Meanwhile, In Ballsbridge

at

This afternoon.

Ballsbridge, Dublin 4.

Activists from Extinction Rebellion protest outside the Burlington Clayton Hotel who are hosting The Atlantic Ireland conference and Exhibition by the Irish Shelf Petroleum Study Group (ISPSG).

15 litres of fake blood was used to’ represent the blood on the hands of the oil corporations’.

Extinction Rebellion stage protest outside Dublin’s Clayton Hotel (RTÉ)

Leah Farrell/RollingNews

56 thoughts on “Meanwhile, In Ballsbridge

    1. Slightly Bemused

      Blood pools out surprisingly far. In a former life I was in a volunteer ambulance service, and they would take a pint of fake blood and pour it out just to show how far it goes.

      I am just wondering who gets to clean up after them…

      1. martco

        after the lads there go home for teatime?

        presumably it’s some zero hour contract cleaners @Slightly

        (must time how long my ascerbic comment stays up this time hm :) )

    1. Paulus

      Unless an adult version of The LL Toy Show becomes a thing:
      The Late Late Adult Toy Show perhaps?
      “And here’s Denise with the Tubridy Throbber”

      1. Bertie Theodore Alphege Blenkinsop

        “I would have buried you all. But my mother, she knows you. She said it’ll be worse for you and take away everything that you have.”

        And then it jumped the shark.

    1. Cian

      Leave her alone. It wasn’t easy for the Uruk-hai to integrate into society after that whole Saruman “misunderstanding”.

      1. Bertie Theodore Alphege Blenkinsop

        Thought it…. thought better of it.
        Pain in my hole getting posts deleted.

        1. Good Times

          Remember in the 1970s when the “experts” predicted we we all going to freeze to death in a new ice age?

          Good Times.

          1. Ciuncainteach

            I doubt you remember it either as there was never a predominant consensus on the ‘ice age’ hypothesis at the time. It’s often trotted out by self-described ‘skeptics’ however…

          2. Good Times

            Remember when the “experts” predicted that the Arctic would be ice-free by now?

            Good Times.

          3. Ciuncainteach

            Perhaps instead of referencing hyperbolic predictions made in the media by those you loosely call ‘experts’, you might actually show us references to peer-reviewed research where claims are made by climate scientists.

            Good times

  1. martco

    here. do these lads clean up the mess they make before they go home for teatime….or do the zero hour contract cleaners get to do that bit?

    ah. any excuse to link the vid of the gobsheens with the big old diesel Dennis fire engine appliance making complete arseholes of themselves wha..

    https://youtu.be/tHJ7Zn8Sa0E

    (is there some comedy angle in all these protests I’m not getting grandad..or they just not the sharpest of tools??)

    1. Clampers Outside

      Did ya hear the one about the ER protesters and their protesting public transport?

      They got thrown off by the users.

      * slaps knee, and thanks London metro users *

  2. Tea And Brexits

    In fairness throwing around a load of fake blood at Halloween is not exactly going to stand out as anything unusual is it?

  3. Meremortal

    Here’s a few facts for these panic driven headless chickens.

    If we stop all 4.5 billion annual flights from now until 2100 the reduction in warming will be 0.05 deg F
    If we all went Vegan (Never gonna happen) personal emissions would still only reduce by less than 2%
    Globally there are 5 million electric cars, even if we have 130m in 10 years we’ll still only see a reduction of 0.4%

    Put simply, it is delusional nonsense to think that the solution to climate change can be found in personal changes in the homes of the middle classes of rich countries and these people are the essence of delusional.

    Until China stops firing up a coal fired power station every week and India stops doubling it’s emissions annually, what we do is irrelevant.

    I agree that the climate is changing but lads and lasses… you’re a fool to think covering yourselves in fake blood and doing a bit of drama-queen whinging will make any difference.

