Once again, the streets around Parliament are closed off due to climate change protestors. There seem to be fewer of them this time, and there is much mocking of them because of the mess they leave, including single use plastic bags.

It is easy to mock. But the message is important and whilst I despair at the disruption to people’s lives and livelihoods, the various scientists I speak with are sober in their analysis of the future of our climate, the level of extinctions, and the rate of climate warming.

The government has done much to address carbon emissions and is doing more with regard emissions in local areas, such as penalties in city centres for driving diesel cars.

Of course, there ultimately comes a significant policy decision if the climate change protestors demands are to be met. To meet their expectations, we will need to fundamentally change the way our economy works. And we may be doing that unilaterally. Countering this point, they propose that to do nothing about this would be to allow an unprepared change on the way we live so we may as well get on with it now. Depending on your belief in the depth of any climate crisis determines the extent to which you are prepared to go in remedying the problem.

I’m no expert on this, although I do follow some of the arguments. But I must admit that I have seen changes in my lifetime. Where once my car would be black with the remains of dead bugs by the end of the summer, it now ends the summer largely unscathed. As a child, I remember going into woodland where the noise was amazing; now it is more hushed, with fewer birds singing. That said, I haven’t seen so many hedgehogs as I have this summer for years.

The climate protestors, whilst annoying, have a point – and . We shall see next week, when we have the Queen’s Speech, just how committed to disrupting parliament they really are. With the state opening of parliament due on Monday, I suspect the protestors will have big plans to hold up the pageantry of the event. It’ll be slightly ironic if they do – the Queen uses a carbon neutral horse drawn carriage for the day.