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Are we the bad guys? (Jesus Merida/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Extinction Rebellion’s latest poster is a classic of the genre: a skeletal figure sits on a tree stump, holding a distortion of the group’s trademark hourglass logo. The text at the bottom is a variation on a slogan I have come to know very well: “Act Now, Before Because It’s Too Late”.
Like countless other precocious teenagers before me, I waited until university to rebel against “the system”. Then, for about two years, I dedicated every Saturday and dozens of other evenings to sitting, cross-legged, in a circle in the centre of Cambridge, discussing the end of the world. Climate change, after all, was the issue of our time. Forget the petty squabbles and internecine conflicts of the Left — the revolution would be green, not red.
While I jumped from one political identity to the next — Social Democrat, Corbyn loyalist, Anarcho-Syndicalist, Bookchinite Social Ecologist, Trotskyist — there was a single constant: to defeat the forces of capital, Leftism needed to be centred around sustainability. Climate change was one crisis capitalism couldn’t overcome: it had an extinction date.
It is difficult for me to separate how much of my political certainty was a product of the Left-wing populism that electrified campus politics, and how much was born from youthful arrogance. Either way, I was convinced we were the only ones left to protect the working classes against the forces of reaction. So it stung to have them reject us for what we were: jumped-up students looking out for our own interests.
Still, I enjoyed being a “radical”. I would walk around campus brandishing my own Little Green Book. Entitled Make Rojava Great Again, it was a hilariously delusional manifesto influenced by Murray Bookchin, and attempted to explain how a small, anarchist-in-name-only Kurdish commune was the future for global Leftism. The irony that Rojava was only able to exist thanks to the imperialist interventionism of the Global American Empire in Syria was, of course, lost on me and my comrades.
It was amid this revolutionary fervour that I was introduced to Extinction Rebellion (XR). They were, at the time, a relatively unknown collection of old-school conservationists, ageing animal rights campaigners and credentialed academics who seemed utterly clueless in comparison with our own more militant group, Zero Carbon. Before one meeting between our two respective groups — we had planned to discuss the importance of racial justice — several XR members started shouting at us for failing to have brought chairs. They were, it quickly transpired, simply too old to sit crossed-legged in a circle like us students.
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SubscribeUnherd finally gave Poppy Coburn a full length article and she didn’t disappoint. For me, the subject matter and conclusions weren’t particularly surprising. Student politics is still full of idealistic young people with a tenuous grasp of reality (it’s always been that way), and groups such as XR are filled with marginal members of society looking for a sense of meaning.
I particularly enjoyed her account of the Zero Carbon meeting where some of her colleagues affected exaggerated outrage at the actions of a couple of reasonable police officers–haven’t we all suspected so much of the ‘outrage’ of the past year is ‘performative’ as the author suggests.
What really struck me about this article is the level-headed outlook of the author. There is hope for journalism if the author, and others in her generation, are entering the profession and are not mindlessly enthralled by the latest ideologies.
I was also struck by the voice of the piece. Voice is more often considered an attribute of fiction than non-fiction, but it’s important in both, not least because all non-fiction is, at heart, a fiction created by the author. The voice in this article was detached, amused, slightly cynical and more world-weary than I might have expected from such a young author. At any rate, it was engaging and that’s what counts.
If I had the opportunity, here’s the challenge I would give the author. Unherd, and certain other publications, brilliantly describe the many ills of modern society: an intolerant, progressive left; censorship aka cancel culture; climate change whether caused primarily by human activity or by natural climatic cycles; economic imbalances and lack of opportunity for young people; the profound divisions within western society. The list goes on and on.
My challenge is take any one of these issues that interests you and persuade Unherd to let you write an article that provides a realistic road map for improvement. Instead of just cataloguing and describing problems, suggest workable solutions. The more experienced journalists at Unherd and elsewhere seem to shy away from solutions. Perhaps the youngest member of the Unherd team is up for the challenge.
