UKH

Global climate strike begins tomorrow. Tell us what you are doing to raise awareness and protest inaction from our 'leaders'.

I'm starting this thread and cycling to London with my son to shout a bit on millbank

I'm going to work. I need the money. 

Scab!...

Only joking

I'm working. 

In reality, this will have zero effect on the big players. They don't care. It may affect small businesses who have staff on strike. Why not strike from climate changing business  rather than from work?

I'm on holiday and will be finishing off fitting a garden gate.  I will then hopefully have a chance to fit in a walk and watch the Rugby.
As for the striking stuff and inaction from our leaders, what do you want them actually to do?

Sounds great. Maybe ukcers can meet up in a car park first, light lunch at McDonald's then a carry out coffee on the way to the 'strike' from starbucks. Don't forget to buy a little bottle of water, all that shouting can leave one jolly thirsty. 

We join the strike to change opinions. We are not as free thinking as any of us think. It is changing things. Biggest strike in the world ever...why don't you turn up? 

Change their policies. Plant more trees, increase carbon sinks, leave fossil fuels in the ground, protect wildness and other species. Even if you are a cynic, wouldn't you rather go down fighting?  

Since it hasn't happened yet how do you know?

Between 150 and 200 million is the number to beat (All-India General Strike).

Because it's completely the wrong action. 

You strike against an employer to change something, the loss of productivity hurts them more than your lost wage. 

This strike has no leverage only PR. Which is a tool in itself. But it only works so many times, every time it weakens.

Go to work and earn the money. Use this cash to buy more ethically etc. Lobby mps, boycott shops and supermarkets which import cheap wasteful polluting crap... clothes being a classic example. Are everyones private pension invested ethically, do they even know where it is.. 

Business cares about money, mps care about votes. A few thousand striking here and there is two minutes in the news then it's all over. The same number of people changing their shopping habits, lifestyle and bombarding their mps, that's what will be felt. 

Not sure it's a strike, adults on unpaid leave and kids truancy isn't really a strike is it?

I agree. Rewild all national parks, highlands etc.

As above.

Build from wood, what's your house made of?

Have you written to your mep? Given Germany's policy of burning lignite for fuel? 

Spending the day planting sphagnum moss with the RSPB. Building up the local moorland carbon capture.

Brilliant, even better if it were trees.

Imagine if the thousands travelling to cities today, instead volunteered their time for green initiatives, every group, every country had a national day of action, planting, clearing evasive species etc.. apart from actually improving things, hundreds of mps would be forced to turn up in a hi vis jacket, with a spade and camera crew.  

I will be joining our local protest/strike, as I think these protests are very important in changing the mood around climate change, especially highlighting its urgency.

There is some interesting research on why politicians don't act on climate change despite accepting the science behind it. Some of the main barriers are that it's seen as an outsider/niche issue, and that MPs don't feel there is a pressure from voters to act on it. The kind of public pressure from strikes has an important role to play in both helping to change the public mood, and showing to MPs that the mood is changing.(The whole report is here in case anyone is interested https://www.green-alliance.org.uk/resources/Building_a_political_mandate_fo...)

Now of course the kind of actions that summo highlights have an important role to play, but realistically individual actions alone aren't going to make a difference - unless others act the same.  We therefore need to write to our MP/shop ethically and encourage our friends to write to their MP/shop ethically and call out our MP on social media when they are voting for legislation at odds with climate change/call out businesses that are unethical, etc. Both the social aspect of changing ideas of what is 'normal' and sustained public pressure on those who have power to make larger changes (be they businesses or politicians) is hugely important - and public protests have an important role to play here.

Is striking/protesting the solution? No. Is it part of a range of solutions? Yes.

Even local non visible stuff, like planning applications, or other council works. Folk have a voice through their unpaid parish or town councillors, and elected officials. They have right of comment etc. If a council changes a road, persimmon throws up another 20 houses, a school is extended... What green measures are put in place, mitigation etc. You can't guarantee you'll get your way, but you have a formal route to air your views and they have to be acknowledged. 

Drove to work in my 27mpg land rover.

Individual actions make a massive difference to me though. Keeping out of cars for example, walking to join the strike at the Town Hall and meeting like minded people, make my day. Plenty of time to do lots of other stuff as well, but this is the day to enjoy. No problem if its impossible for others to join in.  

135 Motorhome owners have assembled on a campsite outside Tintagel for the weekend.

If the high winds abate we’ll soon be drinking beer and bbqing while discussing the mpg that our diesel guzzling euro5 engines achieve.

On Sunday we’ll head for home, most of us retracing the hundreds of miles that it took us to get here.

This activity will be taking place over hundreds if not thousands of sites all over the country as it has done every weekend and most weeks since April.

If the attitude towards global warming of all these people is remotely typical then we’re stuffed.

Off now to Port Isaac but it’s OK because I’ll be on my electric bike.

You're right, it's one of a range of solutions. It's easy to dismiss actions like this as being ineffective. They are, looked at in isolation. But they have ripple effects that develop the conditions for change. This quote from Rebecca Solnit sums this up

‘the consequences of an uprising or a movement are not linear. Success and failure are often premature measures and over-simplifications; actions, interventions and conversations change beliefs and create new values, alliances and possibilities.'

(I found this in an excellent article by Australian writer James Bradley, a genuine 'must-read' if you care about climate change:

https://meanjin.com.au/essays/unearthed/ )

This is a very priviledged and short-sighted view. How many working class people can afford to "buy more ethically" and boycott shops selling cheap goods etc? 