    1. Pip

      “Until China stops firing up a coal fired power station every week and India stops doubling it’s emissions annually, what we do is irrelevant.”
      Well said MM. It’s a useless diversion and a sad waste of time.

      1. Cian

        How much of the dirty coal-powered electricity is used to generate “stuff” for export?
        How much of the “stuff” that we will buy for Christmas this year originates in China? Because we are responsible for any Chinese emissions (and relevant transport emissions) for all the stuff we buy.

        1. Meremortal

          I couldn’t agree more, the pointless hoarding of “stuff” from China is part of all of this too.

    2. Nigel

      Wow, you;re right, when faced with impending global crisis it’s best to do nothing!
      Extinction Rebellion are, in this instance. protesting further fossil fuel extraction in usage, not advocating personal changes, by the way, sice we’re conflating everything into one big lazy shrug.

      1. Meremortal

        Extinction Rebellion.

        Part 3 of the manifesto of this Kafkaesque aberration.
        “Government must create and be led by the decisions of a Citizens’ Assembly on climate and ecological justice.”

        Reads like soft-core Antifa and reeks of Marxist socialism. You know the kind of socialism that killed millions. These are people who bandy about lies like “we’re all gonna die in 30 years” etc… when all they actually achieve is the devaluing of real demonstrable facts.

        Further fossil fuel in the case of oil is not allowed in Ireland and it’s waters so that’s nonsense. ER needs a HUGE microscope placed over everything they do as even a cursory glance shows it has designs far beyond it’s virtue signalling pseudonym.

        If they want to do something and be taken seriously by anyone with even half a brain, then they should be lobbying China and India and they should stop acting like entitled whinging children.

        1. Nigel

          There are environmental movements in India and China. They are globally connected.

          Kafkaesque? There was a Citizens Assembly on climate change, and it made recommendations, and that paragraph is calling for the government to be led by those findings. For feck’s sake.

          Oil companies supressed the truth about climate change due to carbon emissions and spent billions lobbying against environmental protections, shaping our societies into heavily air-polluting car dependance.

    3. Lurch

      Here’s another incredible fact, and I know you deniers and delayers are struggling with this one:
      CO2 released in Ireland has the same radiative forcing as CO2 released in China!!

      And another fact, these protesters are fighting the proposed Shannon LNG plant, which Fine Gael wants to build to import American Fracked Gas. Fracked gas has a carbon footprint 44% greater than coal.

      Already Ireland has the third worst emissions in Europe and we’re missing targets by a mile. What we do absolutely makes a difference and it is nonsensical to believe otherwise.

      Fair play to these protesters. They shouldn’t have to take these actions to highlight whats happening but I’m very grateful that they are.

      https://data.oireachtas.ie/ie/oireachtas/committee/dail/32/joint_committee_on_climate_action/submissions/2019/2019-10-10_opening-statement-robert-w-howarth-ph-d-cornell-university_en.pdf

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions_per_capita#/media/File:CO2_emissions_per_capita,_2017_(Our_World_in_Data).svg

      1. Meremortal

        Where did I deny that Climate change isn’t real? A slur isn’t an argument.

        Fact: Climate change is happening. (will that sate your quest for blood?)

        “Already Ireland has the third worst emissions in Europe and we’re missing targets by a mile. What we do absolutely makes a difference and it is nonsensical to believe otherwise. ”

        By how much? And by how much relative to China or India?

        If we shut down moneypoint power station Irelands emissions decrease by nearly 30%. With China opening a coal fired power station a week… directing your efforts here is delusional.

        I’m not denying Climate change, I’m saying you’re wasting your time whinging at the people of the west. Time to pull on your man pants and focus your ill-directed ire at the real problem.

        1. edalicious

          “And by how much relative to China or India?”

          With the latest available stats I could find, we’re just slightly lower than China and about 5x what India produces, per capita.

