Guest essay by Eric Worrall
Extinction Rebellion has finally responded to repeated accusations of climate hypocrisy – by blaming “the system” for their personal carbon excesses.
Dear journalists who have called us hypocrites,
You’re right.
We live high carbon lives and the industries that we are part of have huge carbon footprints. Like you – and everyone else – we are stuck in this fossil-fuel economy and without systemic change, our lifestyles will keep on causing climate and ecological harm.
There is, however, a more urgent story that our profiles and platforms can draw attention to.
Life on earth is dying. We are living in the midst of the 6th mass extinction. For those who still doubt the severity of our situation, here is the International Monetary Fund on 10th October 2019 :
“Global warming causes major damage to the global economy and the natural world and engenders risks of catastrophic and irreversible outcomes”
And here is Sir David Attenborough on 3rd December 2018 :
“Right now, we are facing a man-made disaster of global scale. Our greatest threat in thousands of years. Climate change. If we don’t take action, the collapse of our civilisations and the extinction of much of the natural world is on the horizon.”
Climate change is happening faster and more furiously than was predicted; millions of people are suffering, leaving their homes and arriving on our borders as refugees.
Alongside these people who are already paying the price for our fossil fuelled economy, there are millions of children – called to action by Greta Thunberg – who are begging us, the people with power and influence, to stand up and fight for their already devastated future.
We cannot ignore their call. Even if by answering them we put ourselves in your firing line.
The stories that you write calling us climate hypocrites will not silence us.
The media exists to tell the public the truth. Right now there has never been a more urgent need for you to educate yourselves on the CEE (Climate and Ecological Emergency) and to use your voices to reach new audiences with the truth.
We invite all people with platforms and profiles to join us and move beyond fear, to use your voices fearlessly to amplify the real story.
Thousands of ordinary people are risking their freedom by taking part in non-violent civil disobedience. We’ve been inspired by their courage to speak out and join them. We beg you to do the same.With love,
Riz Ahmed (actor), Simon Amstell (comedien), Mel B – Spice Girls (musician), Matt Berry (actor), Melanie Blatt – All Saints (musician), Baroness Rosie Boycott, Rory Bremner (comedien), Tom Burke (actor), David Byrne – Talking Heads (musician), Peter Capaldi (actor), Jake Chapman (artist), Mary Charteris (model / musician/ DJ), Grace Chatto – Clean Bandit (musician), Adam Clayton – U2 (musician), Jarvis Cocker (musician), Lily Cole (actor & model), Steve Coogan (actor), Laura Crane (pro surfer & model), Alfonso Cuaron (director), Benedict Cumberbatch (actor), Stephen Daldry (director), Poppy Delevingne (actor / model), Jeremy Deller (artist), Emily Eavis (Glastonbury Festival), Katy England (fashion stylist), Brian Eno (musician), Paapa Essiedu (actor), Livia Firth (Eco Age – founder), Jerome Flynn (actor), Stephen Frears (director), Bella Freud (designer), Sonia Friedman OBE (producer), Neil Gaiman (writer), Bob Geldof (musician and campaigner), Aileen Getty (activist and philanthropist), Simon Green – Bonobo (musician), Natalie Imbruglia (singer), Helena Kennedy QC, Idris Khan OBE (artist), Vanessa Kirby (actor), Nan Goldin (artist), Antony Gormley (artist), Jack and Finn Harries (film-makers and influencers), MJ Harper (dancer), Paul and Phil Hartnoll – Orbital (musicians), Lena Headly (actor), Imogen Heap (musician), Dr. Pam Hogg (fashion designer), Jon Hopkins (musician), Nick Hornby (writer), Julietthe Larthe (producer), Jude Law (actor), Howard and Guy Lawrence – Disclosure (musicians), Daisy Lowe (model), Phil Manzanera – Roxy Music (musician), Simon McBurney OBE (theatre maker), Ian McEwan (writer), Fernando Meirelles (director), Sienna Miller (actor), George Monbiot (journalist), David Morrissey (actor), Sir Michael and Lady Clare Morpurgo (writer), Sophie Muller (director), Robert Del Naja – Massive Attack (musician), Andrea (Andi) Oliver (TV chef), Chris Packham (conservationist), Amanda Palmer (musician), Cornelia Ann Parker OBE (artist), Bill Paterson (actor), Caius Pawson (Young Turks – Founder and XL Recordings – A&R Director), Grayson Perry (artist & broadcaster), Gilles Peterson (DJ & broadcaster), Yannis Philippakis and Edwin Congreave – Foals (musicians), Jason Pierce – Spiritualized (musician), Heydon Prowse (writer and director), Jonathan