Climate activists who poured soup on Van Gogh’s paintings believe ‘climate change will destroy human civilization unless emergency action is taken’

By Admin

October 22, 2022
9:45 am

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1581617225735163905.html

By Roger Pielke Jr.

🧵

By now everyone is aware of the two young people who spilled some soup on Van Gogh’s Sunflower’s at the UK National Gallery

I’ve seen a lot of debate over whether they should have, or not, or it’s effectiveness, or not, as advocacy

Here I explore the WHY of @JustStop_Oil

First, let me express nothing but support for young people engaging in political advocacy & trying to make the world a better place

My advice to young people about advocacy is the same as it is to scientists … know what you are doing and why

So let’s take a look at their WHY

JSO says

“Humanity is on the verge of an abyss, accelerated human induced climate change will destroy human civilisation unless emergency action is taken to rapidly reduce our Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG) to zero in a very short timescale”
juststopoil.org/wp-content/upl…

It’s understandable that if a group truly holds millenarian beliefs they are going to act out in radical ways

They literally believe that “Further expansion of oil and gas production globally is putting us on course for human extinction”

Where did they get such views?

From us

I encourage you to read the @JustStop_Oil manifesto

It’s a sad statement of what we experts have done to young people

It is chock full of hyperbole from authoritative figures, references to work of the “planetary boundaries” folks & RCP8.5 studies

The below from their preamble

What literature do they cite to support their millenarian, apocalyptic views?

They cite a lot from the commentaries on “planetary boundaries”

We responded to last week to these folks pushing back against their calls for even more apocalyptic focus in research

Of course, the “tipping points” commentary cited by JSO earned an all-time correction for misleading its readers about risk

And most of their references to the scientific literature to justify their doomed outlook lead to – what else – RCP8.5 studies

The JSO manifest dismisses the IPCC report based on a Washington Post article that quotes a number of scientists dissatisfied with the IPCC and then asks, ironically enough: “What danger is there in being overly alarmist on the subject?”
washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/…

So good job everyone

Efforts to undermine the IPCC, climate science & elevate the prospects of a near-term apocalypse have borne fruit, at least w/ this group

Climate change is real, serious & vigorous policy action makes sense

I am sorry to disappoint, but the end is not nigh

Read more here:
rogerpielkejr.substack.com/p/are-we-focus…/END

Are we focusing too little on a climate apocalypse? Research and assessment emphasize extreme climate scenarios. Some want an even greater focus.https://rogerpielkejr.substack.com/p/are-we-focusing-too-little-on-a-climate

• • •

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Roger Pielke Jr.

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Roger Pielke Jr.

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Kellow 2020 The Lure of the Apocalypse quadrant.org.au/magazine/2020/…

Lambelet 2021 “Amid the cascade of environmental crises we are living through, apocalyptic practices of renunciation of the world offer a guide and discipline for living in the end” doi.org/10.1177%2F0953…

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