Climate action in Europe
The movement of environmentalists in Europe to protect the world’s climate is well known. In the face of environmental pressure, many European countries have been forced to formulate various policies to protect the environment.
Since the 1970s, the European environmentalist movement has stood on a solid footing. Many European countries are gradually moving away from using fossil fuels and coal and nuclear reactors to reduce emissions and protect the environment.
Four years ago, the new movement called Fridays For Future to save the environment created a storm. Schoolchildren are the main force of this movement. A new campaign against environmental pollution started in Sweden.
Now it has spread to European countries. In 2018, a schoolgirl named Greta Thunberg from Sweden started this movement. The principle of this movement is the environment before school.
Despite so many movements and struggles, the measures taken by America or rich European countries in the Northern Hemisphere to reduce carbon emissions or prevent global warming are insufficient. But all these countries are playing a significant role in increasing global warming.
On the eve of the World Climate Conference (COP 27) in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, an environmentalist organization called ‘Last Generation’ took its movement to extremes. These environmentalists entered the runway at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport and blocked the plane from taking off.
The protestors have thrown potato soup or glue-like substances into the famous paintings in museums in London, Madrid, and Berlin.
On November 28, 500 Greenpeace and The Last Generation protesters stormed the runway at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. Many were also able to enter by bicycle. These protesters prevented private jets from taking off.
According to Greenpeace, the protesters blocked private jets from taking off. They protested against fewer flights from Seafolly airport and especially against private jets.
“We demand fewer flights, more trains, and a ban on unnecessary short-haul flights and private jets,” said Dewey Joloch of Greenpeace, Netherlands. Police in Holland arrested several protesters at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport.
On November 28, two young people wrote +1.5 C on the walls of two famous paintings by the renowned Spanish artist Francesco de Goya at the famous Prado Museum in Madrid, Spain.
According to the decision of the 2015 Paris Agreement, the goal of stopping +1.5 centigrade global temperature per year has been set. They held the two pictures until Prado Museum security arrived.
They shout, ‘Climate neglect is jeopardizing our food security.’ The environmental group claims to fight the climate crisis by supporting agriculture that uses only plant-based products. Later the police arrested these two environmentalists.
On December 3, 2017, the Sri Lankan cricketers came to play a Test against India at the Feroz Shah Kotla Cricket Stadium in New Delhi.
They wear masks to avoid pollution. The day after the Madrid incident on November 6, a Claude Monet painting housed in the Barberini Museum in Potsdam, near Berlin, was attacked by climate activists.
Environmentalists threw potato soup over French Impressionist Claude Monet’s 1890 painting Grainstacks.
However, the authority protected the painting in a frame with glass so it was not damaged. However, Potsdam’s Barberini Museum was closed until November 30, 2022, due to fears of further attacks.
Environmentalists threw tomato soup at a sunflower painting by Vincent van Gogh at London’s National Art Gallery before similar incidents at museums in Madrid and Potsdam.
Two young women, members of the ‘Last Generation,’ claimed responsibility for the attack on the paintings, saying that such action was taken at the museum in response to demands from politicians to take adequate measures against climate change.
Although environmentalist movements across Europe have made considerable gains, some environmentalists’ extremist movements are negatively impacting environmentalists.
In a statement, German Culture Minister Claudia Roth said, “In my view, an attack on the industry for climate protection is the wrong approach.”
There are many discussions and criticisms in Europe about the attack on works of art with the climate protection movement. Why the priceless artifacts in museums suddenly became the focus of climate activists’ protests is incomprehensible to many.
Apart from these incidents, environmentalist groups of the last generation of rights activists on the streets of Berlin suddenly occupied the streets and took the strategy of blocking the streets by tying themselves with shackles or strong tape to the street track signals.
The program resulted in the death of a cyclist injured in a road accident in Berlin two weeks ago. Police in Berlin said the 44-year-old female cyclist died because the emergency services ambulance did not arrive in time.
After this incident, the members of this organization carried out street occupation programs in Berlin, Frankfurt, and Munich.