Pryce (actor), Gareth Pugh (designer), Sir Mark Rylance (actor), Nitin Sawney (musician), Tracey Seaward (film producer), Wilf Scolding (actor), Alison Steadman (actor), Juliet Stevenson (actor), Justin Thornton and Thea Bregazzi (Preen by Thornton Bregazzi, designers), Geoff Travis (Rough Trade, founder), Gavin Turk (artist), Mark Wallinger (artist), Ruby Wax (writer, performer and comedian), Rowan Williams (theologian), Jaime Winstone (actor), Ray Winstone (actor), Jeanette Winterstone (writer), Thom Yorke (musician), Dan Haggis, Matthew Murphy & Tord Øverland Knudsen – The Wombats (musicians), Deborah Curtis (artist), and Lady Clare Morpurgo, Geoff Jukes (music manager), Joe Murphy (playwright), David Lan (theatre writer and producer), Alice Aedy (photographer), Kate Fahy (actor), Fay Milton – Savages (musician), Johnny Flynn (actor and musician), William Rees – Mystery Jets (musician), Flora Starkey (floral artist), MJ Delaney (director), Brian Ogle (architect),James Suckling (fashion consultant), Miquita Oliver (presenter), A Fletcher Cowan (presenter), Eliza Caird (musician), Lee Sharrock (PR and curator), Joe Robertson (playwright), Olivia Calverley (TV producer), Tia Grazette (creative director), Sam Conniff (author and pirate), Stefan Bartlett (designer), Matt Lambert (artist), J. Doyne Farmer (Baillie Gifford Professor, Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford), Carolyn Benson (Benson Studios Interior Design), Georgina Goodwin (broadcaster), Jon McClure – Reverend and the Makers (musician), Ruth Daniel (cultural producer), David Graeber (anthropologist and writer), George Hencken (film maker), Ebe Oke (musician), Evgeny Morozov (writer), Anthony Barnett, (Co-Founder, openDemocracy), Henry Porter (novelist), Warren Ellis – Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds (musician), Jonathan Reekie (Somerset House, director), Theresa Boden (actor/writer), Nick Welsh (designer/producer), Louis Savage (A&R rep), Guy Standing (economist), Pippa Small MBE (designer), Peter Marston (designer), Richard Sennett OBE FBA, Clare Kenny (musician), Ginevra Elkann (director), John Reynolds (music producer), Laurence Bell (Domino Records, founder), Margy Fenwick (landscape gardener), Seb Rochford (musician), Nick Laird-Clowes (musician), Roman Krznaric (philosopher), Will McEwan (scientist), Beth Orton (musician), Dawn Starin (anthropologist), Charlotte Trench (actor and director), Jonathan Glazer (director), Iain Forsyth (artist), Jane Pollard (artist), Ian Rickson (director),Sam Lee (musician), David Lan – DL (producer and writer), Liz Jensen (author), Michael Pawlyn (architect), Simon Stephens (playwrite), Kobi Prempeh (curator), Steve Tompkins (architect), Annie Morris (artist), Conrad Shawcross (artist), Mira Calix (artist), Andy Holden (artist), Andrew O’Hagan (writer), David Lan – DL (producer and writer), Alison Brooks (architect), Prof Sadie Morgan (architect), Ackroyd & Harvey (Artists), Eva Wiseman (editor), Mark Wallinger (artist), Carson McCol (artist), Ivan Harbour (architect), Angharad Cooper (producer), Jem Finer (musician and artist), Rauol Martinez (writer and filmmaker), Francesca Martinez (comedien and writer), Glen Hansard (musician), Frances Stoner Saunders (writer), Geeta Dayal (writer), Amanda Levete (architect) Jack Penate (singer) and Ted Cullinan MBE RDI RA (architect)
What a beautiful piece of sophistry – climate activists including jetset celebrities are not responsible for their gigantic personal carbon footprints, its not their fault their private jets guzzle so much kerosene, because they’re trapped in the system.
Meanwhile at the protest camp..
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1188102/Extinction-Rebellion-protest-diesel-generator-London-camp-climate-change-environment
Ahh but it’s battery start so they’ve got us snookered
Try as as i might i couldn’t find Emma Thompson on the list – probably too expensive for XR.
Correct she is not on the list.
A Pointless Answer!
I’m disappointed (though not that surprised) that former Doctor Who, Peter Capaldi, is on the list and greatly surprised that current Doctor Who, Jodie Whittaker, isn’t.
All these actors/presenters/entertainers (luvvies) have a job to do.
Someone gives them a script, they read it.
If they like it enough, they then have to consider if their ego will be massaged by (in no particular order):
Praise from joe public?
Praise from luvvie pals ?
What they’ll get paid?
If it passes the test, they internalise the script, and present it.
Their craft is to make fiction believable, to make us the audience suspend our disbelief, for a while anyway.
Science, done properly, is the opposite as it involves NEVER suspending one’s disbelief.