          1. Meremortal

            And with our entire population being the size of a small town in China or India (one that no-one has ever heard of), which one of these countries is going to have the desired global effect if they nationally change the way they are doing things? Ireland, China or India?

            “Per capita” is sophistry. Either reduce responsibly in a manner that objectively makes a difference or it’s all just waffle by virtue-singalling, victim-olympics, pinko whingers.

          2. edalicious

            So if we don’t use per capita, what is an acceptable form of comparison to you? Name for me a relative measure of CO2 production that is suitably straightforward, equitable and objectively applicable to every country on the planet. Calling “per capita” sophistry like that is fairly sophistic too, to be fair.

            You can’t expect other countries to make changes you’re not willing to make yourself. In the case of China, a huge amount of its carbon output is produced by making stuff for other nations. A more fair statistic might be a per capita measure of carbon producing consumption.

            Ireland is primed, as a small, educated country with relatively small amounts of heavy industry and in a temperate climate, to be leading the charge in developing new ways of living which then can be adopted by other developing* nations. Not, developing nations have to make all the changes and maybe when they reduce their carbon production to a suitable level, then we’ll think about making changes ourselves.

            *I know there’s an argument about whether China is “developed” or not. Some of it is, most of it is not.

        2. Nigel

          Yes, focus your ill-directed ire at people who want to do something about climate change!

          ‘People of the west,’ for God’s sake get over yourself.

          1. Nigel

            MNo, I’d rather you didn’t upgrade climate change denialism to climate change action delay. I know it superfically sounds a bit smarter, but if anything it’s even stupider and I don’t want the planet to die of stupid.

  4. Lurch

    MM, If you are arguing that Irelands emissions are “irrelevant”, you clearly fit neatly in the bracket of being a “delayer”.
    We need to act immediately to reduce emissions just like everyone else.

    And if you are so sensitive about being called out as a “delayer” maybe have a look at the “slurs” in your own posts (headless chickens, fools, drama queens etc etc. etc……)

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/mar/01/could-climate-delayer-become-the-political-epithet-of-our-times

    1. Meremortal

      Nothing like an ink stamp in the forehead so that you can conveniently condemn everything that’s said while feeling self-satisfied and safe that you’re still the good guy eh? Identity politics are so last year… yawn.

      One of the many definitions of stupidity is doing things that are demonstrably wrong, over and over again and expecting the outcome to change. I call a spade a spade and it is bloody foolish to believe that what we do here will make a damn bit of difference while China and India continue on their path. Anyone who ignores this foolish fact is a fool.

      The Climate is changing, we are seeing more and more extreme weather events, sea levels are rising. If people want to do something about this then they need to address these issue where they can make a difference and stop the hand-wringing, embarrassing theatrics.

      1. Nigel

        On the contrary, this is an argument so stupid it could only come from a libertarian or something vaguely limertarian adjacent. (Not saying you’re a libertarian! Don’t care what you are!)

        1. Reducing our dependance on fossil fuels would have maniifold local positive effects in ways that almost to many to list before we even get to carbon emissions.

        2. Similarly reducung plastics consumption and increasing biodiversity.

        3. We cannot expect to turn around and demand that develooing nations reduce their carbon emissions if developed countries aren’t also in the process of doing the same. That would utterly unreasonable.

        4. If we focus on developing sustainable low-carbon technologies and startegies they will be there ready to be adopted by developing countries as attractive, cheaper, cleaner alternatives.

        5. The more international and global and united the effort to reduce carbon emissions the more preasure can be applied and help can be provided to countries slower to come round.

        6. Your thesis is stupid, short-sighted, insular and vaguely racist. I’d actually have more respect for you if you were a full-on denier.

        7. Please copy and paste the first five points and addend them to your own comments every time you make this argument, just to save everyone time and energy from having to deal with it.

  5. italia'90

    Solar activity is very rarely mentioned in these debates on here.
    Nor the biggest organisation responsible for pollution around the world.
    Interesting…hmmm

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