Defacing works of art, closing highways and pouring milk on the ground is simply privileged protest and doesn’t really inspire people to take action against climate change, a conservationist told Fox News.
“Activists are trying to deface property and artwork specifically because it’s shocking,” Danielle Butcher, executive vice president of the American Conservation Coalition, a conservative environmental nonprofit, told Fox News. “The tactics are focused on generating conversation, whatever that means, but they don’t really help the environment in any tangible way.”
“I saw the video of them throwing soup on a Van Gogh and immediately cringed,” Butcher continued. “It hurt me to see it, and I think that’s what they’re looking for.”
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This year’s climate protesters have focused on paintings by Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet and Leonardo da Vinci. Two climate protesters dumped tomato soup on a Van Gogh painting, two others stuck potatoes on a Monet piece and another threw cake at the Mona Lisa.
Protesters have also poured onto highways to stop traffic in the name of reducing fossil fuel use and spilled milk on store floors to fight for environmental justice.
Just Stop Oil protesters throw soup at Vincent van Gogh’s famous 1888 work “Sunflowers” at the National Gallery in London, Friday, October 14, 2022.
(Just stop the oil via AP)
RADICAL CLIMATE ACTIVISTS TARGET VALUABLE ART BUT EXPERTS WARN VANDALS THAT THEY ONLY HURT THEIR CAUSE
“I urge you to stop using these tactics,” Butcher said. “You can’t pester people to agree with you.”
“And certainly throwing mashed potatoes, glue, soup or milk on the floor of a grocery store, those are not ways to convince people that you’re in the right position,” he continued.
Climate activists protest as President Biden delivers a speech at the COP27 climate summit.
(REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany)
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Timing and context are essential when it comes to effective activism, Butcher told Fox News.
Climate protesters interrupted President Biden on Friday as he spoke at the 27th annual UN Climate Conference about the “transformational changes” the United States is making in the fight against climate change.
“We are running to do our part to avoid ‘climate hell,'” Biden told the audience.
For the full interview on the cutting edge methods of climate protesters, click here.
