Don’t try this at home

Climate change is the most important issue of our age. It will be solved by thoughtful action, not by cheap stunts.

On Monday evening, groups called Rise n Resist! and Extinction Rebellion Vancouver Island blocked a Victoria bridge in a protest they said would last 12 minutes, one minute for each year scientists say we have left to avert climate catastrophe.

In fact, six of the 200 protesters stayed for two hours, until the police, who showed commendable patience, finally arrested them.

While drivers fumed in frustration, their vehicles pumped more greenhouse gases into the air. How is this self-described “civil disobedience” going to push the provincial or federal governments to take stronger action on climate change?

The decision-makers remain unaffected. Ordinary citizens, on the other hand, were needlessly frustrated.

The protesters have the arrogance to suggest only they care. They seem to assume everybody is Donald Trump. Everybody isn't. Yes, governments are moving too slowly, but random acts of performance art won’t speed them up.

Climate change requires serious decisions and serious actions by serious people; the cause must not be trivialized.

Monday’s protest was not serious.

It was worse than useless. It was counter-productive.