In any event, well done and thank you for an interesting article.
No idea why this has attracted any downvotes! Absolutely agree with your final recommendation, and kudos to Unherd for giving Poppy a voice. Took me back fifty years, ilt did!
“Instead of just cataloguing and describing problems, suggest workable solutions. The more experienced journalists at Unherd and elsewhere seem to shy away from solutions. Perhaps the youngest member of the Unherd team is up for the challenge.”
Good idea – the National Trust got so full of White Guilt they bused in inner City minority Children to ‘Teach’ the staff of the Historic Buildings about ‘Racism’
That is what we need, the young who know nothing of real life to educate us Oldies. To give us ‘solutions’.
Remember Mao’s Youth Police? “Red Guards was a mass student-led paramilitary social movement mobilized and guided by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 through 1967” They got the duty of ‘Educating the old Intellectuals and academics on Communism, and beat the cr*p out of them doing it – in their war against ‘The Four Olds’.
“directed the Red Guards to attack the ‘Four Olds’ of Chinese society (i.e., old customs, old culture, old habits, and old ideas). For the rest of the year, Red Guards marched across China in a campaign to eradicate the ‘Four Olds’. Old books and art were destroyed, museums were ransacked, and streets were renamed”
History repeats, as the above article is pretty much reminiscent of that 1966 time. I am Glad Poppy has matured away from those wretched Communists, as they are all just really bad news.
Agree – my main surprise was finding out that the writer is 21 or thereabouts – she has more wisdom and insight that I had at 35!
I think you are misreading her, read her last paragraph. She has exactly the same extreme and bonkers views she always had, she just thinks Extinction Rebellion aren’t a serious organisation or doing anything to revolutionise our society
‘a realistic road map for improvement. Instead of just cataloguing and describing problems, suggest workable solutions.’ This has been the primary failing of the Left since it became obvious that the ‘scientific socialism’ which the USSR, Communist China, and all their client states were based on was itself the seed of its own corruption, repression, and economic failure. The Left failed to develop a post-Marxist set of principles and guidelines which could be the basis of a practical alternative to capitalism, instead clinging to the remnants of discredited ideology and dogma.
Does the left have anything to give? They hate liberty. They hate freedom. Their only solutions seem to stem from grabbing a gun, pointing it at peoples heads, and demanding that they do what they want them to. Breaking up monopolized power centers (central banks, IMF, World Bank, WHO, CDC). Using gold/silver/bitcoin as currency instead of fiat dollars printed for the financial class which uses that access to buy up anything of value and turn the rest of society into debtors. Local zoning control giving better terms, rates, access to local small business rather than corporations. This is actually why Portland used to be such a wonderful city before the city went insane and destroyed itself for no reason. One of the few places in the USA the left could point to as a success and they destroy it. I don’t even know what to say anymore.
Solutions are easy. XR and their ilk should focus on the elephants in the room. Population. And China. China is the most populous country on earth AND the biggest polluter. And 7 billion people is too many, especially if we want everyone on earth to be ‘equal’ and live more of a 1st world lifestyle (and if millions of them are achieving that by flooding into the 1st world the solutions need to be found sooner rather than later). So – XR need to a. Not have more than one kid per couple b. Work on persuading everywhere outside of the West not to have more than one kid per couple too.
c. Stop buying plastic tat from China – which I bet they ALL do, the hypocrites.
Reducing the global population by half within s generation would kill climate change stone dead AND give us the benefit of more resources to go around – that aren’t made in China..
Simples!
I read this interesting piece & couldn’t help but think that sometimes the stereotype is actually true. Most ordinary people view XR as a load of bored middle class young people who’d be better off getting a job instead of disrupting everyone’s lives for little real purpose.
Preferably in land management or energy so that they understand the issues. Bring back hedgers and ditchers.
The problem for XR and much of the media, is that the IPCC reports don’t predict apocalyptic outcomes they claim they do, except in the most unlikely and extreme scenarios.
