Summary: <p>Should the Tour De France be doing more to promote the environmental and health benefits of cycling? Is there a missed opportunity here? </p> <p>Stuart and William discuss this and more as theY explore the following question sent in by listener Karlijn, Teignmouth, Devon:</p> <p>“The Tour De France in 2022 saw climate protesters disrupt some of the stages (3 actually, as far as I know). Is this a good battle to choose if the bicycle is a clean form of transport, or is there more to this targeting than meets the eye? A lot of sports like skiing who flip flop competitors all over the world could lower their footprint if they took a more logical route. I saw someone also try and glue themselves to the goal posts during a game at the 2022 women's football European Championships. The cameras never focus on the protestors though so this really must impact on the awareness and effectiveness of these protests? The go slow blockades on the UK motorways didn’t receive too much coverage either, so all the congestion and inconvenience caused maybe couldn’t be justified?” </p> <p>They go on to discuss the responsibility of the Tour de France to promote the health benefits of cycling more widely, and how it can use its platform to encourage more people to take up cycling as a means of transport. </p> <p>They also explore the importance of effective protest, and the risks of going too far. They also challenge the assumption that all environmentalists are radical activists. It’s not what’s done, it’s how it’s done. It’s not a case of whether protesting should or shouldn’t happen, it’s how it’s done. As part of a free world, we should all be free to protest. If you’ve got a voice you need to use it, but you need to be careful how you use it. There is an assumption that all people who are labeled as an environmentalist glue themselves to the road as a protest.</p> <p>In this episode Stuart and William were again joined by long time listener Hedley Thorne, who was invited to take his place in the ‘Listeners Chair’, where he sat in and contributed to the recording, and gave his opinions on the topic discussed.</p> <p>To get your chance of appearing on the podcast and sit in the ‘Listeners Chair’, we have a stretch goal on our <a href="https://www.patreon.com/thepeoplescountryside">Patreon page</a> where once we get to ten Beyond Stereotypes support tier backers, everyone on this tier will be entered into a quarterly draw, and the winner will be offered the opportunity to make an appearance on the podcast.</p> <p>What do you make of this discussion? Do you have a question that you'd like us to discuss? Let us know by sending an email to <a href="mailto:thepeoplescountryside@gmail.com">thepeoplescountryside@gmail.com</a>, or record us a message in your own voice by going to <a href="https://anchor.fm/thepeoplescountryside/message">https://anchor.fm/thepeoplescountryside/message</a></p> <p>This podcast's overall themes are nature, philosophy, climate, the human condition, sustainability, and social justice. </p> <p>Find out all about the podcast via this one simple link: <a href="https://linktr.ee/thepeoplescountryside">https://linktr.ee/thepeoplescountryside</a><br>Help us to spread the impact of the podcast by sharing this link with 5 friends <a href="https://podfollow.com/the-peoples-countryside-environmental-debate-podcast/view">https://podfollow.com/the-peoples-countryside-environmental-debate-podcast/view</a> , support our work through Patreon <a href="https://www.patreon.com/thepeoplescountryside">https://www.patreon.com/thepeoplescountryside</a> or just 'follow' to avoid missing any public posts.</p> --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thepeoplescountryside/message
