Gen Z climate activist: Throwing paint, stopping traffic is privileged protest and unhelpful
Destroying famous artwork isn't effective climate protest, conservationist says
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Defacing artwork, shutting down freeways, and pouring milk on the floor is simply privileged protest and doesn't actually inspire people to take action against climate change, a conservationist told Fox News.
"Activists are trying to deface property and artwork specifically because it is shocking," Danielle Butcher, executive vice president of the American Conservation Coalition, a conservative environmental nonprofit, told Fox News. "The tactics, they're focused on sparking conversation, whatever that means, but they're not actually helping the environment tangibly."
"I saw the video of them throwing soup on a van Gogh, and I immediately cringed," Butcher continued. "It hurt to see, and I think that's what they are going for."
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Climate protesters this year have targeted Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet and Leonardo da Vinci paintings. Two climate protestors tossed tomato soup on a van Gogh painting, two others plastered potato on a Monet piece and another threw cake at the Mona Lisa.
Protesters have also poured onto freeways to stop traffic in the name of cutting fossil fuel use and poured out milk onto the floors of stores to fight for environmental justice.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Just Stop Oil protesters threw soup at Vincent van Gogh's famous 1888 work "Sunflowers" at the National Gallery in London, Friday Oct. 14, 2022. (Just Stop Oil via AP)
RADICAL CLIMATE ACTIVISTS TARGET PRICELESS ART BUT EXPERTS WARN VANDALS ONLY HURTING THEIR CAUSE
"I am begging them to stop using these tactics," Butcher said. "You cannot annoy people into agreeing with you."
"And certainly throwing mashed potatoes or glue or soup or dumping milk on a grocery store floor, those are not ways that you convince people you are in the right position," she continued.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}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 protestors interrupted President Biden Friday while he was speaking at the 27th annual U.N. Climate Conference about "transformational changes" the United States is undertaking in the fight against climate change.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"We're racing forward to do our part to avert the ‘climate hell,’" Biden told the audience.
To watch the full interview about climate protestors' avant-garde methods, click here.