Sometimes, the message doesn’t match up with the action.
Recently, an environmental protest group calling themselves Tyre Extinguishers claimed to have deflated the tires on 34 SUVs in Victoria.
The message they wanted to communicate was fairly simple: SUVs use more resources and emit more greenhouse gases than other vehicles. This is a problem, especially when people buy larger vehicles as status symbols rather than need.
Deflating tires doesn’t communicate that or change any minds. It just makes people angry. And it’s dangerous. What if one of those vehicles belonged to a surgeon, called to the hospital to save a life only to find his vehicle incapacitated? What if a parent needed to rush their child to the hospital?
READ MORE: Tyre Extinguishers: Environmental activists deflate tires on 34 SUVs in Greater Victoria
Those are worst-case scenarios. What’s more likely is the vehicle owner will call a service to send a truck out to reinflate the tires. It’s going to be a cost that some vehicle owners can’t afford and just another reason to be angry.
And deflating tires is just plain dangerous. If the driver doesn’t notice a deflated (or partially deflated) tire, driving on it could be dangerous.
Education, government lobbying and other forms of discourse are far better ways to communicate a clear message, but those channels cost money. Deflating tires and deluding yourself that your message is getting across is far cheaper, pretty much free. It’s just not very effective.
Rather than attacking other people’s property, it would be far better for these activists to donate either money or time to legitimate organizations, working in more effective ways.
Also, what gives these eco-terrorists the right to decide if someone needs an SUV or not? This is not some barely justifiable example of direct environmental action; it is more along the line of environmental terrorism, trying to scare people away from buying or driving SUVs.
For those that believe we are standing on the verge of a climate crisis, the goal has to be changing the hearts and minds of those that don’t agree. Fear tactics will never accomplish that.
– Black Press Media
| Fourghozaman Firoozian, who was the victim of a 2016 hit-and-run, seen here handing out food to the less fortunate downtown Chilliwack. |