On Extinction Rebellion and climate...
As has become apparent over the past few decades, the impact humanity is having on the planet is to its detriment, with industrialisation increasing average temperatures. The science in unequivocal: if humanity doesn't change quickly, significantly, and now, the impacts will be irreversible and far-reaching.
Pre-Covid, Extinction Rebellion (XR) held numerous protests in London, UK, to try and get action from the government on climate policy. Although their demands were not fully adopted by the government, I think they were successful.
XR was successful, because:
- They kept climate in the conversation, forcing the topic to be prominent in the news. Yes, not all the articles presented their activity in the best light - blocking roads in London causes massive inconvenience to going about their daily life, and they definitely cost the government a huge amount of money for policing. But XR was successful in maintaining a continuous conversation on the topic.
- Policy actually changed. This was probably through a combination of the above: the persistent protesting and prominence of climate change in the media made the government realise it was an easy way to make them look good. This caused the UK to legislate: bans on combustion engine vehicles by 2035, net-zero by 2050, … Although these are targets that are set in the very distant political future, it is better than nothing, and has led to the sustainability of society today being questioned.
- Businesses changed their ways of doing things. This is, in part due to the above. Constant media attention on climate meant businesses that were not looking at improving their ways of operating were questioned publicly, and this pushed sustainability into more facets. (But the shift to paper probably isn't great either).
Philosophically, this was made possible by shifting the Overton window. By having an organisation (XR, Just Stop Oil, …) presenting a fairly radical (extreme in some cases) view of what needs to be done, previously unthinkable ideas (banning petrol cars, reducing plastic packaging, …) became more palatable politically.
The UK (and the rest of the world) has a long way to go to stave off climate armageddon, but having a radical movement could help shift the window of palatable ideas to get lots of little wins over the line, while keeping the conversation active.
[1] https://www.vox.com/politics/24074408/climate-change-blow-up-pipeline