Friday 28th February 2020 - Greta Thunberg in Bristol.

[whole diary]

[PhilWakely]

Here's an idea.....how about all the local schools from where the protesters who caused the damage came select 2 children who attended to provide the labour for the repairs, free of charge at weekends? (Wouldn't want to interrupt their education).

I'm sure as they're passionately committed to the environment there will be no shortage of volunteers, and it'll provide them with some useful real world experience?

Who knows, maybe Greta herself may pop along to help out?

Or, better still, use all of the money gathered in fines for unauthorised absence from school to effect the repairs necessary.

[Bmblbzzz]

Here's an idea.....how about all the local schools from where the protesters who caused the damage came select 2 children who attended to provide the labour for the repairs, free of charge at weekends? (Wouldn't want to interrupt their education).

I'm sure as they're passionately committed to the environment there will be no shortage of volunteers, and it'll provide them with some useful real world experience?

Who knows, maybe Greta herself may pop along to help out?

Or, better still, use all of the money gathered in fines for unauthorised absence from school to effect the repairs necessary.

Would the schools themselves have to pay fines for being closed?

[TaplowGreen]

Here's an idea.....how about all the local schools from where the protesters who caused the damage came select 2 children who attended to provide the labour for the repairs, free of charge at weekends? (Wouldn't want to interrupt their education).

I'm sure as they're passionately committed to the environment there will be no shortage of volunteers, and it'll provide them with some useful real world experience?

Who knows, maybe Greta herself may pop along to help out?

Or, better still, use all of the money gathered in fines for unauthorised absence from school to effect the repairs necessary.

Would the schools themselves have to pay fines for being closed?

No - parents can be fined for not ensuring their little darlings attend school - mainly to discourage them taking term time holidays.

[dhassell]

I passed through College Green yesterday evening... A complete overreaction to the mud by those online and the press, the grass is already regrowing!

There's a picture on this tweet: https://twitter.com/GeorgeFergusonx/status/1233770076609949696

[Red Squirrel]

Or, better still, use all of the money gathered in fines for unauthorised absence from school to effect the repairs necessary.

I doubt there will be very much of that.

Many schools were closed for the day. My daughter's wasn't, so she asked for and was given authorised absence.

At that noted hotbed of socialism, Clifton College:

Ed Thompson, a housemaster at Clifton college, took overseas boarders aged 11-13 and the school’s “green team” to the event. He said: “We have discussed Greta’s influence in school, and she is a true icon to all ages for her passion, determination, tenacity and likability. The word ‘inspiration’ is too often used, but she is a guiding light to the next generation for peaceful but powerful activism, and encouraging love and care for our environment, which is such a strong message for young people.”

Avon and Somerset Police, after the event, said:

We’d like to thank the Bristol Youth Strike 4 Climate volunteer stewards, parents, carers, schools and youth organisations for working with public and emergency services to help the event run smoothly.

We also thank South West Ambulance Service for looking after the protesters and the protesters for looking after each other.

The fundraiser to repair the Green is halfway to its target of £20,000. I suspect they'll get more than they need; they've already said they'll spend any surplus in other parks.

This was, apparently, the largest protest ever held in Bristol. To suggest that it would have been better for schookids to read about history in books, rather than make it, is eccentric. And if the only other criticism is that a crowd of perhaps 15,000, perhaps 30,000 people standing for hours in a rain sodden park made it muddy... for once, words fail me.

Edit: Typo

[Red Squirrel]

...oh and look, here's a photo taken by George Ferguson today. Seems to be recovering, like nature does if you just let it! And d'you notice how the flowers weren't trampled on?



Edit: Sorry, this is a repeat of dhassell's info!

[johnneyw]

It's great how resilient nature can be. Good timing too as the grass is starting to get more vigorous at this time of the year. Which happily reminds me.  It's the first day of spring, unless of course, you're one of those vernal equinox types rather than going by the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) Meteorological definition.

[Red Squirrel]

...It's the first day of spring...

If I ruled the world, every day would be..!

[grahame]

They came in tens, hundreds and thousands to what has been described as the largest protest ever in Bristol. And that's truely remarkable on a wet February weekday. They (or shoud I say "we" because I was one of them) want to make known our concern at climate change induced by human behaviour, and the need for all the human race together to take steps to stabilise (at the least) the damage we have been causing before it's too late. 

I thought long and hard about going along on Friday - attending the event in itself isn't going to stabalise or reverse anything but I feel at the moment that there is a need to drive this subject up the agenda, from ideas to thorough talk to plans and to action. There is a need for all those steps and they are not mutually exclusive. So I celebrate the highlighting of the issue by the organisers and the help in that highlighting from keynote speaker Greta Thunberg, just as I celebrate steps we all take in our daily lives to consider our footprint, and I celebrate the hard work that is being put in by some individuals to bring corporate / government action to bear.

They came in their thousands



and they filled College Green.



And if you zoom in, a sea of people



made up of many individuals just like you and me.



Well - not all exactly alike.  Whether you are female



or male,



young



young(ish)



or old,



brightly dresses to show your green credentials



wearing your badge proudly on your forehead



or hidden in a drab outfit and wearing camoflage paint



you came along.  Whatever your ethic background











and whether you're happy to be there



or worried that the air may not be clean, but along never the less.



Whether you maintain a sense of humour in spite of the seriousness of the issue



or not



whether you were self-propelled



or not





and whether you watched the march after the speeches



or walked with them in extended protest - in the crowd



in small groups



or larger ones.



