Art is not a legitimate target for climate change activists
Climate activists glued themselves to the handrails surrounding a dinosaur exhibit in Berlin’s Natural History Museum on Sunday in a bid to gain attention to the climate change issue and to convince more public officials to combat the growing threat.
The phenomenon of activists taking drastic action to gain attention for their cause is nothing new. From blocking roads to streaking at football games or protesting topless, activists have always looked to push the envelope in order to shock society into paying attention.
But now protestors are damaging public property — and not just any public property.
Last week, two protestors threw mashed potatoes at a Claude Monet painting, “Les Meules” in the Museum Bareberini in Potsdam after which they then glued themselves to the wall. In another incident a few weeks ago, protestors threw tomato soup at Vincent Van Gogh’s “Sunflower” painting. Another climate activist glued himself to Johannes Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring.” In June, a man disguised as an elderly woman smeared cake on the “Mona Lisa”. Luckily the world-famous painting was covered in protective glass. Multiple London galleries have been hit as well as museums in Florence, Glasgow and the Vatican.
These protestors, representing organizations like Just Stop Oil or Last Generation, are intentionally seeking to damage priceless works of art that cannot be replaced. As an art lover and believer in the continuity and preservation of such works, I am categorically against such acts of protest. Surely, there are other ways to gain public attention without destroying historical, irreplaceable, and priceless works of art.
As an issue by itself, I wholeheartedly agree that climate change is an issue we need to be dealing with. The problem is, the cause does not justify the vandalism. And while we are speaking about the cause, let us look at the cause of climate change — or rather who continues to cause it.
The United States and Europe are both very clear on the direction they want to take when it comes to combating climate change and governments in many western democracies have taken steps to mitigate and reduce the carbon footprint we create as a nation and as individuals.
But if we want to slow and perhaps even reverse the devastating effects of climate change, we cannot even have a conversation about it unless we address the elephants in the room — China and India. Both of these countries are by and large the greatest polluters on Earth and thus the greatest contributors to the problem of climate change.
If China and India do not get on board soon in reducing their carbon footprint by taking drastic measures to cut emissions and pollutants, all of our efforts in the west will have proven futile and pointless.
While it is true that per capita, given their huge populations (about one-third of all people on Earth), China and India are not considered the greatest emitters of carbon emissions, at the end of the day, they are heavy polluters.
It is also true that many countries outsource their industrial processes to China, so naturally it is easy for a country to say it is going clean while blaming China for the emissions.
There are plenty of cogent arguments in this debate over climate change, who is more responsible, and what can be done to mitigate its effects.
But one thing is clear and not debatable: Art is not a legitimate target for the climate change activists to raise awareness and this must stop.