Only the middle class are able to make these lifestyle changes, which will have fa effect on climate change. 

Further escalations of strikes would be far more effective in mitigating climate change, by forcing changes in policy that applies to everyone, not just the middle class. 

Why not have a protest on a Saturday? So people are out there in their own time, not the schools, unis or employers. Would that not send a stronger message?

Every single measure counts. Regardless of class. It's pretty likely everyone from every social class drives a car with a bigger engine than they really need. Most probably eat more meat than we really need daily etc. No effort or change in lifestyle is entirely without effect. 

It occurs to me that instead of making what is probably a futile gesture, everyone could donate an hour's wages to a crowdfunder which would then spend the money on CO2 mitigation schemes. If tens of millions of people donated on average, maybe £10 there would be a sizeable fund to play with.

That would sort of defeat the point of a strike no? You want to create a disruption, a strike does that much more effectively than a simple protest. It is far more difficult to ignore a strike than a protest.

I don't disagree it counts, but it is a drop in the ocean when so many people simply cant afford to take these measures. Such lifestyle changes just make the middle class feel good about themselves, and carry on with their lives instead of doing anything that can contribute to a real change.  

hmm, maybe some kind of taxation system could be used to collect these monies?

No, because that requires the cooperation of every government in the world.

I was suggesting something that every individual could do regardless of the views of their governments. A case of the people leading their governments.

It's not strike though is it? It's a protest, done in somebody elses time, preying on the weakness of kids who will do anything for a day off school. How many kids would turn up tomorrow? Of adults for that matter? 

Everything is a drop, but a million drops count. Everyone can afford to run a smaller car? 

I think you are a little cynical there, the younger generations are very aware of these issues. No need to denounce their actions due to baseless ageism. 

Not where I live. A large number of cars are 20-30 years old and tiny, spew out awful fumes and are probably worth a couple hundred quid. So no, not everyone can afford to run a smaller car. Not to mention the people who can't afford to drive. 

You'd also need 8 billion odd drops.

So you think individuals changing how they live is pointless, but standing on the street shouting will change something? 

Did you see the Solnit quote I cited above, or look at the article? It's not the act of standing in the street in isolation that you should judge; it's whether the wider cultural and political changes that can flow from these things takes place. And we don't know what impact these 'strikes' will have yet. 

It all counts. I joined in here in Kendal and people got a lot out of it for a number of reasons. Nothing like a joint cause. It brightened today up for many people. 

Perhaps im just sceptical, if well meant sentiment was all that was needed it would be job done. But people need to change as much as government policy. Look at Thomas cook, a reported 150,000  people have currently flown out of the UK on holiday this week, mid September, not peak holiday season. That's just one operator, albeit a large one. 

I agree, every single action or change in lifestyle we all make adds up. Rich or poor, etc. Small changes become significant if everyone takes part. It was rubbin suggesting the poor can't do anything I was challenging. 

People do need to make changes, yes, but being involved in social movements  increases the likelihood of them making changes. It's not simply well-meaning sentiment. 

[Edit] You might find this interesting:

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20190513-it-only-takes-35-of-people-to-chan...

Interesting, not convinced Blair or trump would care about the 3.5% level. But there is clearly some proof that non violent protest work with defined goals, ie get rid of Marcos. Climate change goals are less definitive. 

The goal of being carbon neutral by 2025 is so far beyond possible, many might be put off trying. Say 2035 and more people might get beyond realistic targets. I think in reality 2040 or 45 is the best we can aim for in Europe. Even with current trend of offshoring all our pollution to Asia. 

Thanks for sharing that, very interesting and surprising. I would have been more inclined to believe violent protests would be more useful, but I suppose I should read her book. 

I don't suppose it's up to Trump or BJ to decide on the supposed 3.5% rule. I imagine that wrt climate change it should be easier than the examples cited, given that anyone with a brain should be supportive of actions against it.

Though it does talk of regime change, so perhaps it is not totally applicable to issues such as climate change.

I am with you on the goals though, the major down side of extinction rebellion is the seemingly anti science stance they have on many issues, nuclear power being the obvious one. 

Flew to Italy.

A job would be nice in the first place 

Driving 600 miles to Italy

Or maybe not

We were planting a tree in 73, even then.  I dreamed of petrol/electric cars and was scorned for it.

Didn’t it go ‘plant a tree in 73, buy a saw in 74’?

I rather think the school that organized our labours ripped up the trees for some new sports centre during the intervening decades

Nice to see a group of kids with placards at the front gate of the school this morning. 

We had kids turn up after school because their school had stopped them leaving during school time, so it’s a bit cynical to say they only want the day off.

Also who do you think is paying for adults to go? I went yesterday and lost a day’s pay. A price I was willing to pay (although not everyone can afford to do that).

Exactly, a protest, not a strike. 

I don’t have a problem with it being called a protest, why the obsession with terminology?

I was trying to address your point that it was in someone else’s time and that the kids just wanted to get out of school. People are doing this in their own time not someone else’s. If i’d not gone to the protest i’d have earned a day’s wages, instead I spent time and money there. I’m as selfish as anyone else, I was only there because I hope it will make things work out better for me and mine (obviously it’s great if it helps things work out better for others too but let’s not pretend that’s really most peoples motivation).

You might have valid criticisms of the usefulness of the protest but people aren’t protesting in “somebody else’s time”, they are spending their time and money protesting when in reality they are likely to have other things they’d rather do. I know I have plenty of other things I’d rather be doing with my time.