Why this Sheffield climate change campaigner was proud to be arrested in Extinction Rebellion protest – Yorkshire Post letters

I’M just an ordinary guy who happened to do some reading about climate change, and within a few months I’ve gone from being vaguely aware that it’s “one of those important problems”, to spending a night in a cell and feeling like I wasn’t doing enough.

Bill Carmichael: Beware of the cult of Greta Thunberg

Since my arrest, I’ve now been referred to as “a climate activist” but I’m not sure I agree. A woman who jumps into a pool to save a drowning child doesn’t suddenly become a lifeguard; people react in ways proportionate to the situations they understand themselves to be in: you just do what needs to be done.

Now that I’ve actually read the science for myself, I feel like I’ve just seen a child fall into the pool, except that child is all life on earth as we know it, and now no reaction seems inappropriate. I’d do anything to save that child.

From: G Cooper, Mill Street, Barlow, Dronfield.

CLIMATE change protesters have brought parts of London to a halt. Over 1,000 people have been arrested.

The Government can’t jail them because the prisons are full. They can issue fines, but if these aren’t paid, what next? Calling out the Army cannot be an option.

The protesters are obviously not at work, therefore they’re the retired, the unemployed (or at least, those who don’t have to go to work) and those who can afford not to work, a virtually unstoppable force.

If more who are forced to use food banks, or are on the minimum wage, who “use” universal credits, who don’t want money spent on prestige events and projects were to join with those who would like to see a change in the way our democracy works and follow the example of those protesters, much might be achieved.

What we are seeing may be the start of a quiet revolution. Let us hope it remains quiet.

From: Bob Watson, Baildon.

THE self-proclaimed group Extinction Rebellion have been happy to cause utter havoc across London.

They now announce that they are changing tactics, will “pause” their current operations and will now move to negotiations in respect of their political demands (The Yorkshire Post, April 22).

Just who do this group think they are to expect such negotiations for their “demands”? Their self-righteous importance really is becoming too much to take, along with any sympathy for their actions.