Am I surprised at the 'middle white older men' response to just stop oil here on OCUK forum ? No of course not, many here calling for very harsh action against the protestors, while having a pop at them.
Now, before you all get your heckles up & have a crack at me for pointing out the rightiness some on this forum regularly display........
I am actually not going to reply as 'left wing' as some often accuse me of.
People very easily try and simplify things, simply using one of the protesters (in the linked clip) unwillingness to have a sensible convo on the entire cause makes her msg easy to dismiss (TBF she realllllyy isn't helping herself by talking over the presenter) - but also they have been having sensible convos for years and got no where, so you can understand their/her urgency.
You really need to break down this issue into the scientific facts of the situation vs the need for humans to get around & civil freedoms.
1) I am a person (me, personally), who absolutely cannot in any way use public transport, my life would be impossible & I could not work, it never has been and never will be a possibility for me - I absolutely cannot use "socialist" transport systems (i.e. buses & trains!! lol) - I HAVE TO have my own transportation system.
2) Will their msg that the modern world burning oil, operating under capitalism cause the collapse of the entire planet with only the mega rich/prepaired surviving? - Yes also absolutely 100% true, they are not wrong, humanity has no future with the way we all operate globally right now, something has to change, but most people don't realise this and/or refuse to believe it and dismiss it.
So, I'm a person that needs a car/van, but I also know doing so adds to the very real chance of global collapse, do I go right wing and say 'my small contribution wont make a massive difference to the whole issue, so I will do what I damn well like', or do I continue to live hypocritically aware I need a vehicle?
The real answer for me, and the sensible one is, understanding 99% of individuals (i.e. not millionaires/billionaires) acting as individuals can't solve this - we are all pressured economically into having to have a fuel powered car, I cannot afford expensive electric cars, I cannot sit at home and not work, I have to eat - im trapped into having to travel to survive, knowing doing so adds to pollution.
So the only answer is, forcing the global elite to act on it - the ultra rich.
Quite simply tax them, properly, its not cruel to them, they will still be rich beyond most peoples wildest dreams, it will raise billions to convert all our transportation systems to electric, and then use renewables to power it all - again the infrastructure paid for by them / governments.
Of course many will point out 'this isn't feasible economically' - it is, maths wise, but many poor people often weirdly defend the ultra rich, what you really mean to say is, the ultra rich wont like having their wealth slashed in half to pay for humanities conversion to electric vehicles - tough, they will still be much better off than many.
So really, we need to trade in our vehicles for electric conversion, or new vehicles, funded in a way to make it plausible for us all to afford, undoubtably road tax would go up to thousands of £ per year to rake in the money that used to be on fuel (sad but likely)
1) Convert all cars/vans/lorries (where possible) to electric, a global initiative not seen since the moon landings to get it done
2) For the time being we'll need fuel still to power air, boats etc, so you can't just stop using oil overnight
3) Hold the ultra rich to account, enough is enough, they have enough, its time to use the monetary power for good.
Of course I couldn't write this without pointing out that simply stop eating meat would drop global immersions 10-12 fold more than doing all of the above plan............seems much easier to have a plant burger than upheave global transport systems, but as I said, most people don't like to entertain scientific fact, but that's a convo for another day
