Almost Nine in Ten Are Aware of the Just Stop Oil Incident

Famous Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh painted five variants of ‘Sunflowers’. Currently, the five artworks are displayed at museums worldwide – from Tokyo to Amsterdam. Additionally, he painted another two variants. One is in private hands, and the other was lost during World War II, unfortunately.

On October 21, 2022, one variant of the artwork in the National Gallery, London, was vandalized by a group of climate change activists – Just Stop Oil. The two protesters, Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland, from the group, hurled two cans of tomato soup at the painting and then glued themselves to the wall in an attempt to spread awareness about climate change and global warming and awareness about the crippling effects of climate change.

Fortunately, the painting is protected by a glass sheet, and no damage has been done.

Additionally, Plummer said, “Is art worth more than life? More than food? More than justice?”

For two weeks, supporters of the Just Stop Oil movement have been engaged in civil disobedience against the government’s inactivity on both the “cost of living” and climate crises.

Real Research took the opportunity to launch a survey on climate activists throwing soup at Van Gogh’s sunflower painting to gather what the public remarks about the activists throwing soup at Van Gogh’s painting.

• Almost nine in ten (89.97%) are aware of the incident.
• 63.86% stand with the activist group.
• “Society is more concerned with art than nature,” said 59.24%.

No Oil, No Gas Environmental Group: Would Civilization Crumble?

The world economy’s oil dependency increases more than most imagine. Oil remains the world’s primary source of energy. Some curious readers may ask, “Would the world come to a stop without oil?” and the answer is yes – the world would completely grind to a halt if oil were not available.

According to a study, nearly 96 million oil barrels are consumed daily worldwide, approximately 1,536,000 cubic meters – roughly the size of the Empire state building.

The first poll highlights the respondents’ awareness of the Just Stop Oil activists incident. Nearly 90% are aware of it, while 10.3% are not.

The news spread worldwide and has sparked mixed reactions from the public. According to our survey, 37.7% of respondents said they were shocked to hear about this incident, 20.9% were confused, 17.16% were furious, and 12.5% felt sad.

Was Vandalizing an Artwork the Correct Way To Spread Awareness?

The two Activists throwing soup at Van Gogh’s painting were questioned upon being taken into custody, “Why attack art?” failing to see the correlation between climate change and a beautiful piece of artwork, they answered:

“Of course, because massive resistance is how women got the vote, how African Americans got the vote, how we got health and safety laws in the UK, as well as gay rights… All of this has come from massive resistance, and that’s why it’s so important.”

Our survey asked respondents the same question, and the responses are as follows:

63.86% of respondents agree with the tactics used by the activists, compared to 9.07% who disagree.

Similarly, the survey asked about the effectiveness of activists throwing soup at Van Gogh’s painting to raise awareness about the effects of climate change. 57.26% stated it was effective, whereas 10.62% stated the opposite.

Furthermore, both activists were arrested for criminal damage and aggravated trespass. Was this arrest justified? Hear what our respondents say:

The majority (66.91%) say that the arrest was justified, against 5.4% that say it was unjustified.

“Is Art Worth More Than Life?”

Referring to the activists throwing soup at Van Gogh’s painting, our survey asked the respondents if they believe that society values a piece of art more than nature. Results show that almost 60% agreed that society is more concerned with art than nature. 26.42% disagreed with the statement and said that society is more concerned with nature than art.

11.3% stated that society is equally concerned with both, whereas 3.5% said society is neither concerned with art nor nature.

Good Intention but Bad Approach?

According to a news report, a Just Stop Oil spokesperson said:

We are a non-violent movement. We’re peaceful protesters. We will cause disruption, we will attack paintings and art, but we’re only doing this until the government makes a meaningful statement about ending new fossil fuel assets in the U.K.

Referring to the statement, our survey asked how important the roles of the activists are in identifying and addressing critical threats to the planet Earth. It was revealed that 61.68% stated it was important, and 7.25% said it was unimportant.

Lastly, the survey ended with a poll on whether small environmental activist groups should intervene in raising awareness of climate change and global warming or whether the government and other verified environmental groups alone are enough. The survey revealed the following:

• 59.75% said, “Yes, the government alone is enough to handle the environmental crisis.”

• 26.2% said, “Yes, the government and other established environmental groups are enough to handle the environmental crisis.”

• 6.25% said, “No, there’s a need for the intervention of other small groups of environmental activists.”

• 7.53% said, “No, everyone as habitants of the planet should take an action to address the environmental crisis.”