Defacing artwork, closing highways, and spilling milk on the floor is simply a privileged protest and doesn’t actually inspire people to take action against climate change, an environmentalist told Fox News.
“Activists are trying to deface property and works of art specifically because they are shocking,” Danielle Butcher, executive vice president of the American Conservation Coalition, an environmental conservative nonprofit, told Fox News. “The tactics focus on sparking the conversation, whatever that means, but they’re not actually helping the environment in a tangible way.”
“I saw the video of them throwing soup on a van Gogh and I immediately shivered,” Butcher continued. “It hurts to see, and I think that’s what they’re looking for.”
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Climate protesters this year have targeted paintings by Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet and Leonardo da Vinci. Two climate protesters threw tomato soup on a Van Gogh painting, two others glued a potato to a piece of Monet, and another threw a Mona Lisa cake.
Protesters also poured onto highways to stop traffic in the name of reducing fossil fuel consumption and poured milk on store floors to fight for environmental justice.
Just Stop Oil protesters threw soup at Vincent van Gogh’s famous 1888 work “Sunflowers” at the National Gallery in London on Friday, October 14, 2022.
(Just stop the oil via AP)
ACTIVISTS FOR THE RADICAL CLIMATE CARE ABOUT ART WITHOUT PRICE BUT EXPERTS ALERT VANDALS ONLY INJURING THEIR CAUSE
“I’m begging them to stop using these tactics,” Butcher said. “You can’t annoy people by making them agree with you.”
“And certainly throwing mashed potatoes or glue or soup or dumping milk on the floor of a grocery store are not ways to get people 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 United Nations climate conference on the “transformational changes” the United States is undertaking in the fight against climate change.
“We are rushing forward to do our part to avoid ‘climate hell’,” Biden told the audience.
To see the full interview on state-of-the-art methods of climate protesters, click here.
