So Many Causes

          In Exeter city centre last Saturday afternoon, I had the experience of being loudly and extensively abused by a large, angry, red-faced bloke. It’s one of the less desirable reactions you can expect when you take on a ‘public outreach’ role in support of an XR action – in this case, an entirely legal (for the time being) unfurling of banners in a public place. We were bringing attention to the ill-advised continued investment in fossil fuels by Barclays Bank but this man, for one, did not want to hear reason. The sum of his argument was “You’re all a bunch of idiots”, which he shouted repeatedly. I know better than to provoke passions by raising my voice, so I responded passively, knowing that the best outcome I could hope for was that he would run out of steam and venom before he burst a blood vessel and/or physically attacked me.

          Meanwhile, a few meters away, the World Wildlife Fund had a whole marquee erected to bring attention to the plight of animals whose habitats have been and are being eroded by the Anthropocene era. He didn’t shout at them: because, perhaps, as I discovered later, it was “his” bank that we had offended. The plight of the planet was, apparently, the concern only of a few “idiots”. Normal people bank at Barclays and must not be awoken from their sleepwalk into disaster.

          But, while outing Barclays as a culprit of eco-irresponsible investment was the focus of the action, my part was to offer a way for people to do something positive about it – and at neither cost nor inconvenience to themselves: switch banks. And for this, I was thanked by many more people than chose to abuse me. One chap, for example, declared at first that he didn’t care which bank he was with, as long as they looked after his money. But when I asked whether he cared about the planet, he replied “Of course I do. I live on it.” He could not then refuse the leaflet I proffered, or to promise to look at switchit.green. His wife gave him a sceptical glance, but I chalked it up as a small but sweet victory.

          Busily scanning the crowds for likely punters, I did not notice how well the WWF people were faring, nor the Palestinian support group nearby. What struck me, however, was the thought that there are so many causes to represent, it must be difficult for people to rank them in order of importance. Well, not that difficult if, say, you are a Palestinian and the immediate existential threat you face is geo-political rather than environmental. If I were to argue that the overarching cause we should all embrace is that of the climate crisis, it could be countered by those who say that a changed environment would not be the end of the world, but one to which nature would have to adapt and evolve, as it has in the past. So, the question of which is the most important cause remains relative to personal circumstance. When there is a row of charity shops available to browse, Cat Rescue is never my first choice.

          Does the same apply to active involvement? My own history in that respect has been patchy: I used to sport a CND badge, but the logo was quite cool and fashionable at the time; and I once made a well-intentioned appearance at a rally to stop a neo-fascist march, though my efficacy may well have been diminished by the fact that I had gone solo and so lacked the bravado a band of brothers might have afforded. My latter-day semi-active participation can be explained by my circumstances: a combination of intellectual conviction, a surplus of resources and peer-group pressure. The public display of passion was never likely to be a driver since shouting is not my forte.