this post was submitted on 19 Jun 2024
166 points (96.1% liked)
Climate - truthful information about climate, related activism and politics.
5219 readers
431 users here now
Discussion of climate, how it is changing, activism around that, the politics, and the energy systems change we need in order to stabilize things.
As a starting point, the burning of fossil fuels, and to a lesser extent deforestation and release of methane are responsible for the warming in recent decades:
How much each change to the atmosphere has warmed the world:
Recommended actions to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the near future:
Anti-science, inactivism, and unsupported conspiracy theories are not ok here.
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
That's good, I suppose; I'm of the mind that historical art belongs to humanity.
However, if climate activists want to vandalize something to make a point, go vandalize the CEOs who are ruining the climate. They don't care about history and preserving anything, as long as they're making gobs of money, so punching somebody else in the face isn't something that causes them any discomfort.
I think these guys get headlines exactly because they target things that “belong” to all of us. PETA throwing red paint on some rich schmuck wearing furs? That might get a minute of airtime. But (safely) paint Stonehenge, throw baked beans on the Mona Lisa, etc and every news outlet will cover it.
And yet, all I think when I see this is "these guys seem like assholes".
If they ruined the house of an oil CEO, however... Heroes.
Exactly my point. Their reason for doing it gets overshadowed by the act, because they are incongruent.
The act and the message should be essentially one and the same, because people's attention is already stretched thin by a myriad of things.
If you put more focus on the act instead of the reason you don't have your priorities straight. People should be out in the streets and destroying a shit ton of monuments important to the rich with what's happening in the world right now.
Agreed. The key there is "important to the rich," not "important to humanity." Break all the rich people's toys, make some noise. Go sabotage a SpaceX rocket or something.
But the fact that I'm focused on the act despite being effectively on their side means a ton of other people who aren't on their side are too, and I can almost guarantee they can't see past the act to really grasp the impetus behind it.
You think the Louvre and what's inside isn't important to rich people? Stonehenge isn't important to rich people?
You and me shouldn't give a fuck that these things get destroyed because if things keep going the way they are there won't be any humans from the working class to enjoy them anymore in a century, so what's the point of preserving them in the first place?
Destroy all that shit so people have to face the fact that our governments and rich people are ready to spend billions to restore a church in Paris while people in the same city are starving.
So you would be totally fine if people took a shit on your front porch as long as it's to protest climate change, right? Clearly you wouldn't get upset about the act if there is a good reason.
Is my front porch a destination to international visitors on which we spend fortunes in order to preserve it while people are starving? 🤔
I thought the headline was a bit misleading, because obviously environmental activists wouldn't "paint" or vandalize something like that.
Anyone who thinks they are assholes for doing this to a monument should be thinking about what oil companies are doing to less visible areas that are just as important.
And it works, and may actually be effective at spreading your cause, the first couple times
After that, everyone already knows who you are and what you want, so the only thing they think of the next time you come up is "these assholes again?"
That's the whole point. The CEOs dont care for their property either, there's no point of vandalizing anything of theirs and ending up with lawsuits.
This message wasn't to CEOs, it was to you.
Then they send their message to the informed but poor and powerless.
I disagree, though, that the rich don't care about their toys. They may be able to afford to replace them, but it's not like they go out and buy a yacht every day. And activists vandalizing public works of art or history can and do still face legal action from the governments that oversee or maintain them.
Ultimately, the rich responsible for facilitating and encouraging climate change aren't going to feel any compunction to change if you never even punch in their direction.
It's called raising awareness in society. This kind of coverage costs millions of dollars, and it only happened because they involved something visible we all care for in a way.
I guess, but who hasn't heard of climate change at this point?
The conversation has to go beyond that, and their desire to raise awareness accompanied by acts like this only demonstrates their conviction, not the truth of our impending doom. They have to reach the people who still don't think it's real, and what does painting a historical monument have to do with climate change?
The plot they want people to pick up gets lost and the message is out of their control if the act isn't self-evident with regard to their purpose.
I can go through the dictionary all day. That's called activism my dude, and it was an excellent way to being attention to a particular issue they are campaigning for.
The act is self-evident in regards to their purpose lmao. They "painted" the environment (polluted it) in a way we could all relate to, in a effort raise awareness on other things happening in the environment that aren't as visible.
They're sending the message to people who are ready to take a plane to travel thousands of km to go check a bunch of rocks. They're sending the message to people who vote. They're sending the message to people that use their car to get stuck in traffic every morning instead of using public transport.
I don't think you understand the point they're trying to make...
And if you believe that, then they've failed.