No wonder these twits are so clueless.
We’re not in the midst of a 6th mass extinction…Because if we were, all of these climate measures would be pointless. Once it starts, nothing can stop it or even reverse it. It is a house of cards. It just collapses!
They can find all of this information in many places. Even the slightly climate hysterical Smithsonian is more rational on this subject.
So let’s bring that “logic” of the self-admitted hypocrites into the lab and dissect and analyze it, shall we? We find 1) That they do indeed have huge “carbon footprints”. 2) That “carbon footprints” have for years been a, if not the primary method of determining the level of guilt, both on a personal as well as national basis. Even their heroine, St. Greta recognizes this, and at least attempts to keep her footprint low by refusing to fly, for example. The fact that she mostly fails in her attempts is besides the point. 3) That if it’s “the system” that’s at fault for them, then the same is true for all individuals, and countries. 4) That this means that the entire concept of “carbon footprints” doesn’t matter one bit, after years of haranguing about it from their side, and is now dead.
Whew! What a relief! “Carbon footprints” are dead. Long live “carbon footprints”! Alas, poor carbon footprint, we knew ye well. But wait, isn’t there something called the ipeeseesee or something all hot and bothered by “carbon emissions”. Isn’t that what their next climate shebang in Chile this December is all about? Deciding who is emitting way more than their share and needs to reduce it immediately, as well as pay carbon reparations to “developing” countries, who can emit as much as they want (go figure)?
I am so pleased Ive never bought their cds or watched their films or gone their plays festivals or shows.
and I will continue not to do so to help them go broke and have to find real world employment.
They are stuck in a fossil fuel economy?
Haven’t these idiots ever heard of the Amish?
The sheer size and number of people employed by the entertainment industry is just another sign of our immense affluence. But Is there any industry on the planet that is less necessary and a bigger waste of carbon emissions than the entertainment industry?
They should be the first to be eliminated under a serious Green New Deal.
Dear gullible idiots,
We need your help. Some people are calling us a nasty name because we demonstrate contempt for you. We cannot tolerate the idea that people like you aspire to the same freedoms and privileges that we enjoy, so we fly around the world making our views known. But we are doing it so we can save the world from you. So please, we need to elevate the word “hypocrite” to a heroic badge of honor. So whenever you hear someone call us hypocrites, applaud and cheer loudly! Remember, we do it for your benefit, we are saving you from yourselves.
Yours Truly,
A bunch of self indulgent numpties.
Maybe the Catholic church should give this a try.
Dear journalists who have called us hypocrites,
You’re right.
We may live morally decadent lives and the faith communities that we are part of abuse children. Like you – and everyone else – we are stuck in this morally decadent world and without systemic change, our lifestyles will keep on causing moral and psychological harm.
There is, however, a more urgent story that our profiles and platforms can draw attention to.
Morality on earth is dying.
PS I’m not accusing the church of these activities, only pointing out how hilarious it would sound if they responded this way.
“The media exists to tell the public the truth. Right now there has never been a more urgent need for you to educate yourselves on the CEE (Climate and Ecological Emergency) and to use your voices to reach new audiences with the truth. ”
They ought to go sell their load of crap to big emitters like China and India. Oh, and what will all of this mean for the future of Botox?
Go back to California! Signed Joe Schmoe (plumber), Mary Worth (waitress), Johnny Manzel (unemployed) and a long list of others.
Dear journalists who have called us hypocrites,
You’re right.
No need to read any further, anything after that would simply be excuses.
that said, let’s take a look at some of their poorly thought out excuses.
Like you – and everyone else – we are stuck in this fossil-fuel economy and without systemic change, our lifestyles will keep on causing climate and ecological harm.
No you are not “stuck”, you can choose to live in a manner consistent with your expressed convictions or you can choose not to. You’ve chosen not to because if you did live in a manner consistent with your expressed convictions it would mean giving up (sacrificing) you fame, money, and comforts and actually work hard just to eke out a bare-sustenance living (exactly the lifestyle you want to impose on everyone else).
Life on earth is dying.
On the whole, no it’s not. While it can be said that every living creature is dying from the minute it’s born, on the whole there is more life on this earth right this moment than ever before. The world’s biomass has been steadily *increasing* over the past century and from all indications will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
If we don’t take action, the collapse of our civilisations and the extinction of much of the natural world is on the horizon.
Ironically, the only thing that threatens to collapse our civilization is the actions you propose (IE the elimination of fossil fuels – you know, the cheap, reliable energy that our civilization was built upon and depends upon to thrive)
Many commenters have picked up on this but I will say it another way. The people on this list are not trapped by the system, they are trapped by their narcissistic exhibitionism. The truth; its all about them. If they hadn’t been handed the world-is-dying script, they would harp on something else. The problem really is THEM!
