Coco Gauff and Karolína Muchová played in the 2023 U.S. Open semi-finals; many may wonder why the U.S. Open has anything to do with the headline of this article. In truth, it probably shouldn’t. Except, the tournament fell victim to the protests of an environmentalist group who unintentionally garnered animosity towards their benevolent purpose.
Members of Extinction Rebellion, a radical environmentalist group, chose the tournament as their target. The protesters glued their bare feet onto the ground and shouted slogans such as “End Fossil Fuels,” delaying the tournament by 50 minutes until they were removed from the premises.
On the contrary, not only did their actions fail to contribute to solving climate change, but they were also counterproductive to the cause. The group’s cheap attempt to attract the attention and support of spectators failed spectacularly, with the crowds shouting, “Kick them out!” The protesters justified their actions by claiming that if they didn’t disrupt the match, climate change would.
This is just one instance of the extreme tactics radical climate groups have employed to “advance” their cause. In separate incidents in Germany and the United Kingdom, two civilians passed away because emergency services couldn’t reach them in time after climate activists blocked the roads and created traffic jams. This caused obvious outrage among the public.
On a different occasion, members of the Just Stop Oil group threw soup at a Vincent Van Gogh painting, angering many art enthusiasts.
While the stunts vary, they all have one thing in common — they distract and deter people from the actual issue at hand, instead evoking frustration with the movement. A Cantonese saying perfectly describes their selfish and obstructive attitude: 阻住個地球轉 or “preventing the earth from rotating.”
Make no mistake: I am a strong supporter of action against climate change, and I firmly believe that we, as inhabitants of this planet, must do more to protect it. Having said that, the actions of these climate activism groups are not only ineffective at solving climate change, but counterproductive in raising climate awareness as well.
Research from the University of Toronto shows that extreme forms of protests, such as blocking traffic or vandalism, consistently reduced support for social movements and even swayed people in the other direction. The University of Pennsylvania also found that non-violent disruptions significantly decreased support for the climate change movement. 46% of respondents decreased their support after the tactics were employed, while only 13% increased their support.
It’s difficult for people to empathize with activists when they’re disrupting, scaring, and irritating society. To the general population, vandalizing paintings and gluing people to cars are unrelated to climate change; they only make these protests appear irrational and unreasonable. Disrupting sports events and blocking roads, which prevents people from attending their regular functions, only adds to the frustration.
Furthermore, many of the props and stunts these activists use are counterintuitive and expose their own hypocrisies. While they preach about conserving resources, they squander pints of paint and cans of soup to vandalize monuments when those items could be used for more productive purposes.
Globally, 1.3 billion tons of food are wasted every year, significantly contributing to climate change by producing greenhouse gasses while rotting in landfills. It’s ironic that they contribute to climate change by wasting food while also trying to solve it. Their behavior is the very definition of hypocrisy and the phrase “rules for thee but not for me.”
Instead of continuing to deter supporters through vandalism, it would be wise for activists to choose less disruptive and wasteful methods, even if that means accumulating less attention. They should follow the lead of activists like Sir David Attenborough, who has successfully spread awareness and influenced society through his work on different media platforms. He has amassed millions of viewers, educating them about the environment and the importance of protecting nature. Attenborough was named a Champion of the Earth by the United Nations Environment Program and has also received numerous honors from the British crown for his conservation work.
No matter what logic or justification radical environmental groups use for their destructive and disruptive “activism,” it is clear that people disagree with them, and their actions are not convincing more people to support their causes. The best way to gain public favor is not to aggravate the audience, but to convince them of why they should care.
