When Charlie wade and the others got out of the car, many people around them were already climbing out of their vehicles.
Most of the traffic on this road was heading to the airport to catch flights. They had allowed at most one or two hours of buffer time, and some already had less than an hour before takeoff. Now they were sprinting towards the terminal with their luggage. If they ran, they still had a chance to make it within the hour, but staying in the car would almost certainly mean missing the flight.
Hundreds of people were weaving between the stationary cars dragging suitcases. Charlie wade noticed that many locals seemed completely unfazed by the situation. They pulled their luggage in silence, heads down, as if none of this bothered them in the slightest.
When Charlie wade reached the front of the jam, he saw more than a hundred protesters of all skin colours and ages, from teenagers to people in their fifties or sixties, sitting in neat rows in the middle of the road. They wore matching hoodies printed with “STOP GLOBAL WARMING” slogans and waved flags and placards. A few who appeared to be the leaders stood facing the stranded traffic, shouting passionately through handheld loudspeakers.
Interestingly, among them was an East Asian face, and she was by far the most fired-up of the lot.
Charlie wade listened carefully and heard her yelling in English, “Every single one of you is a murderer of the Earth’s climate! You are the main culprits behind the melting of the Antarctic and Arctic ice caps!”
A white girl beside her joined in, shouting, “Exactly! Baby penguins in the Arctic are losing their habitats, and it’s all because of you selfish humans! You drive cars and pump massive amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Don’t you feel any shame?”
Charlie wade frowned and asked Lin Wan’er, “There are no penguins in the Arctic, right?”
Lin Wan’er smiled and replied, “There shouldn’t be. Roughly a hundred years ago someone tried bringing penguins from Antarctica to the Arctic, but for various reasons the population never managed to survive stably.”
Charlie wade sighed. “People like this still come out to be environmental volunteers. Aren’t they embarrassed?”
Lin Wan’er laughed. “Young Master, think of it the other way round. Anyone with a proper worldview and a decent store of knowledge would never do something this childish.”
“That’s true.” Charlie wade shook his head helplessly. He had always struggled to understand the mindset of the Western far-left.
At that moment a middle-aged man in a suit stepped forward and said, “Even if you won’t let petrol cars through, at least let electric vehicles pass, right? I drive a Tesla. Even if you think cars cause global warming, that surely doesn’t include electric cars!”
One of the young men holding a megaphone snapped back angrily, “What I hate most are hypocrites like you who drive electric cars! You think your car doesn’t use petrol so it doesn’t pollute the atmosphere? Power stations burn huge amounts of coal to generate electricity and release astronomical levels of greenhouse gases! Everyone who drives an electric car is an accomplice!”
The middle-aged man, furious, retorted, “You’re definitely not from Northern Europe! In Northern Europe at least 98 % of electricity comes from renewable sources. The vast majority is hydropower. How could that possibly emit greenhouse gases?”
The protester was clearly thrown off by this, but he quickly stiffened his neck and demanded, “You’ve got no proof. Just because you say 98 % is renewable doesn’t make it true. Why should I believe you?”
The man snapped, “You can look it up! Don’t you have a phone?”
