WEBVTT 00:01.933 --> 00:04.033 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% GEOFF BENNETT: Finally, tonight, activists are turning to a new form of protest to 00:04.033 --> 00:08.633 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% call attention to the climate crisis. Over the past few months climate protests have targeted, 00:10.500 --> 00:13.700 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% priceless works of art making for viral moments that grab attention. But is the 00:15.700 --> 00:17.633 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% message getting through. Tonight, we look at how these polarizing protests 00:17.633 --> 00:21.633 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% could be both helping and hurting the fight against climate change. 00:26.333 --> 00:31.333 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Visitors at the National Gallery in London stood stunned as two young activists glued 00:32.766 --> 00:35.300 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% themselves beneath an exhibit of Vincent van Gogh's sunflowers. 00:35.300 --> 00:39.833 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% NO NAME GIVEN: What is worth more, art or life? Is it worth more than food, worth more than justice? 00:44.233 --> 00:47.933 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% GEOFF BENNETT: The protest went viral making international headlines. 00:50.333 --> 00:53.600 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% The environmental activists demand no new oil or gas licenses from the British government. Emma 00:56.200 --> 00:59.933 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% Brown, a spokesperson for Just Stop Oil, the group responsible says the shock factor is intentional. 01:02.033 --> 01:04.133 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% EMMA BROWN, Spokesperson, Just Stop Oil: There is that moment of smugglers security 01:04.133 --> 01:08.700 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% and that kind of outrage that people feel is justified. It is shocking what we're doing. 01:10.766 --> 01:14.633 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% If we take action that people can ignore, you know, so if we stood in a park somewhere with 01:16.666 --> 01:19.233 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% some placards, and people didn't know about it, it didn't disturb them. They 01:19.233 --> 01:23.300 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% didn't even hear about it. That would be a completely ineffective form of protest. 01:23.300 --> 01:28.300 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% GEOFF BENNETT: And these protesters are not alone, in the Australian capital of Canberra, 01:29.733 --> 01:33.033 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% activists scrawled blue marker across an Andy Warhol painting. 01:33.033 --> 01:35.633 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% NO NAME GIVEN: We're in a climate emergency. 01:35.633 --> 01:39.300 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% GEOFF BENNETT: Outside Berlin, protesters flashed mashed potatoes across the work of Claude Monet. 01:41.166 --> 01:45.233 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% And in Paris, one of the world's most famous artworks, the Mona Lisa smeared 01:48.666 --> 01:53.633 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% with cake. Each time bystanders were left in disbelief and headlines followed. But in the 01:55.633 --> 01:58.933 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% media coverage, most of the protests were reduced to acts of vandalism. 01:58.933 --> 02:02.500 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% EMMA BROWN: I think is interesting because that artwork was not vandalized, 02:02.500 --> 02:07.500 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% it had a sheet of glass on it. So really what everyone was becoming so outraged about was 02:10.033 --> 02:12.833 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% a bit of soup thrown on a piece of glass. And unfortunately, there's no pane of glass protecting 02:14.900 --> 02:19.266 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% the life support systems that we need to survive, you know. There's no pane of glass protecting 02:21.233 --> 02:24.466 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% the people in Pakistan from the devastating flooding. There's no pane of glass protecting 02:24.466 --> 02:29.466 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% the 146 million people in Africa that are suffering like drought related starvation. 02:31.333 --> 02:36.000 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% GEOFF BENNETT: Bill McKibben is an author and environmental activist who founded 02:37.933 --> 02:41.933 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% the organization's Third Act in 350.org. He says the previous climate protests have been 02:44.000 --> 02:46.433 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% different. He understands the underlying message and these new demonstrations. 02:46.433 --> 02:49.300 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% BILL MCKIBBEN, Founder, Third Act: We live in an incredibly beautiful world 02:51.233 --> 02:56.000 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% filled with almost unbelievable treasures, and we are desecrating and 02:58.033 --> 03:02.766 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% destroying those treasures every hour of every day. It doesn't seem in that context, quite so 03:06.600 --> 03:11.600 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% shocking, that people decide that they might throw a can of soup on the glass pane over a painting. 03:13.600 --> 03:18.066 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% I think it's way to try and get people to understand that much larger desecration 03:20.133 --> 03:24.900 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% that's underway. If you don't like one kind of protest and figure out another because left to 03:27.300 --> 03:32.300 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% its own devices, inertia and vested interest are going to win this existential fight. 03:33.433 --> 03:35.633 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% NO NAME GIVEN: Millions of people are dying. 03:35.633 --> 03:38.266 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% GEOFF BENNETT: Others in the climate space questioned the 03:38.266 --> 03:40.166 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% effectiveness of these recent protests. 03:40.166 --> 03:42.033 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% MICHAEL MANN, University of Pennsylvania: Who's the target? Is it Vincent van Gogh? 03:42.033 --> 03:44.500 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% What did he do to create the climate crisis? 03:44.500 --> 03:46.500 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% GEOFF BENNETT: Michael Mann is an author, 03:46.500 --> 03:50.800 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% professor and climate scientist who studies the effectiveness of climate communication. 03:50.800 --> 03:54.500 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% MICHAEL MANN: There just wasn't a sensible connection. The headline, 03:54.500 --> 03:59.466 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% you know, would say, you know, protesters throw soup on van Gogh's Sunflowers. Only 04:01.533 --> 04:06.533 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% if you got to paragraph six, did you learn that the painting wasn't actually damaged. 04:08.533 --> 04:11.433 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% GEOFF BENNETT: In two recent surveys conducted by the University of Pennsylvania, 04:11.433 --> 04:16.433 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Mann found that the protests set back public support for climate causes across the board. 04:18.066 --> 04:22.133 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% MICHAEL MANN: It played poorly with independents who were sort of a key 04:22.133 --> 04:26.700 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% swing vote in winning over more support for more aggressive climate action, 04:26.700 --> 04:31.700 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% and play bad with Democrats. Even people who are sort of generally overwhelmingly on board 04:35.133 --> 04:40.133 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% with climate action, it turned them off, even if they knew that the painting was preserved. 04:42.033 --> 04:44.500 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% GEOFF BENNETT: But some scholars in the environmental justice field say that disruptive 04:44.500 --> 04:49.500 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% nonviolent protest has in some instances spurred dialogue and even change. Shannon Gibson, 04:51.800 --> 04:56.100 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% Researches Social Movements and Climate Governance at the University of Southern California. 04:56.100 --> 04:58.100 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% SHANNON GIBSON, University of Southern California: We've had, 04:58.100 --> 05:01.733 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% you know, tons of examples in history of civil disobedience like these 05:04.233 --> 05:07.566 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% so they're drawing on predecessors for sure and I think that in some cases they are justified, 05:10.066 --> 05:13.033 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% right? We've had 30 years of climate negotiations and fairly little progress and they're saying 05:14.966 --> 05:17.433 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% we've done it your way for decades. And now it's time to be loud, it's time to be rally. 05:17.433 --> 05:20.800 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% EMMA BROWN: We're going to be noisy. We're going to be disruptive. We're 05:20.800 --> 05:25.800 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% going to be uninsurable. We're going to be a pain in the ass until you listen to us. 05:28.333 --> 05:31.200 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% MICHAEL MANN: It would be tragic if these protests were instead driving people to the other side, 05:33.200 --> 05:36.966 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% to the side of the polluters. Let's make sure that the public is getting the right message. 05:38.300 --> 05:40.800 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% GEOFF BENNETT: As advocates debate the merits of 05:40.800 --> 05:44.333 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% targeting great works of art to spur action on climate change.