It's a bit warm/ wet/ cold outside

[shaolin_monkey]

More on Phil Kingston, 83 year old climate protester:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHLWCkgyAd0

[IAMTHESYSTEM]

Our best hope is that the rich can find a way to save themselves so that our species can endure for a little while longer in a Martian dome or a reinforced bunker somewhere.

Don't worry P. Bear - they're already on it. This is an excerpt from 'This Is Not A Drill', the Extinction Rebellion handbook. 

Genuinely terrifying. Our amoral Overlords wish to save themselves rather than help the rest of us. As for the coming environmental disaster when you're a psychopath every day is much like any other. Who cares if a billion die so long as I'm okay, Jack.

[Dandontdare]

Just want to give a shout out to Phil Kingston, father of my mate Martin. This 83 year old (pictured in the middle) was one of the protestors with the fire engine at the Treasury today.

Didn't quite go according to plan though - Watching them trying and failing to grab that flailing hose was one of the funniest things I've seen in ages - the bit where the bloke in the anorak is almost knocked off his feet is priceless:https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-49918971/extinction-rebellion-lose-control-of-fake-blood-hose

[Hawkmumbler]

Sam Reimi's on the phone, he wants his effect back....

[shaolin_monkey]

So in the land of the climate change deniers and fossil fuel magnates, another (very dangerous) heatwave breaks records.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/10/03/exceptional-october-heatwave-topples-records-another-day-heat-slowly-retreats-south/

[shaolin_monkey]

An article from earlier this year, tracking how much dosh the fossil fuel giants are pumping into lies, obfuscation and denial:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2019/03/25/oil-and-gas-giants-spend-millions-lobbying-to-block-climate-change-policies-infographic/

[shaolin_monkey]

So in the land of the climate change deniers and fossil fuel magnates, another (very dangerous) heatwave breaks records.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/10/03/exceptional-october-heatwave-topples-records-another-day-heat-slowly-retreats-south/

Commentary from the Union of Concerned Scientists about October's temperatures:

https://blog.ucsusa.org/rachel-licker/an-october-heat-wave-bakes-the-southeast-and-mid-atlantic-is-this-our-future

[Funt Solo]

The back cover of prog 616 (1989) has a Press For Action message sponsored by the NatWest bank. It has various animals in a rainforest with speech bubbles.

The parrot says "Half of the rain forests have already been destroyed!" [They missed a trick there by not having it say *squawk* at the end.]

The sloth says "They're cutting down our homes!" [A little agitated for a sloth, but I see what they're trying to do.]

Is that an anteater? It says "One fifth of the world's animals and plants are in danger!"

Uh, a tapir? "There aren't many of us left!"

Some kind of monkey: "We're losing our breeding grounds!"

And a sad, lonely gravestone: "Puerto Rican Blue Pigeon Already Extinct".

[shaolin_monkey]

If you see anyone in government or the media say Extinction Rebellion are a violent movement, do not believe a word of it.

[sheridan]

The back cover of prog 616 (1989) has a Press For Action message sponsored by the NatWest bank. It has various animals in a rainforest with speech bubbles.

If only it had had an effect on RBoS's investments (fossil fuel, vivisection and oil extraction).

[TordelBack]

Given that we are all supposedly unable to change our minds, how did the same people go overnight from "climate change isn't happening, scientists are all conspiring to embezzle grant money" to "you need to look at the science, climate collapse is inevitable, there's no point trying to do anything, so why are you delaying my commute".

On another note, it is truly amazing how many people are visiting sick relatives in city centre hospitals on any given day, and how this is now a top priority for urban transport networks.

[shaolin_monkey]

Amen brother. The cognitive dissonance is OFF. THE. SCALE.

In the meantime, Jonathan Pie just absolutely fucking nails it. Again.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuCmdtcWKog

[TordelBack]

The number of tweets I've seen claiming that "I only use the Tube because of climate change, and now this...".

Yes, XR disrupting public transport is a bit of a mixed mesage, but seriously, you were driving into central London every day until you saw Greta on YouTube and noticed the 150-year-old alternative...? You do know you're writing these things down on a permanent public global forum, yeh?

[IndigoPrime]

The thing is: optics. You don't win people to your cause by being divisive and obstructive against things that are ultimately on your side. So this is a great example of a backfire. (See also: 'EU supergirl' currently yelling at several prominent female pro-EU campaigners for suggesting she abide by the wishes of a very specific demonstration for people's rights and not rock up in a fucking unicorn outfit, playing guitar.)

[TordelBack]

Poor optics indeed, but my issue is with people posting blatant untruths about their own behaviour. These people take the tube because it's practical, just as they always have, not because they have suddenly developed a strong environmental commitment to public transport that is now undermined by XR.

Ditto the near-90% of vox poppers who only ever venture into theffect city centre for job interviews and to visit sick/elderly relatives.

I'm also increasingly baffled by the 'individual action can't do anything about climate change, don't blame the people  it's the system' running seamlessly into 'large-scale co-ordinated group action shouldn't cause disruption that affects society'. Doesn't leave a whole lot of room for manoeuvre, and is a response familiar to anyone who's ever been in a union: employers would always rather have problems solved by 'a civilised chat between colleagues' than deal with militancy. It's amazing how frequently those 'chats' become urgent once your business is being disrupted, when before they were dismissed out of hand.

XR frequently screws up, its manifesto is full of holes, its arrest-focused approach to civil disobedience exclusionary, but it has focused attention on the crisis like nothing else before. In order to win hearts and minds, and thus direct vote-whoring behaviour and corporate policy, you first have to be visible and present in public discourse. First and foremost disruptive protest makes addressing your cause one possible solution, instead of something that can be dismissed and ignored.