Those who are going to base their lives on a phycological fantasy, that they are heroic figures saving the world, are heading for a double great disappointment. One, when the world fails to end and two, when the forces of capitalism they revile, provide the developing world with the resilience to adapt to Climate Change and the developed world with the technologies to eventually transition to a zero carbon economy.
If you believe Climate Change a threat. You’re better investing in the rapidly growing renewables sectors, of which many of the oil giants will be key players, rather than fantasising about the possibility of an authentic revolution.
Yeah. It’s good Poppy has moved beyond the politics of XR, but now she faces the challenge of moving beyond their narrative. Their belief that it’s already “too late” isn’t grounded in the actual data, and the supposed consensus around these things is a fiction. The dishonesty you find when you “follow the science” to its bedrock is profoundly disturbing.
But. One step at a time.
Yes – “…provide the developing world with the resilience to adapt to climate change..” This is what we need, to believe that our ingenuity will mitigate the effects of humanity’s effect on the earth’s climate. A little faith.
Well… I listened to an interview with an XR guy on Triggernometry. This was about a year ago. He stated all the ice on Greenland will be gone in 12 years. So it has 11 years to go before Greenland is ice free. I know Glacier park in Montana was supposed to be glacier free by 2020. Still Glaciers there. So I am following this claim now. I will not be surprised if Greenland is still nearly fully ice covered.
I’m investing in uranium miners, the cleanest, safest source of energy. Of course the Ecoloons hate it.
If you have the time, this is a must listen to interview with the lady who used to front XR media work. She finally realised that environmentalists’ stubborn refusal to look to nuclear energy is actually making the carbon problem worse and left the group:
https://www.spiked-online.com/podcast-episode/why-environmentalism-isnt-working/
And I saw the headline ‘One Afghans life is worth more than a million dogs’ and exited. 🙂
excellent headline
“Either way, I was convinced we were the only ones left to protect the working classes against the forces of reaction. So it stung to have them reject us for what we were: jumped-up students looking out for our own interests.”
So when did she even meet a member of the working class?
Call me suspicious, but I wonder how much Poppy has really changed.
A good read. But just reaffirms my opinion, that not only are activists idealistic, but even the best of them are completely ignorant of reality. Protesting something that does not exist. Meanwhile, real environmental devastation is taking place, caused in part by ‘AGW’ mitigation strategies. Hydro-electric, wind farms, biofuels, battery manufacturing. Our waterways are being stressed by sewage and farming effluent. Then there is the plastic. Where are the protests about these real environmental causes? Instead, just a bunch of middle-class mid-wits jump on bandwagons in a bid to be “revolutionary” and “radical”. Being revolutionary and radical is meant to be a means to a virtuous end, not the thing itself!
Yes and how many of them practice what they preach? I met some students preparing for a climate change protest in Berne (Switzerland). Each one of them was carrying a plastic bottle of water and one of them her lunch in a single use plastic box. I pointed out the contradiction and they just smiled and said ‘ce n’est pas grande chose’ (oh that’s nothing….).
Two questions for Poppy: when in the history of the earth has the climate been static and what has it collapsed from and to?
If climate change didn’t exist the left would have to invent it.
But you still think the climate has ‘collapsed’, past tense.
I don’t think you’ve quite woken up yet – still drowsy.
Yes. Left-wing activism is a replay of the medieval romance. The medieval romance turned the nasty medieval nobles into noble knights on their chargers saving damsels on their white palfreys.
Modern activism is a rehearsal of revolution. Long after the real revolutionaries went to their reward.
