What defines a successful protest? Making headlines? Getting your message through to people? But then, where do you draw the line between spreading awareness and purposely sparking aggravation from the public?

As far back as late spring, climate activist groups have gained heaps of attention from the public with their powerful albeit strange new strategy of attempting to save planet Earth. Targeting famous paintings throughout Europe, said activists have been defacing great works of art and gluing themselves to the location in order to protest against global warming. In a viral clip circulating around the internet, Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland are shown throwing tomato soup onto Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers, one of his most famous pieces of work, at the National Gallery and went on to glue their hands to the walls. Revealed to be supporters of the Just Stop Oil campaign, an organization attempting to stop the UK government from proceeding with all new oil and gas projects, they explained that this strange protest was done in order to send a message to those who still refuse to acknowledge the growing dangers of climate change. 

During the clip, Plummer can be heard saying, “The cost of living crisis is driven by fossil fuels—everyday life has become unaffordable for millions of cold, hungry families—they can’t even afford to heat a tin of soup. Meanwhile, crops are failing, and people are dying in supercharged monsoons, massive wildfires, and endless droughts caused by climate breakdown. We can’t afford new oil and gas; it’s going to take everything. We will look back and mourn all we have lost unless we act immediately.” Apparently, the irony of wasting a can of soup on a priceless painting to symbolize the “millions of cold, hungry families” is lost on them. 

What makes matters feel even more pointless is the fact that there hardly seems to be a connection between art and climate change at all. Van Gogh and his work were never related to climate change, nor have any of the other works of art that have been targeted. The only justification that seems to be passed around is the desire to create a sense of fear about what society prioritizes. “What is worth more, art or life?” Plummer said. Here’s another question to consider: What’s more important, proving a point or making a difference? 

To fight for the prevention of climate change is to fight the good fight, but nobody’s going to be on your side when you’re destroying something people love. While the protective glass over the painting managed to keep any damage from ensuing, the frame still ended up noticeably harmed. And this is only one of the many pieces of art that would be vandalized this year alone. Other climate activist groups around Europe, such as Extinction Rebellion, Germany’s Letzte Generation and Italy’s Ultima Generazione also have been using this new method of protesting, substituting tomato soup for other food products like cake or mashed potatoes and/or gluing themselves to the frame and walls.

It’s true that these groups’ motives are noble, but it doesn’t change the fact that they are endangering priceless pieces of work with the intention of deliberately rousing up a crowd. How is upsetting the public going to solve anything? The real culprit for the damage to our planet points to none other than corporations that show no mercy in releasing harmful chemicals into the environment. And yet, artists like Vincent van Gogh, who spent the majority of his life in the lower class, had to have their life work targeted for vandalism.

The list of attacks just seems to be getting longer, but if these protests yield any results have yet to be seen. Already, these activists have tried to make their point by involving Edvard Munch’s The Scream, Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, and even statues like Charles Ray’s Horse and Rider. Art has been a huge part of the history of the human race all the way back to when cavemen still roamed. It is, in fact, a reflection of life itself. And it is blatant disrespect when you begin to be reckless with it as if it shouldn’t matter to people as much as it is, especially to those who hold art in such high regard. These incidents began because people wanted others to listen to the issue— but instead of listening, more people are simply raising their own voices in protest of such actions. The message of preventing climate change is being drowned out because of groups that claim to care about the environment who decided to intertwine two completely separate matters.