Climate Change Protesters Are "Inspirational": James O'Brien
18 April 2019, 11:48 | Updated: 18 April 2019, 11:50
As London reaches a fourth day of climate change protests and arrests top 400, James O'Brien says that Extinction Rebellion protesters are inspirational.
London is now in its fourth day of Extinction Rebellion protests and the impact has been huge; over 55 bus routes have been diverted, more than 420 arrests made and London's retail sector is claiming more than £12m has been lost in trade.
Protesters continue to block traffic at Marble Arch, Waterloo Bridge, Parliament Square and Oxford Circus, as they have done since early Monday morning.
Amid the disruption in London, James has brought the conversation back to the issue behind the protests - climate change.
James says: "The analogy I always use is about the mountain being so high, that we pretend it's not there...it's too huge to fix so let's just pretend it's not there and carry on.
"I've been guilty of that, I still am guilty of that, with regards to climate change."
eSpeaking about growing mental health issues among young people, James hypothises that there would be "some form of environmental source to all of the angst".
James finds it "incredibly uplifting" to see both young people and older generations responding to "that sense of despair with determination to fix things".
He says: "I catch myself getting very irritated with them, as I contemplate the disruption that they are effecting...and then I remind myself a) that they're inspirational and b) that if I want to give them a toeing or a shoeing, I have to come up with a better idea."
