Just Stop Oil’s (JSO) actions, I have argued, like those of Extinction Rebellion (XR) before it, do not, on the whole, materially affect our lives (unless of course we are waiting for an ambulance to take us to hospital). Its protests and stunts epitomise both the zombie-like adherence to green ideology of many in our society and the anti-human character of that ideology. But whereas JSO protests can spoil your day, it is policy and law that will ruin countless more lives.
Last week, as Just Stop Oil activists were causing criminal damage to ancient monuments and airports, an arguably far greater act of vandalism took place in the U.K.’s highest court. After a two-day hearing, five Supreme Court judges found three to two in favour of an appeal against the High Court’s ruling that a local authority’s decision to allow a small oil well in Surrey was lawful. At issue, the three judges found, was the fact that the local authority failed to consider the emissions that would be produced by using the fuels that the oil would be turned into.
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