I’m trying to work out why this makes me so angry. I think it’s because of the sheer self importance of these worthless shallow people and their assumptions that to appear on telly or on the stage gives them the authority to ‘make a difference ‘ outside their specialism, the applause they receive as ‘performers’ having so inflated their egos that they can posture off-theatre on the world stage. In the wartime company of Richard Todd, David Niven, Audi Murphy even Douglas Fairbanks junior, etc etc this crowd of bedwetters would turn and run. Shameful.
Well, as in any form of therapy, admitting that you have a problem is the first step.
Now an intervention is necessary, where they all stop using cars, planes, trains, any transportation powered by fossil fuels, … stop using fossil-fuel-generated electricity and all products made using such electricity, stop all eating of meat, stop having children, and go live in boxes made of recycled garbage that they build themselves by hand.
There simply is no other cure for their hypocrisy. If this course of action does not cure them, then maybe it will wake them up to the reality that they are in the system, because the system is what got them where they are, and then maybe they might be inspired to research the reasons behind why the system, as they know it, is not as bad as they first thought.
Their hypocrisy is just a secondary symptom of their major illness, which is naive, psedo-science-reinforced idealism.
When people present bullshit, they should at least try to hide the smell.
This is a quote used to justify their extreme behaviour. They take it from a authoritative source even…..
“Global warming causes major damage to the global economy and the natural world and engenders risks of catastrophic and irreversible outcomes”
Bullshit. The global economy has never been stronger.
If your first justification is bullshit, why would I ever listen to a second?
In plain terms, you whine that it is ‘not your fault’ because you are “stuck in this fossil-fuel economy’.
Nothing simpler.
have your chauffeur drive you, or you can drive yourself, to the nearest large forest.
Get out of the vehicle and walk into the forest, divest yourself of everything made by fossil fuels; hint, that is everything, including all of your clothes.
Make a fire and burn them. Now you are living outside of the “fossil-fuel economy”.
Just like primitives before fossil fuels, you can expect a harsh short life.
Or, you can buy a farm; move to the farm then follow the directions starting with “divest yourself of everything made by fossil fuels”.
If you first purchase a mule, you might have a chance of planting an acre or two. Plant enough so you can eat the crop as it grows.
Expect to suffer ricketts and scurvy.
Utter twaddle and specious fluff.
A) A false appeal to an illegitimate authority.
B) Utterly specious alarmism.
XR:
Grow up!
Stop harming people then telling them it’s their fault.
From the website where the letter appears:
Yes, total bullshit. Calling people “hypocrites” is NOT a distraction from the bigger, more confronting conversation — it is a critically embedded FACT in this conversation that negates any claims that the hypocrites make. Being a hypocrite does NOT excuse a person from using this hypocrisy to maintain a level of affluence and comfort that establishes the foundation to espouse it.
If they are the hypocrites that they claim to be, then they are outright lying to suggest that they are willing to put their liberty on the line. What they are willing to do is merely TALK about doing this, without doing it, which is the very basis of their hypocrisy.
What total, unmitigated, arrogant, unrealistic, clueless bullshit!
An intelligent response to such a letter is almost impossible. There is no intelligence here to which to appeal.
The electricity burned in just one U2 concert would power my home for probably five or ten years.
I’ll believe the climate is in crisis when those who claim it’s a crisis start acting like it’s a crisis by making any personal sacrifices at all, like not flying private jets, etc.
I take it XR has never heard of the concept of leading by example?
They certainly live by “do as I say not as I do”
Since they are naming themselves, it is simple: they should stop today all their activities, right now and lead the way… No using natural gas for heating their mansions, no petroleum products, no gasoline powered cars, trucks, planes, boats, trains, buses… And let’s have it verified by auditors.
Don’t hold your breath…
I’m so disappointed to see David Byrne’s name on this list of self-identified brainwashing victims. He seemed a little more optimistic and philosophical about evolutionary and even brutal, deadly societal changes when he wrote this song. I especially like the line about driving on a highway of fire. Internal combustion, baby. It’s not there by chance.
City of Dreams
Near where you are standing, the dinosaurs did a dance
The Indians told a story how it has come to pass
The Indians had a legend, the Spaniards lived for gold
White men came and killed them, but they haven’t really gone
chorus:
We live in the city of dreams
We drive on this highway of fire
Should we awake to find it gone
Remember this, our favorite town
From Germany and Europe and southern U.S.A.
They made this little town here that we live in to this day
The children of the white man saw Indians on TV
And heard about the legend, how their city was a dream
[chorus]
The Civil War is over, and World War I and II
If we can live together, the dream, it might come true
Underneath the concrete, the dream is still alive
A hundred million lifetimes, a world that never dies
[chorus]
[chorus]
Nice of them to provide a list of people to BOYCOTT.