---
author:
email: mail@petermolnar.net
image: https://petermolnar.net/favicon.jpg
name: Peter Molnar
url: https://petermolnar.net
copies:
- http://web.archive.org/web/20200221115035/https://petermolnar.net/fu-xr/
lang: en
published: '2020-02-18T13:00:00+00:00'
summary: What people truly need are guidelines on what to and how to do, not vague
demands and loud words of street-marching activists in plastic fast fashion coats
tags:
- politics
title: Climate activists, I challenge you to give some real advice
---
## Making demands only is flawed
After illegally blockading a road for multiple days, XR Cambridge
defaced an iconic scene in the middle of Cambridge[^1] - they dug up the
lawn and the area around the apple tree in front of Trinity college -
yesterday. Apparently if you're loud enough, this is not even a
crime[^2]. I know grass is a lot less good as wild fields, but like with
statues or paintings, that particular spot was an ornament.
During the years in the UK I learnt to first read and try to understand
other views, so I went onto their website and read their... mess.
For ages I've been getting very angry with people who say "X is bad,
don't do it" without pointing at a realistic alternative. Extinction
Rebellion seem to be made up completely of these people.
The quoted text are literally their demands.
> 1. The University of Cambridge must cut ties with the fossil fuel
> industry
That's one of the most vague sentences I've seen in my life and I worked
for multiple big companies, so that's quite an achievement. If you
follow the reasoning you'll see these: "Completely divest from fossil
fuels." The rest is about how dare the Uni accept money from bad, bad
companies and even do research for them!
Research allowed engines to become powerful with 1L petrol tanks. Diesel
combustion engines are among the most power efficient machines humanity
ever made. Yes, we need to phase them out, but research on making them
more efficient and to produce less pollution is still a high priority.
We recently bought a house and had to re-wire the whole establishment,
including replacing the main cutout (the big fuse). It was a 60A fuse,
but we upgraded it to 100A (Our main electricity cable is a single phase
one, limited to 100A.), considering we might be able to afford a plug-in
car in the future. The car charger port on it's own is 32A. Now, image
if a whole street suddenly starts charging their cars overnight in an
area where the power mains was laid in 1954. The smell would be what we
used to call "ampere smell" in college - also known as burning
electrical equipment.
The house heating and hot water is on gas. Changing it to an electrical
one was not possible: it's either that or the car charger; the 100A
physically can't support both plus generic living equipment. Also,
electric combi boilers run at a dangerously high temperatures - they are
not ready for prime time yet. For heating, we could do with FIR[^3]
panels and a backup wood burner, but that doesn't solve the hot water
problem, plus a wood burner produces a lot of bad smoke - and I didn't
touch the question of how on earth to afford this.
Now apply these problems to the power and heating system of the
University.
Let's move on, to power plants. For those who hadn't learnt how power
plants and grids work - I touched some high voltage topics at college -,
an extremely quick summary: there are big, stable power plants that are
very slow to turn on/off; these support the base needs. Then there are
the small ones that are fast to turn on/off for additional power surges.
In some rare cases these latter ones might even be able to "reverse the
polarity", to turn them into power consumption units -because excessive
power in the grid is dangerous: it can literally burn it down. The
trouble with green energy is that when it's on, it's REALLY on, and you
can't turn it off - hence events like "Germany paid people to use
electricity over the holidays"[^4] There is no technology to store extra
energy yet. There are attempts, like Energy Vault[^5]: stack concrete
blocks to store it. It's not ready. Plus there's the issue of building
out a whole new national grid, given the natural resources are all
location bound[^6].
> 2. Cambridge City Council must hold a Citizens’ Assembly on Climate
> Justice.
Yeah, no. Just no. The 'expert panel' idea is good, I'd get behind that,
but not the generic citizen. There's 3000 years of history for a reason
why these attempts are always bad, and I've heard enough stories about
the 1956 Revolution in Hungary to know how bad this can end.
History books are you friend on this: democracy is slow, but it still
the only one that's best for the most.
If you want to make an impact there's literally nothing stopping anyone
to join or form a party and use the existing tools to move the world.
> 3. Cambridgeshire County Council must work with other relevant
> regional authorities to provide a plan for a just transition away
> from an inadequate transport system reliant on fossil fuels.
This might be the only one I can get behind: the public transport in
Cambridge is horrible, slow, unreliable, expensive.
The thing is... the public transport in Cambridge is privatised, this is
even mentioned as problem. But that also means anyone could start a
green minibus company to compete with the current ones and if it has the
right pricing, message, routes, etc, people will use it. Right?
Maybe not. Maybe there's a reason why it's expensive.
## Real advice for everyone
For many years, we've been quietly trying to make a difference within
our own reach with my wife. The principles are simple:
1. **Reduce**
Consume less. Buy better clothing that last longer. Don't follow the
fast fashion. Don't fall for seasonal, temporary temptations. Always
ask yourself if you need it or just want it[^7].
2. **Repair**
Buy repairable equipment and repair it. Get a lint remover and
revive your clothes. Buy (used) business grade laptop and replace
the gears if needed.
3. **Reuse and sell**
Try to sell or give things away; make less waste. Get used things if
they can fulfil the need just as well as a new.
4. **Buy the one with the non-plastic packaging**
If you can choose between a product that's in plastic or another one
that's in glass, buy the glass. Or the can. Or the paper. Or the
PLA. The packaging is part of the product you're buying; take it
into account just as much as the thing wrapped in it. *Many plastics
advertise themselves as compostable - that is not the same as
biodegradeable: it means it falls apart into microplastic*.
Obviously take away containers and coffee cups are a no go - stay
there and consume it locally from a real cup or plate.
5. **Eat local, buy local**
It is outrageously hard to buy European made clothing. Shoes are OK,
and though they are expensive, they are also pretty good. But palm
oil, coconut wonders, cashew, clothing Made in China, etc are all
imported and they travel a long, long way, usually on humongous
ships that alone pollute the earth as much as a smaller country[^8].
Try to minimise the transport it needed between you and it's place
of origin. *This is where my problem with veganism comes into the
picture: many vegan food comes from tropical countries, packed in
plastic, transported across the globe. You're only doing good to
yourself with that, not the planet, so please don't try to sell so.*
6. **Recycle**
This is a last resort: recycling is not cheap and can require a lot
of energy.
7. **Travel less frequently for a longer periods**
A roundtrip with a plane takes just as much fuel for a 2 day stay as
it does for a 14 days stay. A longer period of rest is better for
you anyway; 1 or 2 days is never enough. Make your holidays worthy.
[^1]: <https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-51534446>
[^2]: <https://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/cambridge-news/extinction-rebellion-cambridge-police-protest-17766704>
[^3]: <https://www.herschel-infrared.co.uk/>
[^4]: <https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/germany-power-grid-pays-customers-christmas-sustainability-renewable-energy-a8141431.html>
[^5]: <https://qz.com/1355672/stacking-concrete-blocks-is-a-surprisingly-efficient-way-to-store-energy/>
[^6]: <https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/08/opinion/nuclear-power-germany.html>
[^7]: <https://www.becomingminimalist.com/>
[^8]: <https://newatlas.com/shipping-pollution/11526/>