Original posting in England Forum but LHR airport might affect England and transit passengers to / from Europe.
I apologize for posting in England and a referral in this forum but it affects both groups.
@ websmasters: feel free to delete or find a different way to inform fellow travelers of both groups. No bad intention.
"Climate activists announce plans in advance to help law enforcement be ready to put them in jail"
Based on the article apparently going to jail is one of their main goals. Not sure how being hauled in a gas guzzling vehicle to jail helps the environment, but to each their own.
Flying through LHR on Monday and again Oct 10. We dodged the BA pilot strike it seems, and hopefully this will be short-lived. Thanks for the warning, though.
Thanks for the heads up
Not sure how being hauled in a gas guzzling vehicle to jail helps the environment, but to each their own.
Modern diesel vans are quite efficient. Gas guzzling? Have you seen our fuel prices?
Try being 6' 3", all dressed up with stab vest and utility built and having to patrol in a Ford Fiesta, gas guzzling is the last phrase that springs to mind.
Okay, the activists are passionate to their cause. Reading briefly the article, it seems they are having a "controlled and informed" protest.
Still, for that, what about the passengers who paid good money to travel? What about missed connections? And the snowball effect it will have?
Are the activists prepared to reimburse the passengers?
I was being sarcastic... I don't if the police vehicle is electric. I still don't think this is an effective protest method and likely only to get them in trouble while affecting no real change.
But it does bring up a point. They appear to be using "disposable" drones based on my reading which they seem to be OK with losing or being destroyed. So what's the environmental impact of having these things made (probably someplace far away), shipped and then "destroyed" ?
Are the activists prepared to reimburse the passengers?
No.
They will tell them they shouldn't be flying.
Well, this brings up another issue: Trains/public transport vs cars. US travelers are hard-wired to think "rent a car" first. If you want to minimize your climate-change sins, change that thinking, USA travelers!! Think "take a train".
Good for them. Unfortunately this is sometimes the only way people ever discuss serious issues; a society must be cautious about devaluing protest. Imagine the world today if no one was ever inconvenienced by a protest. War? Civil rights? Environment?
Glaciers melting, Amazon on fire, bunch of folks want to rip up the Tongass.
"What's taking so long, driver"?!
Good for them. Unfortunately this is sometimes the only way people ever discuss serious issues; a society must be cautious about devaluing protest.
It's the hypocrisy of it all. I recall the last mass climate protest in London and in particular the vast amounts of rubbish left behind, placards, plastic bottles etc., I'll take more notice of someone's opinion if they practice what they preach.
As for the drones, it doesn't matter if they're disposable and can't be traced, they'll be rendered useless before they get anywhere near the no fly zone. The airports were caught with their pants down last Christmas but they've since installed anti drone systems.
Good post, Dave.
Human beings' perceptions are not appropriate to recognize and assess the language of our nature the right way. And we are not even able to recognize this. So, we ignore. No longer "veni, vidi, vici", more "we lived, we knew, we neglected".
Therefore protests are important in our life to reach a milimeter stand-out of the normal media madness we decided to live in. I do not appreciate violence or endangering but a somehow extreme seems to be necessary nowadays to be heard.
It's the hypocrisy of it all. I recall the last mass climate protest
in London and in particular the vast amounts of rubbish left behind,
placards, plastic bottles etc., I'll take more notice of someone's
opinion if they practice what they preach.
As I mentioned in the other thread, Extinction Rebellion threatened this earlier this year and nothing happened. I’m certainly not an expert in UK law, but I believe interfering with flight operations would be considered a serious felony or even an act of terrorism. They’d be looking at serious prison time, not just a slap on the wrist for blocking a road.
ER was also announcing some actions in Berlin. Their impact so far was lower than the one from a serious traffic accident.
Endangering flight traffic is a serious act. Do not know English law - guess crime act. In Germany it is a crime act (1 to 10 years jail for a willing act).
These people need to stage protests in Brazil, where the loss of rainforest is alarming and the government doesn't appear to have the appropriate level of concern.
They did.
A significant number of attendees of the "420 event" were attendees of the former Extinction Rebellion event therefore the hypocrisy stinks.
It reminds me of the Great Shoplifting Riots a few years ago where nobody bothered looting Waterstones yet the nearby Nike store was ransacked.
I remember doing several Typhoon evacuations from Guam to Okinawa in a B52. Local protesters would wave 200' bamboo poles back and forth, near the end of the runway, to try to keep us from landing. It didn't work.
If the drone is small, it's like a bird strike; most planes can handle bird strikes safely. If the drone is big, it could be an issue. Either way, it's probably a felony and likely to get the protesters more than the public "slap on the hand" they're hoping for.
A significant number of attendees of the "420 event" were attendees of the former Extinction Rebellion event therefore the hypocrisy stinks.
JC, you seem determined to call this hypocrisy, now by lumping all these folks together. There's a climate problem, and while we individually may not appreciate these efforts, we are certainly big enough to ask 'what am I doing about climate change?', aren't we? The answer for the vast majority of readers here is likely not much. This while noting that the RS demographic is a large consumer/user of modern aircraft, which are part of the climate problem.
Overall I'm a bit shocked by the seeming nonchalance of many here to a problem they are a part of, in favor of being annoyed at some hippies who are trying to actually do something about it.
From the Snopes link, which debunks the notion that they left a bunch of garbage behind when protesting an environmental concern:
The image on the right is at least a year old and comes from Versova beach in Mumbai, India. It appears that this image was circulated in a bad-faith attempt to paint global-warming protesters in a negative light.
The image on the left truly shows rubbish in Hyde Park. However, the image was taken in the aftermath of a celebration for 420, a marijuana-centric holiday, not a global-warming protest.
As I wrote before....A significant number of attendees of the "420 event" were attendees of the former Extinction Rebellion event therefore the hypocrisy stinks.
I'm generalising, it's impossible not to when referring to a large group of people but the fact remains that many of those that attended the "420 event" and left a ton of rubbish behind were also present at the Extinction Rebellion even beforehand so how can their actions not be regarded as hypocrisy?
You know nothing about what I do or don't do when it comes to my bit regarding climate change so let's drop the sanctimony shall we?
"..we are certainly big enough to ask 'what am I doing about climate change'
I was not asking what you are doing about it. I can infer from your comment about wearing a stab vest and a utility belt the other day whilst driving a Ford Fiesta that you are far closer to it than I, so thank you if that's the case.
However...
"You know nothing about what I do or don't do when it comes to my bit regarding climate change so let's drop the sanctimony shall we?"
That's just rude.
It looks like the airports have responded well to the previous drone problem. Hopefully these activists will have the book thrown at them for such reckless and dangerous behaviour.
5 people arrested in London yesterday who were planning a disruption today.
Thank you, Dave!
"Imagine the world today if no one was ever inconvenienced by a protest. War? Civil rights? Environment?"
Glaciers melting, Amazon on fire, bunch of folks want to rip up the Tongass.
Some issues are WORTH being "inconvenienced" for! And if anything ever was, this is it!
