I would describe myself as a tree-hugging sympathiser. I am aware that there is no scientific debate about climate change. The fact that our climate is changing and it’s changing because of human beings is indisputable, in the same way that gravity and evolution are facts. So, why should I be so uneasy about the climate change protests in London?
Once again, the working class chip on my shoulder takes prominence in my psyche. I look at the TV reports and newspaper articles and no one involved in the protests looks or sounds like me. They appear to be the Tarquin and Jocasta brigade, well fed, well-educated, middle and upper class warriors. Such a generalisation, I know, but why aren’t they at work like the rest of us from the lumpen proletariat?
The BBC Radio Five Live phone-in today was entirely dialect-free, except for one lonely caller. Every other voice was standard middle England, occasionally in Jacob Rees-Mogg territory. They all appeared to be engaged in strange dancing ceremonies and behaving quite unlike anyone I have ever met. As with so much else in society, it had the air of the upper classes telling the riff-raff how to live their lives. Even though what they were protesting about was patently true.
The one caller to Five Live made some perfectly valid points but you could hear the voices of middle England chortling as he spoke, not in the background but in the foreground. You could literally see the chip on my shoulder jumping up and down.
The most bizarre aspect of the protests by ‘Extinction Rebellion’ were that they concentrated on disrupting public transport. London major Sadiq Khan, who has done more than most to address the effects of climate changes, was understandably miffed that people were literally forcing travellers to consider other, more polluting forms of transport to get around the capital.
Of course, the world must act and act quickly before climate change becomes unstoppable. And governments like ours need to ensure that the cost of using alternative forms of energy does not fall disproportionately on those with the least by way of financial resources. Remember that those who buy the most polluting cars are inevitably the lowest paid, many of whom carry out vital, sometimes backbreaking work to keep our society civilised.
Climate change isn’t just about the middle class warriors glueing themselves to Jeremy Corbyn’s fence. We all have a stake in it, not just Tarquin and Jocasta.
