Destroying Art Is Pure Vandalism, Not Climate Change Activism

We have and have had a big job ahead of us yet we have a big job ahead of us. We cannot stop fighting for our futures but some trends amongst the Climate Activism community is, to say the least, disturbing. As a young person that is incredibly worried about Climate Change, I understand the hysteria that many young people are feeling every day.  However, it's crucial to acknowledge that there are right and wrong ways to advocate for change. Some recent trends within the climate activism community cause concern that the wrong ways are being

On June 14th, 2023, Environmental activists smeared Red Paint on a painting, created by Claude Monet in 1900, in Stockholm, Sweden. The argument, at least from what I can tell,  seems to be twofold, one is that civil disobedience has proven to work in the past and we should do it again. The reason they are going about this is to bring awareness and change to the Climate Change issue.   That is true. In the US, the most well-known example is the Civil Rights Movement throughout the 1940s-1960s. The Movement sought to attain equal rights for black Americans who had been segregated from white Americans and generally were treated much more equally than their white counterparts. Protestors used a wide variety of methods, such as the legalist method(more on that later), lobbying, but also the more well-known method: peaceful protesting. Protestors led marches, sit-ins, and bus rides in Washington DC, Southern states like Alabama and Mississippi, and also northern states like Illinois. 

The other part of the argument is that disruption needs to happen. Decade after decade, politicians fail to make meaningful changes to combat Climate Change. To convince them, mass civil resistance is needed.  To a large extent, I agree. Methods such as Motorway Jams, Protests at Oil plants, and other similar methods, while inconvenient, may be effective in forcing the government’s hand. The government does not want its roads to be jammed nor does it want to have to remove people off walls because protestors have glued themselves. They do not want to deal with large demonstrations.

But to say that the smearing of the Red Paint on the Claude Monet Painting is civil disobedience is laughably bad. What part of ruining a painting is civil? It’s not !!!  I am all for protesting at Oil plants or roads, where Climate Change may be further created.   Get arrested for protesting there. But what does smearing Red Paint on a painting created by an artist in 1900 accomplish? Bring attention to your message. That is like a kid protesting his school’s low-quality cafeteria food by punching a hole in the math teacher’s car. It is just so unnecessarily cruel.  What did Claude Monet, a famous artist born 20 years before the Civil War, and 100 years before World War 2, do to deserve this?  Such actions by Environmental Activists do nothing but make us like vandals, criminals, and crazies. That is the opposite of what we are trying to achieve. 

That is not the only example. In London, a Climate Activist threw a can of tomato soup at a Vincent Van Gogh painting. Another Monet painting had mashed potato thrown at it. Protesters in Vienna, Austria threw oil at a Gustav Klimt painting. Even worse, Environmental Activists drenched a memorial of Sir Captain Tom Moore in human feces.  Let me ask all these protestors a question. What are the benefits of doing this?  I understand the hysteria behind Climate Change. I feel it too all the time. But destroying Art is nothing more than a hooligan exercise. The Art themselves have done nothing wrong. They are just there for people to appreciate the creativity of the human mind and what it can accomplish. We have nothing to gain by ruining all these art pieces. In fact, they only depict us in a negative light.

I am not saying Civil Disobedience is bad by any stretch of the imagination. But all of us Climate Activists have to look back and realize what we are trying to accomplish, which is to inspire the government to take further attention. We have to rethink Civil Disobedience. If we want to use it to gain attention to our message, we have to use it effectively. Civil Disobedience does not mean ruining everything in sight and hoping it works. The key word here is Civil. Civil disobedience means refusing to obey certain laws, demands, etc by the government in a civil manner. Destroying art is NOT Civil Disobedience. It is the opposite. It’s Violent Disobedience.

To all hysterical Climate Activists who are resorting to these measures, I understand your pain. I understand that you are going through a hard time accepting that the Earth is the way it is. But I’m telling you now, there are better, more productive ways to go about this. I urge you to look back to the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. What they did, with a few exceptions, should be our role model. Blacks did nothing violent. They did not throw stones at glass windows in Alabama. Instead, they stood together united. They marched, gave speeches, and led non-violent protests. They stood in the face of violence and didn’t back down. Sure, some of these things were illegal. A lot of the protesting and sit-ins did lead to arrests. But there is a key theme: Non-Violence. These non-violent protests did two very important things. It drew attention to their cause and it gained sympathy from the wide-spread community at large. Combine this with the legalist method(which was winning victories in Civil Rights through the courts) and lobbying. This is the winning formula. 

We don’t have to put our energy into mindless exercises like destroying paintings. We can peacefully protest at oil factories, mines, etc. We can march and protest in our country's capital. We should continue to showcase the issue of Climate Change through writing, giving speeches, and filing lawsuits. This is where Climate Change is being further created. That’s why these methods would be effective.   If the police want to arrest us for any of these activities and give us a hard time, let them. If they shoot at us, then they’ll be the ones with blood on their hands, not us. Let them try and stop us while the rest of the community looks on in horror. 

Destroying Art as a supposed method to fight Climate Change is nothing more than a fruitless and counter-productive exercise that will only lead to more trouble for us. There are better methods to protest and fight Climate Change. Let’s not divide people. Let’s unite them. Our Earth is calling us, saying it  needs us more than ever before. Let’s come together and answer the call. 

Here are the sources that I used for this article.

Braithwaite, S., & Pettersson, H. (2023, June 14). Environment activists smear red paint on Monet Painting at Stockholm Museum. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/14/style/monet-paint-protest-stockholm-climate/index.html 

Biggs, J. (2023, May 25). From art attacks to motorway jams, this is what climate protesters want you to know... Yahoo! News. https://news.yahoo.com/art-attacks-motorway-jams-climate-164500084.html