and that everyone that believes in climate change is hysterical hipsters that cant behaves properly…they suddenly get their view confirmed by seeing shouting activists in the streets.
I tried to find some examples to actually prove that these interest organizations have made an impact on a political decision. Couldn’t find it.
What About Throwing a Barbecue on a Vegan Protest?
I usually don’t share videos like this, but this one was actually quite funny. A lot of vegan activists have found their way to a butcher house in order to stop the cars going in and out. Again: this is not the way to reduce the carbon footprint coming out of the meat industry. There are a million better ways to do so.
In response to this, a couple of “meat lovers” decided to set up a hot dog stand on the other side of the street.
See the full video here:
Additional related questions that you might (or might not) need to know
Q: Have climate activists ever killed someone?
A: There are no official reports stating that environmentalists have killed someone. If anyone would be seriously injured or killed during a climate protest, the newspapers would cover it. But there are loads of evidence that climate activists are being killed. Time Magazine published an article in 2019 stating that more than 160 environmental activists had been killed in 2018. All they wanted was to protect the nature and their home.
Source: Time Magazine: “164 Environmental Activists Were Killed While Protecting Their Homes Last Year, Watchdog Says“
Q: Extinction Rebellion: are they really helping the environmental cause?
A: Probably not. Extremist activist groups are very often more likely to cause negativity towards those who actually care about the environment. I am not saying that Extinction Rebellion members don’t care about climate change. I really think they do. But gluing yourself to a train, standing in the middle of the street playing drums and showing the middle finger to the police….not really the best way to fight climate change in my opinion.
militant vegans are hyporcrites
Some of these actually do fight for better decisions taken by politicians. And that is great. I love young people that actually fight for their future, just like Greta Thunberg.
On the other side, you also have a lot of these people that are just doing it for the sake of doing something stupid. Its the same with the ANTIFA people. They do not care about racism at all – they just want to go out in the street beating up people and calling it “anti racism activism”.
Hello Paul, thanks for your comment. I agree that we need more people to show their passion for a “greener” world. 🙂
On the flipside, I do agree that some activist methods might be too much sometimes. In terms of your last point, I would rather not comment on that.
have a good day.