Politically, it feels like a good time to be British.
Our election was civil and returned a moderate government. MPs from opposite sides of the campaign smiled and shook hands.
Meanwhile, in the US, polarisation is rife. The never-ending presidential election has already featured an attempted assassination and continuous unpleasantness from all sides. Our European neighbours are not faring much better. France had a brush with a possible far-right government and the new Patriots for Europe group, featuring Viktor Orbán’s party, is now the third largest in the European Parliament.
However, look a little deeper and there are tensions brewing in British politics, too.
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Healthy political debate is one thing, but rumbling beneath the surface is a movement which bears all the hallmarks of polarisation: radical environmental activism.
We all want to save the planet, and there is a vibrant debate to be had about which policies will best achieve that. But recently, a toxicity has taken hold in parts of the climate debate which threatens to set constructive debate aside in favour of poisonous division.
Environmental protester Roger Hallam has just begun serving a record five-year sentence in the clink for a hare-brained scheme to disrupt the M25 by dangling from a gantry. Hallam is the co-founder of Extinction Rebellion, Just Stop Oil, and Insulate Britain. He is the driving force behind eco-disruption in Britain and beyond in recent years.
Less than a week after he was sentenced, a cabal of his Just Stop Oil colleagues were arrested for a similar plan to interrupt flights at Heathrow.
Legally, Hallam’s lengthy sentence was on the harsh side and may well be reduced on appeal, but that’s beside the point. Hallam’s version of environmental protest conveniently results in his face appearing on the front pages. Setting aside the direct harm his activities bring about – his M25 adventure caused over 50,000 hours’ worth of delays – this type of environmentalism distracts from real solutions like nuclear energy investment, promoting the activists ahead of the policy conversation.
To truly understand the danger of environmentalism being co-opted by egotism, we must look beyond its radical fringes. Even in the mainstream of the climate movement, the desire for flashy headlines is obscuring genuinely helpful activism for sensible, planet-saving policies.
Take, for example, Leonardo DiCaprio’s new animated film, Ozi: Voice of the Forest, which purports to be a heartwarming story about a young orangutan who falls victim to deforestation destroying her home. Who could object to that story being told?
Unfortunately, the film foregoes the facts in favour of its pleasingly simplistic narrative. Ozi’s villain of choice is palm oil, which is routinely associated with deforestation. The film depicts a faceless palm oil company brutally exploiting rainforests for profit. In reality, palm oil is by far the most efficient crop in its category (oilseeds). Alternative oils – sunflower, rapeseed, soybean, olive, coconut, you name it – use more land and therefore require more, not less, deforestation. A nuanced point like that might disrupt the neat story of Ozi.
Crucially, when it comes to sustainability, time does not stand still.
In recent years, the palm oil industry, knowing the importance of sustainability to consumers, has taken it upon itself to revolutionise its practices to protect the natural world. In Malaysia, a top palm oil producer (which may be Ozi’s setting) primary forest loss has fallen by 70% since 2014, per Global Forest Watch, resulting in more than 90% of palm oil imported to Europe achieving certified sustainable status. On orangutans, Malaysia has implemented countless schemes including an 800,000-hectare ‘Totally Protected Area,’ a far cry from the glorified zoos depicted in Ozi.
Ozi playing fast and loose with the truth is more than poetic licence. It is flipping the environmental reality about palm oil on its head in order to market a film. It is straightforward misinformation. That has consequences, as brands cater to anti-palm oil sentiment by launching ‘palm oil-free’ product ranges, and EU legislators crack down on palm oil imports, all of which make oil-based products like food and cosmetics more expensive and less sustainable.
Ozi, like environmental protests, had the potential to be a positive step to raise awareness of key issues. Instead, it fell into the trap of promoting ego over policy, with Roger Hallam and Leonardo DiCaprio respectively reaping the benefits of their eco-themed personal PR campaigns at the expense of helpful green policy debate, while the rest of us are left to wonder where the constructive, forward-looking environmental movement we truly need is going to come from.
Jason Reed is a policy analyst and commentator for a wide range of media outlets. He tweets @JasonReed624.