Two years ago, on this day, December 31st, 2022,
We Quit statement by Extinction Rebellion
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was roughly 419ppm. As of 2024 it is 425ppm, but check here for daily measures.
The context was that XR had been in the usual death spiral of diminishing returns. That happens to all overblown and overambitious social movement organisations who don’t understand that they’re a symptom rather than a cause. And so in order to grab a little bit more attention and try and stitch together a wider coalition or be part of a wider coalition, they made this clickbaity announcement that they were “quitting.” All they were quitting was the disruptive stuff, which was being taken on by Just Stop Oil anyway.
What we learn is, well, have a look at this article I wrote in the Conversation, then tell me I’m wrong.
What happened next? They didn’t get 100,000 people on a day or anywhere near it. And the main thing in my inbox from Extinction Rebellion is stuff I already knew and emails pleading for more money.
What do you think? Does this pass the ‘so what?’ threshold? Have I got facts wrong? Interpretation wrong? Please do comment on this post, unless you are a denialist, obvs.
References
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Also on this day:
December 31, 1997 – Government slags off Australian Conservation Foundation
December 31, 2012 – Murdoch employee throws predictable inaccurate shite at Greens…
December 31, 2022 – FT publishes letter about Thatcher and Just Stop Oil