This damaging of art and history in the name of climate awareness has been going on for months.....

[brooklynite]

...who have they convinced?

Link to tweet

[highplainsdem]

1. Sheer stupidity.

[betsuni]

2. Should've been naked.

[quaint]

3. They may have convinced potential supporters to put their bucks elsewhere.

[thucythucy]

4. I honestly wonder what's actually behind this group.

Who funds them?

Do they honestly believe they're doing their cause any good, or is their cause something other than publicly stated?

[dalton99a]

5. In Berlin:

[newdayneeded]

6. remember when the taliban

was blowing up religious protected archeological sites.....

This looks the same to me.

[Think. Again.]

7. So far no (actual) FF activists have DAMAGED anything.

I fully agree that cultural heritage sites and art should not be damaged, and all of the activists that have staged these performative actions seem to also agree.

Paintings were always protected by easily cleaned glass, substances used in other acts were also non-damaging and environmentally safe.

The action posted here consisted of vegetable charcoal dye that will not damage or stain anything other than the recycled water in the fountain, which is probably filtered on a regular basis, and is obviously harmless to the people in the fountain.

I ask that we all please consider the facts of these actions before helping to spread the disinformation that the fossil fuel industry wants the public to believe.

Oh, and, protecting the only life that we know of in the universe could be considered more important than really good paintings, don't you think?

[brooklynite]

8. "protecting the only life that we know of in the universe could be considered more important"

And have their antics helped achieve that goal?

[Think. Again.]

10. yes..

These protests are intended to raise awareness of the damage we are continuing to do to our only life support system and they ALWAYS seem to make the news (and spark discussions such as ours), as intended.

[prodigitalson]

18. but those discussions, including this one, are virtually never about climate change

they are about the group's tactics.

so they basically step on there own message.

[Think. Again.]

19. I see your point.

That may have something to do with the fossil fuel industry's opposition messaging, so willingly echoed by the masses (such as above).

[prodigitalson]

22. or people engage in attention grabbing behavior and then there is a discussion about their behavior

people say 'look those idiots fucked up a fountain'

others say 'oh, come on. they didn't fuck it up at all'

yet others say 'well it will still be hard to clean up.'

or ' how dare they ruin the Mona Lisa'

'wrong! they didn't ruin it.'

And that is pretty much the 'discussion' about 'the issue.'

Exactly what kind of opposition messaging does that call for?

[Think. Again.]

23. You've answered your own question.

"People say 'look at those idiots fucked up a fountain' after they've read opposition messaging in the media about idiots fucking up a fountain rather than an honest media report about a harmless protest against harmful fossil fuels.

"Others say 'oh come on, they didn't fuck it up at all' but their message IS about humans possibly causing a mass extinction if we don't stop using fossil fuels immediately".

And THAT, as we see here, is the actual discussion about issue.

http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nclimate3036.html

[RussBLib]

26. that video is a real knee-slapper

The only way some of these yokels can stand against our efforts to mitigate climate change is if they are deep in the pockets of the fossil fuel industry. So deep they cannot hear, cannot see, cannot think straight.

The idea that people know better, but still oppose efforts to reverse climate change because they are convinced it will negatively impact their livelihoods is just suicidally short-sighted.

Considering the state of our educational system in the US, the future does not look bright.

[ProfessorGAC]

12. A Few Thoughts

We probably disagree on how much attention they're actually drawing to the issue. The coverage of each of these events is dominated by the act itself, not on the reason. I don't think this raises the awareness you suggest.
Now, to the technical aspects. There isn't really any such thing as vegetable charcoal. That's strictly a marketing term. Once the non-carbon constituents have been removed from a complex organic compound, it's literally all the same.
Yes, it's harmless. No, it's not simple to filter.
Elemental carbon capable of dispersing uniformly (and not sinking to the bottom) has to be Mesh 400-800 particle size.
32 - 64 microns. Fountains, like pool filters, are likely to have 200 micron filters, maybe(!) 100.
So, at least 99% of this powder will flow through the in-place filters. In several weeks, we might filter out 50%.
They're going to have to bring in a skid filter with 1 to 5 micron absolute filter socks to clear the water up.
Which leads us to the final piece: they are drawing attention to their cause by making extra work for the average Joe or Jane. Think Joe or Jane care about their cause anymore?

