Aggressive virtue-signalling of the ‘green’ protesters ‘Extinction Rebellion’
What we preserve and conserve is at the heart of the conservative contract between the living, dead and yet to be born.
Environmental protection is the mission of every Christian ‘steward’ – tasked with taking care of God’s creation and the duty of every patriot – committed to ensuring the protection and continuance of the nation and all it means.
It is this sense of responsibility which inspired the quantifiable action I’ve taken to safeguard the natural beauty of our homeland and local communities. Our parks and green spaces provide, for many, the only places in which people can meet others, play and explore, whilst communing with family and friends.
Here, in South Holland, we are fortunate to be able to enjoy the surroundings of Ayscoughfee Hall, but others are not so blessed. With this in mind, alongside the Mail on Sunday, my campaign to ensure a renewed commitment to the restoration and creation of green spaces secured the promise of 50 new parks from the Government.
Similarly, I was delighted that, following an extensive and supportive consultation with the general public, my friend the Environment Secretary Michael Gove introduced plans for a new tax on single-use plastics, cutting wastefulness and encouraging practical sustainability.
Contrast such meaningful policy with the aggressive virtue-signalling of the ‘green’ protesters ‘Extinction Rebellion’. Whilst this group of overwhelmingly-privileged London militants claim to be ‘fighting for the future of humanity’, their only intention is to disrupt, distress and destroy. What possible logic could there be to forcibly preventing ordinary citizens from journeying to work using public transport – the only practical, environmentally-friendly method of travel available to many people?
Similarly, deliberate attempts to get as many ‘activists’ as possible arrested is a cynical and desperate ploy to raise the profile of their demonstrations. Most shocking of all is the trail of litter and damage left behind when they pack up and go back to their comfortable lives in the suburbs.
The truth is that, despite the active or tacit encouragement of too many green, liberal and other left wing politicians, normal people regard such extremists with disdain. Most Britons recognise that these are the same kind of demonstrators who could just as easily be screeching against our armed forces or trying to stop Brexit - the direction of their post-materialist search for meaning is as capricious as it is facile.
Just imagine the reaction if a right-wing group of protesters were smashing windows, blocking roads and making demands that the Government bypass democratic process - they would certainly be denounced by the politically-correct establishment. However, because these troublemakers attended the same schools and live in the same suburbs as the political and media elite, they are praised with faint damnation, legitimised, or even promoted.
Instead of radical leftist philosophy, sensible people must take meaningful, local action to ensure the health of our environment. That’s why I oppose the overdevelopment of our towns and villages which eats up precious green fields.
That we can each make a difference locally is well illustrated by the success of the work to clean up the Vernatts Nature Reserve in Spalding, which I am proud to support. Nationally, the Government should grasp the opportunity to confront the wasteful greed of soulless multinationals, whilst each of us has a responsibility to spend our money thoughtfully, by choosing small businesses over big conglomerates, the local over the global, and the permanent over the temporary.
Only by grasping that the moral bankruptcy of ‘Extinction Rebellion’ and the emptiness of the ‘throw away culture’ of feckless consumerism are part of the same problem can we guarantee a green and pleasant future for generations to come.