There’s some truth in your points. However, centuries before there were troubadors or much in the way of medieval romance, there was Christ. It was He and His church that had more to do with shaping knightly culture. Michael Howard: “Knighthood was a way of life, sanctioned and civilised by the ceremonies of the Church until it was almost indistinguishable from ecclesiastical order of the monasteries: equally dedicated, equally holy, the ideal to which medieval Christendom aspired. This remarkable blend of Germanic warrior and Latin sacerdos lay at the root of all medieval culture”
As for modern activisim, as someone who’s devoted hundreds of hours to it mostly for the Labour party, it has nothing to do with revolution or romance. At least not in my experience. About 1 in 50 coversations you have on the door step is fun &/or insteresting, but mostly it’s just boring & mildly unpleasant graft. And as per Poppy’s point, at least for us middle age activists, we have zero revolutionary intention, we just want sensible reform.
A liberating feeling isn’t it, not to fall for the hype and learning to ask questions that deserve relevant answers. Leaving a dystopian ideology that wants to create a utopian world is a sign of maturity. You woke up to the WOKEness of it, seeing how hollow and shallow it all is. Your immune system kicked in and has forever vaccinated you, giving you a barrier that will always push back at the first sign of infiltration. BRAVO!
She hasn’t completely let go, but that’s understandable. It takes time to wean yourself off such an intensive experience. Extrems of any kind often leave deep scars that take time to heal. She is now an outcast and traitor to the movement. She also feels betrayed since the promised friendship and comradeship have been broken.
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On a side note
This planet is starved for C02, during the last ice age we where down to 180 ppm, below 150 ppm and plant life begins to die off. The natural process of scrubbing out C02 from the atmosphere has been going on now for over 600 million years. Between 600 to 500 million years ago the C02 levels reached almost 7000 ppm. 300 million years ago it dropped down to almost the same levels as now and then climbed up to over 2000 ppm. Today we can consider ourselves lucky that we have just over 400 ppm. Plants need C02 and the more of it the better they thrive with it and the more food we can produce.
Most people don’t know even the basics of C02. Below are a series of charts I created on some of the most important facts about C02. All have references and have been cross checked.
The World of C02
https://www.ric-communications.ch/projekte/simple-science-1
The World of Climate Change
https://www.ric-communications.ch/projekte/simple-science-2
A very charming and witty essay, the best thing I’ve read this morning — and I read a lot. Demonstrating propositions, as the author does, with crisp and vivid vignettes, works. I chuckled many times.
Separately: Perhaps we need to get beyond the language of “Left,” “Right,” “Leftism”, etc. Admittedly, terms like “Centralisation” and “Decentralisation” don’t roll off the tongue so easily, but maybe “Collectivism” would do the trick in place of “Leftism”? Even in Venezuela they speak of the “Colectivos” gangs that go around and beat up people protesting against the regime.
Lenin would speak commonly of the Bolshevik program of “centralisation” and would throw in a few sparing references to “decentralisation”.
Wise words – most of us pass through the rebellion years as a way of coming to terms with a world we diodn’t know was so imperfect , or worse. The problem is some get stuck in that phase, (eg ISIS, XR, Corbyn) and worse others willfully exploit the lumpen rebels for their own ends. ( BJ, UK Lefties, Biden’s puppet masters etc). This detracts from the effort of solving resource and environmental problems. Many but not all of which can be sorted using existing technology.
“…I would walk around campus brandishing my own Little Green Book…”
You were in good company, in my student days in the early 80s I knew a postgraduate student from Libya, who showed me a Little Green Book he was quite enthusiastic about, authored by one Muammar Gaddhafi, full of his essential sayings. This, despite the fact he came from a very wealthy family. That was a different kind of Green, mind, – don’t know if this other variety of Green has any hold over the young at the universities these days.
I still have my ‘Little Red Book’ I was given wile in Italy during one of the Political moments, when the Communist Party was holding rallies (and it is in English – I guesses they were cheaper to buy that way)
Left-wing populism. Now there’s a phrase you don’t hear very often.
That was when the Labour Party was popular and in government which was from 1945 to 1951.
The guillotine is too good for them (the old regime), but otherwise time to bring back ‘The Terror’ – is seemingly how they thought sitting cross legged wile discussing the world – the most fortunate of the world’s fortunate wishing to lash out at the system which produced them.