[Think. Again.]

14. I believe ...

I would say the eyes on this post, in this small forum alone, equal some level of attention (and thank you for helping to create fresh content here!).

Also, if I'm not mistaken, Joe and/or Jane are probably not being unwillingly forced to do any portion of their fountain caretaking jobs. If they are, I think we would agree that we are debating the wrong aspect of all of this.

[stopdiggin]

16. my take away from this (and other such actions)

is, consistently, that it is foolish, and somewhat selfish and childish. No points scored towards their 'message' in this corner of the room.

(And, rightly or wrongly, this tends to get lumped together in my mind with other actions of vandalism and defacement - which are permanently damaging to artistic and cultural treasures - and imbue me with a bone deep anger and disgust toward the perpetrators. So - it would be wise perhaps, to not lightly 'pass over' the negative that is being done toward the movement and message?)

[Think. Again.]

20. Yes...

That's why Extinction Rebellion gave up using this type of action last year, folks couldn't see that no harm was being done, the conversation was more about the sensationist coverage, and most people couldn't resist their "triggered" reaction.

[niyad]

27. Welcome to our DU family.

[FreeState]

9. How exactly does this damage the art?

Looks like it’s vegetable based and non-toxic. Unless you have actual proof you are helping the GOP spread misinformation.

[ProfessorGAC]

11. It's Probably Just Carbon Black

VERY fine graphite powder.
A pound of that would turn a lot of water black.
Because the particles are so tiny, the surface to mass ratio is very high. So, they'll float for quite a while before settling out. It'll take even longer if the fountain continues to run.
And, you're right about the toxicity. It's exceedingly low. If ingested, they wouldn't even pump the stomach.
The only real health concern is long term inhalation.
However, filtering it out would not likely be done by the pumping system's intrinsic filtration. Highly unlikely that those filter below 100 microns, nominal.
So, the water will likely have to be diverted through 1 to 5 micron absolute filters.

[hatrack]

13. This staging of climate conferences in the name of climate awareness since 1995 . . .

. . . in what way has it changed increasing GHG levels?

Oh, that's right, it hasn't. At all.

And the marches, and the protests and the peacefully assembling for redress of grievances and letters to Congress and the political contributions and the meetings and phone calls, and the technology and the deregulation and the concerts and the innovation and the promises and the greenwashing and the lies and the PR campaigns and the charismatic speakers haven't worked either, for going on 30 years now.

Meanwhile:

1995 annual mean - 360.97 ppm CO2
2022 annual mean - 418.56 ppm CO2

https://gml.noaa.gov/webdata/ccgg/trends/co2/co2_annmean_mlo.txt

Not that I think what they're doing is going to help either, but maybe, just maybe these numbers might have something to do with their motivation.

[Think. Again.]

15. imagine...

According to NPR, renewable energy jumped 45% in 2020 alone while fossil fuels stagnated:

"In 2020, renewable power was "the only energy source for which demand increased ... while consumption of all other fuels declined," says the IEA"
https://www.npr.org/2021/05/11/995849954/renewable-energy-capacity-jumped-45-worldwide-in-2020-iea-sees-new-normal

Imagine what our ghg levels would be without the protests...

[Retrograde]

17. The irony is that one of the reasons

the Trevi Fountain and others were built was to bring good water to the residents of the city (patronizing the arts and showing off one's wealth were probably other reasons). As late as the early 2000s I saw people in Rome drinking from the many city fountains -at least the ones that weren't specifically marked as non-potable

I don't know what the black material is or how easy it is to remove from limestone or marble without damage. I do hope that the banner they unfurled was completely made from eco-friendly materials, such as recycled paper and plant-based dyes

[Think. Again.]

21. thinking of...

Thinking of the folks who are most willing to do these things to keep us moving away from fossil fuels, I don't think the sarcasm emoji is needed after all!

[crickets]

24. So, there was no damage done.

The protesters just wanted us to notice and talk about the real problem, which is climate change.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/21/rome-climate-protesters-turn-trevi-fountain-water-black

But in the media, the protest is talked about in terms of misbehavior and cleanup.

Meanwhile, climate change is ignored.

Let's blame the protesters for giving a damn.

Rah!

C jump.

[betsuni]

25. Use squid ink. Duh.