A protest, which saw soup thrown over a Vincent van Gogh painting in England, was 'remarkably mild' compared to similar protests through history.
That is according to environmental journalist John Gibbons, who was speaking after activists from Just Stop Oil threw tomato soup over van Gogh’s 'Sunflowers' at London's National Gallery last week.
The painting is protected by glass.
John told Moncrieff this crisis is much closer than some people realise.
"People have got themselves into quite a state about the PR stunt involving the Van Gogh painting and the tomato soup," he said.
"The fact is this is really just an effort of drawing attention to... an existential crisis.
"The climate crisis isn't about bad weather in faraway places and things happening at some future point.
"This is something that is basically unravelling the global climate system, and it's something that affects absolutely everybody - especially the young."
'I feel guilty about this'
He said he feels like he should be doing more.
"The two people who took part in that protest, they're both I think 20/21 years of age," he said.
"At times I feel guilty about this: we're expecting young people like this to step up to the mark, take risks, end up facing criminal prosecution."
John said Britain has "really ratcheted up" its ability to take criminal action against peaceful protest.
"Most of us thought that the hallmark of a democracy, and the reason that we're different to China and Russia, is that you can go out and, even if you're a nuisance, you can make peaceful protest," he said.
"We also know from history - whether it's the suffragettes or the civil rights movement or the anti-apartheid movement - these were civil resistance movements."
'Remarkably mild'
He said the issue needs to be taken much more seriously.
"We're still not engaging with it," he said.
"We're not engaging with it, for example, even a fraction of the way that we engaged with the COVID emergency as a society, as a media.
"We're just still skirting around the edge of this and still getting our pantyhose in a twist when people take actions that, by historical standards, are still remarkably mild."
Activists speak after throwing soup on Vincent van Gogh's 'Sunflowers' at the National Gallery in London, England. Picture by: YouTube/Just Stop OilJohn said he cannot understand why this is not a bigger issue for everyone.
"I'm increasingly - as a journalist, as a human being, as a parent - beginning to feel really guilty that I haven't managed to get myself arrested or jailed yet.
"I just wonder what on Earth are people like me, who understand this issue, why aren't we putting our bodies on the line? Why aren't we using our every breath, every day to talk about [and] warn about this emergency?
"Instead, it just gets pushed in as an item at the end of the news."
"Maybe this is beyond the capacity of the human brain; maybe we were just not designed to deal with apparently stealthy, slow-moving crisis like this?" he added.
