Greta Thunberg Banned From Venice After Dyeing Canal Green
The climate activist joined Extinction Rebellion in the action to spotlight the environmental crisis.
If you find the world is smoldering, come on home to Green River.
Greta Thunberg and three dozen members of the environmentalist group Extinction Rebellion turned Venice’s Grand Canal lime green on Monday to decry the scant progress governments around the world have made toward phasing out fossil fuels.
Extinction Rebellion’s waterborne demonstration, which made the City of Water resemble St. Patrick’s Day in Chicago, was one of several protests at lakes, fountains, and waterways in 10 cities throughout Italy following the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Brazil.
In addition to releasing non-toxic fluorescein dye into Venice’s canals, Thunberg and her team hung a banner that read “Stop Ecocide” from the Rialto Bridge. They also wore red clothing with veils over their face and carried instruments in a mock funeral dirge that mourned the failure of COP30 members to agree to imposing limits on fossil fuel consumption.
The United States did not even bother attending the conference, and the European Union threatened to veto a weakened agreement before signing onto a deal that was still widely criticized for not cutting greenhouse gas emissions as quickly as some nations wanted.
"Let's symbolically paint green the waters of Italy, many contaminated daily by industries supported by our own government, because this is the world toward which current climate policies are dragging us," said an Extinction Rebellion activist identified as Selene in a statement.
Local officials were not amused at the advocates’ antics. Thunberg and 35 other activists received a 48-hour ban from the northeastern Italian city and a $174 fine. Luca Zaia, governor of the region that encompasses Venice, told the Independent the campaign was “a disrespectful act towards our city, its history and its fragility.”
But Venice has been particularly vulnerable to the consequences of a warming planet. The city has experienced more frequent flooding due to storm surges and rising sea levels known as “aqua alta” events. Piazza San Marco, the main public square of Venice, has been submerged about 250 times per year this decade. Some experts estimate Venice could disappear into the sea by 2100, which seems to be a bigger problem than temporary, Ghostbuster-green-tinged canals.
