Greta Thunberg and several other members of the Extinction Revolt environmental group turned Venice’s Grand Canal shiny inexperienced on Monday to protest what they view because the world’s gradual progress in transitioning away from fossil fuels.
They dropped non-toxic fluorescein dye into the canal from boats, making it seem like a radioactive, poisonous soup. The stunt was one in every of sequence of protests at lakes, fountains, and waterways throughout 10 Italian cities within the wake of the latest United Nations Local weather Change Convention (COP30) in Brazil. Thunberg and her fellow activists additionally unfurled a banner studying “Cease Ecocide” from Venice’s Rialto Bridge to spotlight “the large results of local weather collapse.”
Wearing purple with veiled faces, they carried devices and carried out a mock funeral procession meant to represent the failure of COP30 delegates to agree on binding limits on fossil fuels.
“Let’s symbolically paint inexperienced the waters of Italy, many contaminated each day by industries supported by our personal authorities, as a result of that is the world towards which present local weather insurance policies are dragging us,” stated an Extinction Revolt activist recognized as Selene in an announcement.
The Swedish activist and 35 different protestors had been banned from Venice for 48 hours consequently. They had been additionally fined $178 every by Venetian officers.
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America didn’t attend the convention, and the European Union threatened to veto a weakened settlement earlier than finally signing a deal nonetheless criticized for missing adequate urgency on emissions cuts. “Let’s symbolically paint Italy’s waters inexperienced, waters contaminated each day by industries backed by our personal authorities, as a result of that is the longer term present local weather insurance policies are steering us towards,” Selene stated.
Luca Zaia, the regional governor, informed The Unbiased that the stunt was “a disrespectful act towards our metropolis, its historical past, and its fragility.”
Venice, nevertheless, stays acutely weak to local weather impacts: rising seas and storm surges have elevated the frequency of “aqua alta” floods, and Piazza San Marco has been flooded roughly 250 occasions per 12 months in recent times. Some specialists warn the town could possibly be misplaced to the ocean by 2100.
