Disruptive climate activism can be described as activities carried out by protestors that disrupt day to day activities of members of the public. There have been several instances of this in recent months in the UK. Members of campaign groups have glued themselves to major roads to bring attention to their cause. Some have even glued themselves to major paintings as well as thrown food at some famous artworks.
There is some debate about how effective these methods are. While they do bring attention to the cause, they do not necessarily encourage support for what the protestors are trying to achieve. People generally do not like to face much disruption to their daily routine. Disruptive activism may spur some people to actively do the things that the protestors are campaigning against.
However, protesters claim that disruptive climate activism is the only option left available to them. They say they have tried more peaceful ways of protesting, but nothing has changed. Extreme action is the only way to make people listen. They point to how this type of activism has worked in the past, such as in the Suffragette movement.
Most people agree that something needs to be done to tackle climate change, but there is far less agreement about how far protesters should go to bring these issues to people’s attention.
