A potty protest by pampered prats
TO ALL the school children going on strike in protest about climate change: you are the first generation who have required air-conditioning in every classroom. You want all your classes computerised because you spend all day and night on electronic devices. You don’t walk or ride bikes to school, but arrive chauffeur-driven by one of your parents, choking local roads and worsening rush-hour traffic. You are the biggest consumers of manufactured goods and insist on updating perfectly good luxury items to stay trendy. How about telling your teachers to switch off the air-con, walking or riding a bike to school, switching off your devices to read a book and making a sandwich instead of buying fast food? No, this will not happen because you are selfish, badly educated, virtue-signalling princes and princesses, who want to follow a ‘noble cause’ while indulging yourselves in luxury and an unprecedented quality of life. Wake up, grow up, learn to research facts and think for yourself. Don’t blindly accept the words and thoughts of others.
C. L. JONES, Bristol. DOES Extinction Rebellion realise how many ordinary people they are alienating with the mass disruption and chaos they cause? By blocking London roads and bridges, they are preventing ambulances from getting to seriously-ill patients quickly. People could lose their jobs because they can’t get to or are late for work and experiences that visitors to the capital will have saved up for are being ruined. It is the height of irresponsibility, selfishness and hypocrisy. Just by travelling to London the rebels will have made thousands of unnecessary journeys. This is in addition to the pollution caused by vehicles stuck in traffic jams because of their actions. I would have more sympathy and respect for their cause if they were to act in a positive, rather than negative, way. What a political statement it would make if the protesters were to instead spend their time litter picking along the banks of the Thames or the coasts. But that wouldn’t be so much fun and they would have to get their hands dirty.
S. BALDWIN, Bristol. IT IS outrageous that Animal Rebellion seeks to prevent us from eating meat. The way to win over people of a different viewpoint is by reasoned debate, not force. Eminent scientists have estimated that farming in Britain contributes less than 10 per cent of our greenhouse gas emissions. This is tiny compared with the emissions of motor vehicles, planes and ships. I doubt my meat consumption is any worse for the planet than a vegan who is reliant on imported protein crops and nut milks, much of which is produced in countries that clear forests. If we all give up flying abroad on holiday, buying goods from all over the world and making unnecessary car journeys, but it can still be proven global warming is a problem, then I might consider giving up eating meat. In the meantime, woe betide anyone who comes between me and my Sunday roast! MICHAEL SHOPLAND, Okehampton, Devon.