This morning, to protest Biden’s “bullshit” climate plan, activists with Extinction Rebellion DC dumped over a dozen wheelbarrows of “cow shit” at 17th Street and New York Avenue Northwest, near the White House. Here’s what it looked like at the scene:
Biden is currently hosting a virtual climate summit with 40 world leaders, and has promised to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. But for XRDC, that’s not enough. They’re demanding Biden set that net-zero target for 2025.
“”We’ve elected another president who can’t understand basic science,” said Reilly Polka, a spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion DC. “Just like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic, Biden is fiddling with dates and targets as the ocean rises, and the world burns. The president has failed to address the immense scale of the planetary emergency. Those travelling first class are still enjoying the party too much to hear the cries of those already drowning in the decks below.”
After dumping the mounds of manure, the activists said they would “clean up their shit” this time, but they were unwilling to do so for Biden’s “bullshit” climate plan.
Except….they didn’t clean up their shit. As the group receded with their empty wheelbarrows, the heap of manure was left to stink in the middle of the street, blocking traffic. When asked for comment, an XRDC spokesperson wrote, “Rebels returned with shovels to clean up, which was the plan, but the city had already begun. It’s unfortunate that the city had to clean our mess, but that’s exactly what Biden is asking humanity to do with his 2030 plan—he’s making it everyone else’s problem. We thank the city for their services this morning.”
Twitter users were quick to point out it was a troubling oversight that the majority-white group left the cleanup job for likely BIPOC and low-wage workers of DC Public Works.
feeling bad for the probably poc workers who are gonna have to clean up their performative activism up https://t.co/Jqo1YstjiL
— Lucy? (@LucyFromGA) April 22, 2021
These idiots couldn't even be bothered to think about the city workers that have to come clean it up. At least put it on some grass or something that needs it. Wasteful pricks. https://t.co/mJcQZ2oBdy
— DOGEunte Murray Mac (@MacPena) April 22, 2021
Other tweeting lefties bemoaned how performative the action was, noting that the barriers around the White House meant the poop mound wasn’t even visible from the residence.
Biden's climate change proposal is the most progressive proposal in US history, and steals a lot of ideas from the GND. You can argue that bar isn't very high, but it's still true. https://t.co/5fxY87AqyA
— Ken Hagen (@kenhagen) April 22, 2021
Remind me, did these folks protest Trump's withdrawal from the Paris Accords in a similar manner?
Are these folks aware that Biden's climate plan is literally *double* the reduction dictated by the Paris Accords?
This is just…so damn frustrating. https://t.co/bHVPNwX83A
— Michael Paulauski (@mike10010100) April 22, 2021
Gallons of paint to color the wheelbarrows, gallons of gas used to transport it all, more gas used to get cleaning crews out there, cars now stuck in traffic wasting fuel, and if any of that shit gets washed away it ends up in the city's water.
Some "environmentalists" they are. https://t.co/uc2Jp4L4U5
— ? Stephie Jay is gay ?? ?? (@StephieTheLefty) April 22, 2021
So much money and energy is poured into activism that is obviously counterproductive. https://t.co/ll2E0Oe3vW
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) April 22, 2021
The protest created a rare unification of lefty and righty Twitter, as Trumpworld and GOPers pointed out the fallacy of the plan.
By buying manure, they have now incentivized the creation of more carbon emissions https://t.co/SOr3OmOTR2
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) April 22, 2021
The idiots pushing the wheelbarrows are the ones who are full of shit. ???? https://t.co/1whZgPYFTk
— Rodster?? (@clantro) April 22, 2021
And the National Farmer’s Union pointed this out:
As cow poop experts, we would just like to point out that that is…not cow poop.
— National Farmers Union (@NFUDC) April 22, 2021
Jane is a Chicago transplant who now calls Cleveland Park her home. Before joining Washingtonian, she wrote for Smithsonian Magazine and the Chicago Sun-Times. She is a graduate of Northwestern University, where she studied journalism and opera.
