Climate activists conducted another series of “attacks” on cultural heritage. This time, the victim was a dinosaur skeleton at London’s Natural History Museum. Overall, the sprayed orange cornflour on the artifact, after which the police reacted and arrested them. Protesters goal was to point out the health problems of oil and gas projects.
Charges of Causing Criminal Damage
There were two activists, which are also members of Just Stop Oil organization. They raised a flag with a note, which said ‘For health’s sake- Just Stop Oil‘. They also sat on the ground near the skeleton, and waited for the authorities’ arrival. Both of them were taken into custody, on charges of causing unlawful harm. The protesters in question are Gastroenterologist Dr. Will Stableforth and physiotherapist Steve Fay.
The organization Just Stop Oil also released a statement on spraying the 26-foot-tall Patagotitan mayorum skeleton. Everything occurred at approximately 1:50 pm on October 26. The centrepiece of the display “The Titanosaur: Life as the Biggest Dinosaur” is the dinosaur facsimile. But, because of this incident, the museum’s representatives needed to close down the exhibition for public eyes.
Relics discovered in South Africa in 2014 were crucial to constructing the dinosaur skeleton. The Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio (MEF), a science research and exhibition center in Argentina, loaned it to the museum.
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Climate Activists Called Citizens to March
“As an NHS medical consultant I’ve spent many years looking after patients with diseases which, at their root, are caused by fossil fuels. I have done everything legal I can to get our message across. Most of that has been ineffective; so it’s time to break the law. I cannot see another way at this tim”, Stableforth said in a statement prior to the protest.
Stableforth and Fay called for health professionals and members of the public to march in London on October 30. But, according to a news statement from Just Stop Oil, the organisation is planning regular parades in the city. This will go on until government authorization of new energy projects comes to an end.
The protest took place soon after an editorial published in more than 200 international health journals. They started calling on world leaders and health professionals to recognize the “indivisible connection” between climate change and biodiversity loss, and that the issue “must be tackled together to preserve health and avoid catastrophe”.
