Extinction Rebellion Protests

Well yes,now it will have to be ripped up in all probability with a diesel machine,transported by a diesel truck to be dumped in landfill.New turf dug up with a diesel tractor, transported to the college in a diesel truck and relaid.

Im sure the hard working working class groundsmen who look after it year round will be totally thrilled that some over privileged knobheads have ripped up their hard work to make a point- though no one knew what their point was..twats.

I know there are decent folks in Extinction Rebellion but this sort of mindless vandalism and the mayhem they caused in London that seriously screwed up the lives of ordinary people whose support they need does the organisation no favours. I had it with them long ago.
They can all fuck off back to their centrally heated middle class loft and barn conversions.

We're in North Devon and here XR people seem to be very focused on helping people if they want to make more ethical choices or lifestyle changes, giving out information, peaceful demos (that aren't particularly disruptive) and just generally trying to raise awareness and help people make changes if they want to. Of the ones I know personally, most live a fairly eco friendly life style (definitely more eco friendly than me, put it that way) and really genuinely care about the planet and the people on it. So it will be a terrible shame if some of these events that seem to be about publicity without information alongside it create problems and put people off learning more and making small changes if they can. I do think helping people to become more aware and make changes is always a better way to go than doing something that people talk about but don't think, 'ooh, I could do that and help the planet out a little bit more' (and I'm not entirely sure what it was that was done because I've been avoiding the news but it was obviously something that many found annoying ).

Ah I see, yep, I can see why that would annoy people!  Yes I think Cris has the right idea about it being better to target the actual companies causing the problems rather than doing things like this.  We all use fossil fuels in one way or another, don't we, whether we want to or not.  I get that big changes need to happen because some people (most people, really) don't have a wide range of choices (they need to get to work for example, so need transport and not everyone's within walking or cycling distance to work) but yes, I don't know that digging up grass is going to move that on too much (unless it's proper grass and then we can all just have a nice smoke and be happy ).  Lol x

Ive said it often enough and i keep getting shouted at for saying it but im going to keep saying it. Although human activity is definitely affecting the climate and seriously affecting /polluting the environment its not the primary cause of climate change.
The Earth has -and always will- be subject to climate change and the primary driver of that is our sun and its cycles and geological environmental factors we cannot control.

We cannot do a whole lot about climate change,its going to happen regardless what we do.

Im more interested in changing wasteful destructive human behaviour and our runaway consuming and polluting habits.
No matter how many times we attack corporates or protest,the answers are in our own hands. Stopping buying shit you dont need and stop buying it especially if it comes from thousands of miles away.

The problem is people have all this hot air to spout about how the planet is being ruined but they dont want to do anything meaningful to change their lifestyles or buying habits...they still want cars and more cars and phones and tvs and electronic gadgets and hobby toys and change their furniture and decor every five minutes and go on foreign holidays and go to restuarants and eat takeaways and buy bigger and bigger houses etc etc etc...the whole modern life weve got used to and wont let go of because the alternative isnt really very attractive.

So,humans will carry on their course toward self destruction,Governments will continue using us to tax punish us for our consuming while encouraging corporates to carry on feeding us what we want until such time as environmental catastrophe forces us to change or die.

The way we live is unsustainable but no one wants to accept that.

Yes I do get what you mean, Cris, and I think in a way that's partly why people are focusing on government to change things - because so many people won't make personal changes (or sacrifices) so they feel it is down to government to force change to make it happen.  But of course no government will do that because there's so much profit tied up in so many things and so it continues, it's like a big dance that catches everyone up.

There are some things I think it's hard to do without now, because of the way modern life has changed.  No internet access can be very difficult as so many things are online now, it's often not possible to go into town and do all your stuff the way you used to be able to.  But again, that's come about because people stopped going in to town to do things so it's a chicken and egg situation.  There are some things I find relatively easy - we have good buses where I am so don't have to use a car day to day and a pretty good range of shops within walking distance so I can pick up bits we need as we're out and about.  I do find single use plastic difficult to avoid, it seems to be everywhere, and I do make my own when I can but it is more time consuming and I quite often bugger it up   I know when I first got interested in 'alternative' living years ago and I went to a couple of green fairs in our area, thinking they'd be full of make do and mend and eco friendly this that and the other, but they were basically all about solar panels and electric cars.  Which of course, have their place, but I was wanting to get to a simpler and more natural way of life (which I still haven't managed as well as I'd like to!).  I guess we can only do our own little bit and hope for the best?  Consumption is definitely a big problem and litter!  I honestly feel like a womble, the rubbish everywhere we go is horrifying and that makes me feel really despairing - if there are people who can't even be arsed to put their rubbish in a bin or take it home with them then it's a very steep curve to get them to make major changes.  It does all make my head wobble  

Because recycling in this country is just a bullshit paperwork exercise to look like theyre doing something.
Like they got people to sort their plastic recycling and it got shipped in containers to be dumped on landfill in Asia.

In Scandinavia they turn plastic waste into useful things like fence posts,roof panels,furniture etc and reducing plastic packaging of products and paying customers to recycle.