Interesting developments locally this weekend. A significantly large protest occurred in Oxford city against 15 minute neighbourhoods which are effectively behavioural change plans attempting to reduce car use and introduce more localism in the drive towards net zero.
The protests are part of a wider resistance to what can be perceived as a drive towards lower standards of living and reduced freedoms for citizens which includes initiatives such as reduced travelling abroad, eating less meat, paying higher energy bills and working and living in smaller spaces (low carbon birding is the intrusion of that agenda into the birding community). The resistance is fueled further by being enforced by fines, social shaming (e..g anti-twitching trolling on twitter) and the lack of a democratic process involved- basically forced behavioural change being imposed by a group of Elites from above using authoritarian tactics.
It's pretty clear that whatever the motives of the Sustainability Idealists there have certainly been some communication complications in the whole thing. From the perspective of these protesters, sustainability is being portrayed (or rather perceived) as a negative thing, a threat to them and there lies the problem. A change in our collective lifestyle to one which is less addicted to mass consumption of manufactured goods and more about re-connecting with nature and each other is not a threat to us at all- it's quite the opposite. The threat to us is our collapsing capitalist society and somehow these Oxford elites have managed to make themselves part of that and have divided society even further, created more anxiety and polarised things even further.
Genuine Sustainability (which basically means to not die and keep going as both a collective species and individuals- I would also add not dying inside too which is the greatest threat to most of us - ending up enslaved and soul drained and too afraid to kill ourselves) does not divide people- it unites them- because if communicated properly, it is the only direction to personal success (and there are many paths that head in that direction) and that cannot be forced on people against their will, it has to be their choice and their own way. It should be a beacon of hope, not a threat.
A couple of videos below, one from the liberal capitalist BBC and another from Chinese-owned Tik-tok.
@mattlawsonphotography2.0 The power ser has always been within us. We just had to find our voice. Say no to 15 minute cities!!! #fyp #foryourpage #australia #oxford ♬ The Champion - Lux-Inspira
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