Climate protests regarding fossil fuels

The issue of climate protest, mainly by climate activists, has become more and more common, with more people taking part to pressure political leaders to take more action against climate change. A somewhat recent example is Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg¹ being detained for protesting a German coal mines’ expansion which would destroy an abandoned village (BBC, 2023). The image of Thunberg being carried away by German police has been made into many internet memes online, an example of which is shown below (Fig 1).

Fig 1: A meme made using the image of Greta Thunberg being carried away by police. (Image² from reddit user u/TennisADHD)

Some time ago, there were news of protesters from organisations such as “Just Stop Oil”³ who took actions such as gluing themselves onto artwork (Gayle, 2022); and others who poured soup on famous paintings (Reuters, 2022), all protesting and advocating for more action to be taken against climate change. These are just some of the various actions taken by climate activists around the world, who are trying to gain more attention and let more people focus on the dire climate issues (albeit via unorthodox methods). These organisations feel that by taking such dire means, more people would likely be talking about this issue. After all, any damage to these priceless artworks is very likely to cause an uproar among people. Therefore, these organisations feel that by taking such actions, people would be more aware of such issues, so more may focus on climate change (Suliman, 2022). Some have also argued that because of the glass casing, the art pieces are not actually harmed; hence taking such actions to get attention could be justified.

Fig 2: In July 2022, “Just Stop Oil” protestors at an art museum in Britain, covering the art piece with their own images and gluing their arms onto the art piece. (Image from the Guardian).

Fig 3: “Ultima Generazione” (which translates to “last generation”) protesters in an Italian art museum in November 2022. They have poured soup and glued their hands onto a painting. (Image from Reuters).

These groups have attracted quite a bit of attention, as many have criticised the protesters from attempting to destroy valuable artwork as well as disrupting others who simply want to enjoy a simple piece of art. Some have also argued that the reduction in fossil fuel usage should be reconsidered as fossil fuels are still a significant source of energy for many countries. In 2022, due to many reasons which include the Russian – Ukraine war, there has been a global shortage of fossil fuels and a rise in fossil fuel prices. Therefore, there has been a global rise in energy prices since fossil fuel costs, which are used to generate electricity, have risen. This has led to inflation since electricity and fossil fuels are used in production of many goods. Electricity is used in many factories while fossil fuels are used in many vehicles to transport items around the world. Therefore, there has been a general rise in cost of living, and in some countries, this has led to workers going on strikes and protests so their respective governments can take action to address such issues. In particular, countries in Europe closer to the core of the Russia – Ukraine war are affected more, with many European countries like the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain and Austria dealing with strikes (Reuters, 2022).

Fig 4: French protestors protesting pension reforms in January 2023, which include the raising of the retirement age. (Image from CNA).

However, some have also argued that the reliance on fossil fuels is one of the reasons why many countries are vulnerable to changes in fossil fuels’ price. After all, using alternate sources of energy like renewables would mean that energy prices are less dependent on the price of fossil fuels. This could explain why some predict that generally there would be a shift away from fossil fuel usage in the long term⁴ (Fogarty, 2022). In the long run, humanity would benefit from this move. The high fossil fuel usage has caused the emission of greenhouse gases, and especially carbon dioxide. Such greenhouse gases cause an enhanced greenhouse effect, which traps heat and warms the Earth. This results in worsening extreme, unpredictable weather as the climate changes, with its impacts consisting of more floods and more droughts. With a shift away from fossil fuels, such negative effects of climate change can be reduced and minimised.

Footnotes

1. Greta Thunberg is a Swedish activist, known for actions like “School Strike for Climate” where students skip school on Fridays to protest and pressure leaders to take more action to protect the environment. She is also known for saying “How dare you” during the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit.

2. Image from: https://www.reddit.com/r/dankmemes/comments/10eqvb2/shes_really_getting_carried_away/. It should also be noted that there is a spelling mistake, spelling “Thunberg” as “Thunburg”.

3. “Just Stop Oil” is a British organisation that focuses on reducing the use of fossil fuel usage in the United Kingdom, mainly through more extreme ways compared to more traditional organisations. You can read more about them on their website: https://juststopoil.org/.

4. In my own opinion, although ideally this should happen, lobbying by major fossil fuel companies, corruption, and a general lack of political will in many big nations mean that this may not happen as quickly as expected.

References

BBC. (2023, Jan 18). Greta Thunberg detained at German coal protest. Retrieved from BBC: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64309628

CNA. (2023, Jan 20). France gripped by strikes, protests against pension reform. Retrieved from CNA: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/france-gripped-strikes-protests-against-pension-reform-3216816

Fogarty, D. (2022, Sep 13). Global energy crisis could lead to faster shift away from fossil fuels, says DBS chief Piyush Gupta. Retrieved from The Straits Times: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/global-energy-crisis-could-lead-to-faster-shift-away-from-fossil-fuels-says-dbs-chief

Gayle, D. (2022, Jul 4). Climate protesters glue themselves to National Gallery artwork. Retrieved from The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jul/04/climate-protesters-glue-themselves-to-national-gallery-artwork

Reuters. (2022, Nov 7). Factbox: Strikes, protests in Europe over cost of living and pay. Retrieved from Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/strikes-protests-europe-over-cost-living-pay-2022-11-07/

Reuters. (2022, Nov 5). Soup thrown at Van Gogh painting in Rome climate change protest. Retrieved from Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/soup-thrown-van-gogh-painting-rome-climate-change-protest-2022-11-04/

Suliman, A. (2022, Nov 15). World’s museums urge climate activists targeting ‘irreplaceable’ art to stop. Retrieved from The Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/11/11/climate-change-protesters-art-museums/