Whichever of those you identify with - you were there. Thank you. You have added your voice and I hope (and I know for the most part) that you will continue to add your voice and act too. You didn't come out for a "jolly" - you came out because you care. The "jolly" crowd were put off by the rain (it wasn't sunny); the "jolly" crowd were put off by the cold (it was not June) and the jolly crowd were put off by the logistics and cautions.  Those who came did so in spite of rain, cold, and warnings.

I'm proud to have been there



and I'm proud to have met good friends there


 
and seen many people I don't know all supporting the same cause



Overall impression?  What a fantastic display by ordinary people from all walks of life, backgrounds and ages saying "we care".  We don't necessarily all subsrcibe to every single idea that was there on a poster or even tannoyed out by all the various speakers. But we do know this is something that needs to be highlighted and taken forward, and with urgency. 

What was missing from the day?  There was no trouble. There was no litter.  There were no bad tempers - just good humour.  A restoration of faith in the ordinary human being.

Bringing up the rear of the procession - four horsemen of the apocalypse Avon and Somerset Police ...



.. who wrote

We’d like to thank the Bristol Youth Strike 4 Climate volunteer stewards, parents, carers, schools and youth organisations for working with public and emergency services to help the event run smoothly.

We also thank South West Ambulance Service for looking after the protesters and the protesters for looking after each other.

A "thank you" from me too - to the police for being there (with little to do), the ambulace services, the organisers, and all the individual too.

[mjones]

It is depressing how much hostility is directed at a 17 year old who is trying to do something for a better future. If the criticism came from those who were actually doing something meaningful themselves then it might carry some weight,  but it seems to be mostly those defending the status quo and expecting others to do something first.

[broadgage]

It is depressing how much hostility is directed at a 17 year old who is trying to do something for a better future. If the criticism came from those who were actually doing something meaningful themselves then it might carry some weight,  but it seems to be mostly those defending the status quo and expecting others to do something first.

I agree, and yes I AM doing something.
I do not drive nor fly, I very seldom replace anything unless it is worn out or no longer functional.
I minimise my use of fossil fuels.

[TaplowGreen]

It is depressing how much hostility is directed at a 17 year old who is trying to do something for a better future. If the criticism came from those who were actually doing something meaningful themselves then it might carry some weight,  but it seems to be mostly those defending the status quo and expecting others to do something first.

I agree re: the hostility, there's no justification for that, however I think that there is genuine concern from a lot of people that a vulnerable, partly educated child is being transported around the World and presented as some sort of Messiah - she is raising awareness, and that's great, but that's all, and I wonder what the long term effect on her may be?

Boyan Slat is probably someone you've never heard of - I hadn't until recently - he's not a media star, and has virtually no profile - but at 16, younger that Greta is now, he'd designed an ocean clean up system and now, just a few years later, heads up a worldwide business using advanced technology to rid the world's oceans of plastic, without causing any economic destruction. Give him a Google, he deserves it.

Two admirable young people - one a worldwide media star, one completely under the radar - one talking, the other providing solutions and doing - I wonder which is having a more tangible and meaningful effect?

[Red Squirrel]

Two admirable young people - one a worldwide media star, one completely under the radar - one talking, the other providing solutions and doing - I wonder which is having a more tangible and meaningful effect?

A good question.

In among that crowd in Bristol on that wet Friday, who knows how many new Boyan Slats or Anders Holch Povlsens were inspired to act? There's more than enough to do! And we can all play our part: some to inspire, some to innovate, some to spend their vast fortunes and others to drop their widow's mite into a tin.

[Red Squirrel]

They came in tens, hundreds and thousands...

Brilliant photos, grahame!

[Celestial]

It is depressing how much hostility is directed at a 17 year old who is trying to do something for a better future. If the criticism came from those who were actually doing something meaningful themselves then it might carry some weight,  but it seems to be mostly those defending the status quo and expecting others to do something first.

I agree re: the hostility, there's no justification for that, however I think that there is genuine concern from a lot of people that a vulnerable, partly educated child is being transported around the World and presented as some sort of Messiah - she is raising awareness, and that's great, but that's all, and I wonder what the long term effect on her may be?

Boyan Slat is probably someone you've never heard of - I hadn't until recently - he's not a media star, and has virtually no profile - but at 16, younger that Greta is now, he'd designed an ocean clean up system and now, just a few years later, heads up a worldwide business using advanced technology to rid the world's oceans of plastic, without causing any economic destruction. Give him a Google, he deserves it.

Two admirable young people - one a worldwide media star, one completely under the radar - one talking, the other providing solutions and doing - I wonder which is having a more tangible and meaningful effect?

I've most certainly heard of Boyan Slat, and would agree that the work he is doing is terrific.  I'd suggest that more impressive than the ocean clean up work being trialled is the development and roll out of interceptors to stop the wretched stuff getting into the oceans in the first place.  Have a look at his videos on twitter if you're interested in finding out more.

So I've also made the comparison in my own mind between the two, along the lines you're thinking. But do I think Greta's intervention is misguided or irrelevant? No I don't. Anyone that can mobilise world opinion and have the wit to get one over Trump in the process has to be a good thing, regardless of whether a muddy green is damaged in the process.  I only hope she is more successful than her mother's Eurovision entry, which I think deserved better than its placing back in 2009. In fact, I think she already has been.

I also noted the difference between Harry "I'll take the train but book out a full first class carriage when travelling to a sustainable travel event" and Greta "no thanks, I'm quite happy in standard" when offered an upgrade.