Feel-Good Versus Do Good

Image credit: The Guardian newspaper

There’s probably little other than deafening silence in the US news media but across Europe the press has been eagerly covering the various Extinction Rebellion protests. For those of you who aren’t sure what this is all about, here’s a quick summary:

The vast majority of real scientific evidence now indicates that we humans are degrading our planet at an alarming rate. Not only are we pumping greenhouse gasses into the air and effecting radical climate change but we’re denuding the oceans and razing the forests. We’re exterminating other species at a rate not seen since the last major extinction event 65 million years ago. Only right-wing commentators and vested interests continue to pretend this isn’t happening.

Extinction Rebellion is a series of non-violent protests that seek to raise public awareness of the issues in the hope that politicians will respond by doing something about the problem. Like all large-scale protests, those participating get to feel good about “standing up for what’s right” and meeting like-minded people. Plus, who doesn’t want to see themselves on the evening news?

The problem is that protests don’t have a great history of accomplishing anything in the face of powerful vested interests. Remember those folk protesting outside the White House in the mid-60s chanting, “Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids have you killed today?”…