Time to Clip Wings of Climate Protesters

For months on end, environmentalist protesters have glued themselves to roads, bridges, tunnels, paintings in museums, oil tankers, and now even airports.

Their argument is that for a long time, they have called and petitioned for governments to take even more drastic action to reduce the impact of fossil fuels on the environment, increasing energy prices continuously in times when they are already at record highs. "Just to Oil" protesters aren't happy that the democratic process hasn't fully favored their cause and thus turn to violent means to get time on the airwaves of the national conversation.

In Germany, where the protesters have been particularly vicious, the statistics do not include the number of ambulances that arrived late at a hospital due to roadblocks, and the impact this had on patients' health. In six of the eight cases reported, the figures show a late arrival, and in two cases — because the vehicles were stuck in a traffic jam — other ambulances had to be alerted.

Despite the fact that a female cyclist arrived late at a hospital due to environmentalists gluing themselves to a road, German prosecutors have chosen not to bring activists to justice.

Just last week, activists in Germany delayed dozens of flights after gluing themselves to the runway of Hamburg and Munich Airport. The same group had already disrupted flights at Munich and Berlin airports in December last year.

The activists elevate their cause above the lives of everyone around them and endanger the safety of everyone around them. They show utter disregard for people around them; they waste precious police time and resources at costs that they will not have to carry.

What it tells us about their thinking is that they do not believe that innovation will address the environmental challenges of the future. New aircraft today use a fraction of the kerosene they did in the last century. Automobiles use less petrol, agriculture needs less resource input, and the levels of pollution per capita keep decreasing gradually.

But no, what these activists want is degrowth: a rapid deterioration of living standards, which would hit everyone, yet disproportionately those on lower incomes. The frenzy of the apocalyptic vision these protesters have bought into will only make them gear up for even more drastic measures. This is particularly true as the stunts will have to become more extreme in order to gather attention in the ongoing news cycle.

If we imagine what would happen if environmentalists start to disrupt flights mid-air, forcing emergency landings, creating high-level security threats and the psychological burdens that come with them for all passengers, we cannot idly stand by.

For the safety of all consumers, and incidentally those protesters as well, all of those who have previously participated in the disruption of road or air traffic, or those who sprayed paint on office buildings, should be put on the No-Fly List.

Luckily for us, those environmentalists would hardly be able to criticize such a move. After all, they wanted to stop flying anyway.

Wish granted.