Stopping the U.S. Open to Call Attention to Climate Change - The New York Times
Stopping the U.S. Open to Call Attention to Climate Change - The New York Times
Supported by
SKIP ADVERTISEMENT
Stopping Tennis to Call Attention to Climate Change
Protesters have thrown mashed potatoes at a Monet, interrupted fancy galas and blocked commuter routes in efforts to prompt action on global warming.
The environmental activists who delayed the U.S. Open semifinal Thursday night by staging protests in Arthur Ashe Stadium join a long line of high-profile public disruptions aimed at drawing attention to the existential threat posed by climate change.
Activists have staged what many call “guerrilla protests” across the United States and Europe. The provocative actions have included throwing mashed potatoes at a glass-protected Monet painting in Germany and tossing liquids or gluing themselves to the glass or frames enclosing other iconic works like Johannes Vermeer’s “Girl With a Pearl Earring” and Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers.”
While priceless art work has been a particularly attractive target, climate activists have also disrupted traffic in London and New York, blocked the entrance to this year’s White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in Washington, interrupted supplies at oil facilities in Germany and clashed with police in France.
And they upended a prior tennis match, on July 5, at Wimbledon. In that protest, three people stormed a court and scattered orange confetti on the famous grass before they were arrested.
Extinction Rebellion NYC — the group that took credit for interrupting the match between Coco Gauff and Karolina Muchova at the U.S. Open — says it promotes nonviolent civil disobedience. The group has staged protests in which members glued themselves to trains and sprayed fake blood on buildings.
In a statement, Extinction Rebellion members said they protested the U.S. Open to draw attention to “the greatest emergency of our time”: fossil fuel-driven climate change. Three protesters in the upper levels of the stadium stood up and shouted, “No tennis on a dead planet,” while one protester glued his bare feet to the cement floor in the stand.
“We’re doing this because we are desperate,” Jack Baldwin, a spokesman for the group, said in a statement. “Non-disruptive protests have been attempted for the past 50 years since climate change became scientific fact, and they have proven ineffective. So we are left with no choice but to resort to disruptive methods.”
“If we don’t, extreme weather events will do it anyway. Rain delays happen all the time and this is no worse,” Mr. Baldwin said.
There is a growing backlash to the public protests. Two demonstrators who smeared paint on the base and glass enclosing a Degas sculpture at the National Gallery of Art in Washington in April were indicted by a federal grand jury.
Museums, which have borne the costs of hiring more security to protect artwork and handling the cleanup after protests, have started to sue activists for damages. And in recent months, authorities in several European countries have begun to crack down on climate protesters, with British lawmakers making it illegal to lock or glue oneself to property.
Lisa Friedman reports on federal climate and environmental policy from Washington. She has broken multiple stories about the Trump administration’s efforts to repeal climate change regulations and limit the use of science in policymaking. More about Lisa Friedman
Explore Our Coverage of the U.S. Open
Ben Shelton: The late-blooming 20-year-old is a rising star thanks to a
blistering serve that he is learning to balance with the rest of his game.
Coco Gauff: Win or lose, it has become clear that the 19-year-old American is
the queen of this year’s U.S. Open.
Novak Djokovic: After missing the U.S. Open last year because he refused to be vaccinated against Covid-19,
the Serbian star is back in New York.
The Drop Shot Returns: In the age of power tennis, Carlos Alcaraz is among the players resurrecting the
softest, slowest change-of-pace stroke of them all.
Naomi Osaka: The four-time Grand Slam singles champion has taken breaks from tennis for her mental health and to start a family.
She is aiming to compete again in 2024.
A Sought-After Job: The road to becoming a ball person is not for the faint of heart. Here’s what it was like when
500 hopefuls tried out for 120 spots.
Related Knowledge Center: Climate science
What began as a theory in the 1890s — that industrial emissions of carbon dioxide could increase global temperatures — had progressed to a scientific fact a century later. Scientists across a range of disciplines are studying the impact of the still-growing concentration of carbon dioxide and other so-called “greenhouse gases” in the atmosphere as they call for industrial and governmental policies to slow, then halt, the warming of the planet.