“The Reign of Terror, commonly called The Terror, was a period of the French Revolution when, following the creation of the First French Republic, a series of massacres and numerous public executions took place in response to revolutionary fervour, anticlerical sentiment, and accusations of treason by the Committee of Public Safety”
This is interesting enough as showing unusual, if belated, self-awareness by a member of a usually unbearably self-righteous, privileged and often obnoxious group.
But anyone promoting Marxism and the ‘destruction of’ bourgeois capitalism’, a political position we know has been responsible for tens of millions of deaths, ought in any sane society, be committing a crime. Perhaps a light warning could be administered to start with to deter these idiots. And, no, the world is not ‘burning’ nor is it about to become uninhabitable, and no reputable science says this.
‘Performance’ is indeed the whole thing, whether by Extinction Rebellion, Zero Carbon or other extremist and nutty environmental groups. This is so clearly exemplified by their endlessly causing difficulties to the lives of ordinary people in the West, while having literally nothing to say about China. They have carried out no protests, for example, outside the Chinese embassy, no doubt on the grounds that this would be ‘racist’. So, it only matters if the world ‘burns’ if white societies are causing it.
Illuminating on XR.
A better reason to give up on XR is that XR do not understand supply and demand. If you want to reduce C02 in the atmosphere you need to reduce demand for fossil fuels by taxing them. This will reduce producer prices, new investment and the value of the producing companies. The government will collect the taxes. If XR succeed in reducing investment in production they will push up producer prices, add to the revenues of oil rich states and encourage other countries to invest instead.
No. Poor conclusion. It’s definitely not the last gasp of the old regime. The old regime just blunders on. It always does. look at all the razzmattaz about The New Man and 1917. Then fast forward to Yeltsin and 1990, when the lid came off the USSR and we saw what was in it.
I’m not sure if the author has fully escaped the cult of environmentalism. There is no ‘climate collapse’. This is alarmist nonsense. As Schellenberger et al have argued, even with 2-3 degrees of warming practical solutions will be forthcoming and life will continue. Deaths from extreme weather events have declined 90% in the last century and global crop yields continue to rise, not fall. Secondly the author identifies the delusions of the modern radical left and then talks about the ‘last gasp’ of the old regime. But there is no last gasp without a credible alternative either in the mainstream or radical fringes of the body politic. The global elite including the World Economic Forum, have recognised the stagnation of their system which is precisely why they have embraced sustainability and environmentalism as an apology for low growth and lack of any progressive vision. The elite is reordering itself and will stager on for many decades without serious opposition. The CCP may have other plans but that’s a different story.
The comment I made yesterday has disappeared. Do we have censorship now on Unherd? If so I’d like my subsriptionmoney back!
I suspect this comment will also vanish…
The same conditions that triggered the climate collapse will persist. The climate collapsed? Hmmm… I didn’t even notice. People used to laugh the insane wearing sandwich boards that the world is going to end tomorrow. Today they post articles online.
Climate change ‘WAS’ the issue of the day. It seems, according to Poppy someone has dealt with it. I must have imagined all those recent reports of heat-domes and wild-fires and floods.
The world will end tomorrow!
Dear Poppy – like so many you are now a comfortable capitalist, something that happened to me during my lifetime after learning about Malthus theory at school. My only concession was not to have children. I am so grateful to my Physics teacher for enlightening me. As humankind begins to experience its self engineered apocalypse, I am relieved that none of my offspring will need to endure the reality that follows. Our problem is embedded deep in our human rights which entitles each individual to claim more than our eco-systems can deliver. So you like so many others will continue to wound nature, ensuring that your life-span and many other people and animals is significantly shorter than it might have been if XR had admitted that we are dreadfully overpopulated. Check out these calculations about the UK biocapacity and reassess whether we should worry https://poemsforparliament.uk/uk-biocapacity