Greta Thunberg and the Case of the Muddy Carbon Footprints Eco-activists descend upon a treasured local environment. James Freeman
https://www.wsj.com/articles/greta-thunberg-and-the-case-of-the-muddy-carbon-footprints-11583173445?mod=opinion_lead_pos8
Teen climate celebrity Greta Thunberg inspired thousands of British children to skip school on Friday and protest global warming. Unfortunately the young activists damaged the treasured green space where they chose to rally. Residents are hopeful that their resilient local environment will stage a robust ecological recovery.
The BBC reports:
Around 15,000 people are believed to have attended Friday’s Bristol Youth Strike 4 Climate rally, churning up College Green and angering many…
The combination of thousands of people and heavy rain turned much of the grass into mud, angering some.
Ms. Thunberg has been presented as a sort of expert on the environment by alleged adults in the international press. The 17-year-old Swede has been urging young people around the world to temporarily abandon their classrooms to attend public demonstrations like the one in Bristol. In an otherwise favorable report on Friday’s event, the New Zealand Herald noted the impact of all those little feet as well as the energy-consuming devices in all those little hands:
As the rain poured down, transforming parts of the ground into a mudbath and lending the event a soggy festival vibe, chants of “Greta! Greta!” filled the air.
Thousands of mobile phones were raised above heads, like a salute, to honour the moment.
John Varga writes in the Express that when the BBC “posted pictures of a brown, muddy trampled College Green lawn after the crowds had dispersed, furious locals took to Twitter to accuse Ms Thunberg of hypocrisy and having scant regard for the environment.” Adds Mr. Varga:
One wrote: “College Green is a popular place, it has been totally trashed, but do not put all the blame on the rain.
“It will cost thousands to lay more grass and make it beautiful again.
“Hope you are happy Greta and enjoyed the chaos you and your followers caused.”
Another fumed: “Destroyed the grass which absorbs greenhouse gases in the centre of Bristol.”
In the Mail on Sunday, Holly Bancroft describes Bristol’s College Green as “a sacred site throughout the Middle Ages”. Ms. Bancroft credits Ms. Thunberg for “a rousing speech about the need to reduce the world’s carbon footprint” but adds that “her supporters’ footprints did little to preserve the city’s famous lawn – in fact, they turned it into a muddy eyesore.”
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Meanwhile across the Atlantic, students on one U.S. college campus were staging their own somber gathering. But this event focused on a local rather than a global concern. Michael Sneff writes for the Daily Collegian, the student newspaper at Penn State:
A crowd of Penn State students and State College community members gathered Sunday night to collectively mourn the closing of the Taco Bell, located at 310 E. College Ave.
“Taco Bell is not gone, it is not forgotten, but it lives here, in our sauce packets,” student Kevin Victor (junior-computer science) said.
Mr. Sneff reports that the vigil was organized by Penn State student Prajesh Patel, who appeared in a taco costume. Adds Mr. Sneff:
“We were all shooketh after hearing about the closing of this beautiful, beautiful State College establishment,” Patel (senior-computer science) said to the crowd. “Taco Bell was our home away from home, and added spice to our life.”
He said he will miss the food during late nights, but will miss the conversations he had at the establishment more, saying he met many of his current friends there.
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