The Unnatural Environmentalism of XR

The Second Discourseman

Some time ago a friend told me of his fright when he was walking through Cambridge and turned to see gathered behind him a dozen deathly white faces, swathed in scarlet robes, chanting in the evening light. By now, such an appearance of Extinction Rebellion protestors is unlikely to elicit too much shock, commonplace as they have become. Nevertheless, I continue to be impressed by the sheer, unnatural ugliness of their demonstrations. 

The rationale is clear – great evil is being done, and mortal peril awaits, so a visually visceral warning is required. But as I weave my way through the choreographed death-throes which block my path, I cannot find it in myself to support them.

Now, I am sure a number of their objectives are excellent and even crucial. Every conservative and every Christian should care deeply about the environment, as argued here. The problem is that I do not trust Extinction Rebellion in the task they have undertaken. 

We ought to care for the environment because it is both a means and a display of God’s gift of physical life; we instinctively do care for the environment because we see its beauty. But the overwhelming message of Extinction Rebellion is death. It is there in the name. It is there in the uprooted lawns and the paralysed streets and the blood-red robes and the hysterical pounding of drums. Tellingly, there is a conspicuous lack of green amidst the artificial maelstrom of red and white, and there is no talk of the wonder and richness of our natural world. 

Of course, their point is to warn of a world where the environment is dying; but they are preaching damnation with no glimpse of hope, no picture of what was and what might be. Just like a preacher who only speaks of hell, they will win over no hearts. But more seriously, one wonders whether Extinction Rebellion quite know the beauty which dwells outside the realm of human remedy. The overarching desire for those who would care for this world must be to one day rest with their Creator, and see that his handiwork is indeed good. Without this goal, Extinction Rebellion’s task is almost hopeless, and that hope which remains is hollow.