AGW protesters glue themselves to gov energy department (UK)

[Amarok]

I guess they can't think of a better way to influence policy.

That much seems painfully clear.

 

Are they really being so incredibly stupid, Boru?

Yes.

There must be some glaringly obvious modus operandi which is non-disruptive and infinitely more effective

There is.

...it escapes me for now, however -

Obviously.

 I guess I'm an appaling thicko too then.

 
Your words, not mine.

Please alleviate me of my stunning ignorance.

I'd be delighted.

First off, can you think of an instance, even one, where protests of this type and scale have EVER effected change in government or business policy? I'll save you the trouble - you can't. A handful of people defacing property and gluing themselves in place are simply not enough of a nuisance to cause an energy company to change their scandalous money-making methods, or cause government to pressure them to do so. If you could get 100 000 or so members of Extinction Rebellion to march down Whitehall, you might have a shot.

If you want to impact a business, the one method which has proved effective is economic boycott.  If you want to impact government, you'll need to convince enough like-minded people to vote your way.  But what the people in your links are doing really (and sadly) amounts to nothing more than pointless grandstanding.  A better use of their time and resources would be to invest in renewables and organize petition drives.

Boru

Economic boycotts never work on a multinational corporation or it's powerful lobby machine