Protesting for a cause can be an effective way to get the word out — but blocking access to departure gates so that passengers cannot arrive for their flights on time is not the way to go about it. Just stop Just Stop Oil, which is the group that decided to block access to departure gates at London Gatwick Airport earlier today, Monday, July 29, 2024.
Editorial: Just Stop Just Stop Oil.
The group is trying to call attention to its goal of no one on the planet using oil, coal, or gas — or, more specifically, that the government of the United Kingdom “sign up to a Fossil Fuel Treaty to Just Stop Oil by 2030”. The effects of burning fossil fuels are supposedly harming the environment of our planet…
…so members of this group of vapid environmentalists — note that one cannot spell the word environmentalists without the word mental — decide that they will block access to the departure gates at London Gatwick Airport. I suppose their goal was that people would drop their bags, miss their flights, and shower them with funds in support of this noble cause.
Actually, what happened was that annoyed passengers simply stepped over them. The protesters were eventually arrested by law enforcement officers.
Members of Just Stop Oil have pulled stunts like this around the world but mainly in Europe, as they also sit down and block roads protesting the use of fossil fuels — and they are proud of what they call their “civil disobedience”.
How much do you want to bet that they used fossil fuels today to promote their cause? Does anyone think they walked to the airport? Have any of their clothes been manufactured without using any fossil fuels at all? What about the paints, inks, or dyes they used to create their rudimentary signs and print their shirts? Did they go and manufacture them themselves by squeezing blueberries and using indelible natural fluids?
Final Boarding Call
Look, I care about the environment just as much as a so-called environmentalist — but we currently need fossil fuels to function in society. Anyone who drives around in an electric car thinking that they are saving the planet may not realize what goes into the manufacturing of electric cars and their components — including batteries. Other than the minuscule amount which is manufactured by solar energy, wind power, nuclear power, and hydroelectricity, where do they think that the bulk of electric power is created? Do they believe that electricity was used to manufacture electric cars?
I agree that we can reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. The use of cleaner sources of fuel — such as nuclear energy — as well as natural sources could help our environment…
…but emissions from motor vehicles have continuously been reduced over the years — yet more motor vehicles are on the road than ever. The United States and other countries have been progressing towards a cleaner environment — but China released 11.47 gigatons of carbon dioxide emissions in 2021, according to this article from Climate.gov of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the Department of Commerce of the United States: “…it would take roughly 15 years to match the U.S. historical contribution.”
By comparison, the United States is currently not even at six gigatons of carbon dioxide emissions.
Civil disobedience can work if done correctly — but significantly inconveniencing and annoying innocent people is not the way to go about change. Just Stop Oil is too radical in their approach, in my opinion. We should embrace using more sources of energy that are cleaner and friendlier to the environment — but we need to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels and not eliminate it before we are fully ready and willing to do so.
Do you believe that Just Stop Oil is helping to resolve the issue of consuming fossil fuels and helping to protect our environment — or do its members remind you of these incidents of protesters who block access roads to airports? What should be done about protesters who block passengers from accessing gates to their flights?
Photograph ©2016 by Brian Cohen.
