Latest news with #degrowth
The Independent
16-06-2025
- The Independent
Tourists face a soaking this summer as locals find their protest symbol
In Barcelona, a group of tourists found themselves the targets of an unusual form of protest when a woman armed with a plastic water gun sprayed them as they sat at an outdoor table. This incident highlights a growing trend in Spain, where locals are increasingly using water guns to voice their concerns about the impact of over- tourism on their communities. The water gun, once a harmless toy, has now become a symbol of resistance against the pressures of mass tourism in the country. The phenomenon started last July, when a fringe, left-wing activist group based in Barcelona that promotes the 'degrowth' of the city's successful tourism sector held its first successful rally. Some brought water guns to shoot one another and stay cool in the summer heat. 'What happened later went viral, but in reality it was just kind of a joke by a group of people who brought water guns because it was hot," Adriana Coten, one of the organizers of Neighborhood Assembly for Tourism Degrowth, told The Associated Press. Then, some turned their water guns from each other to tourists. The images went around the world, becoming a publicity coup for the anti-tourism cause. The guns reappeared in April when the same group stopped a tour bus in Barcelona, the Catalan capital. On Sunday, around a thousand people marched from a luxury shopping boulevard popular with affluent foreigners before police stopped them from getting closer to Barcelona's top sight-seeing destination: La Sagrada Familia church. The marchers spritzed unsuspecting tourists along the way, chanting slogans and carrying protest signs. One read: 'One more tourist, one less resident!' They left a trail of stickers on hotel doors, lampposts and outdoor café tables showing a squirting water gun encircled by a message in English: 'Tourist Go Home!' Still, the number of Barcelona protesters carrying water guns was a minority — and in the gun-toting group, many were only shoot in the air or at each other. One dad was toting his baby in a front-pack, water gun in hand. Can the water gun really change the minds of tourists, authorities or the businesses that drive the industry? Depends on who you ask. Protester Lourdes Sánchez and her teenage daughter, each holding a water gun, said the gun "really isn't to hurt anyone.' 'This is a symbol to say that we are fed up of how tourism industry is transforming our country into a theme park,' Sánchez said. Another demonstrator, Andreu Martínez, acknowledged it was 'to bother the tourists a bit." Laurens Schocher, a 46-year-old architect, said he didn't shoot any suspected tourists but hoped that carrying a water gun would bring more attention to their cause. 'I don't think the tourists will get it," he said. "I think this is to send a message to authorities.' The marchers had no monster, pump-action water cannons most kids use for backyard battles in the summer. Theirs were the old-school, cheap-o water guns that send a slim jet of water not that far away. Some tourists who were sprayed took it in stride, even claiming it was refreshing on a day with temperatures pushing up to around 30 degrees Celsius (87 Fahrenheit). But there were moments of tension. When several marchers squirted workers at a large hostel, tempers flared and one worker spat at his attackers as the slammed the hostel door shut. Nora Tsai, who had just arrived from Taiwan on a short visit, was among those doused on Sunday. She said she was a bit frightened and saddened. The 'Tourist go home!" chants didn't help either. 'I still like Barcelona," she said. "I have met a lot of people who were kind.'
Yahoo
16-06-2025
- Yahoo
How the humble water gun became the symbol of Barcelona's anti-tourism movement
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — A group of tourists were sitting at an outdoor table in the Spanish city of Barcelona, trying to enjoy their drinks, when a woman raised a cheap plastic water gun and shot an arc of water at them. Her weapon of choice — the cheap, squirt-squirt variety — is an increasingly common fixture at anti-tourism protests in the southern European country, where many locals fear that an overload of visitors is driving them from their cherished neighborhoods. How did the humble water gun become a symbol of discontent? From refreshing to revolutionary The phenomenon started last July, when a fringe, left-wing activist group based in Barcelona that promotes the 'degrowth' of the city's successful tourism sector held its first successful rally. Some brought water guns to shoot one another and stay cool in the summer heat. 'What happened later went viral, but in reality it was just kind of a joke by a group of people who brought water guns because it was hot," Adriana Coten, one of the organizers of Neighborhood Assembly for Tourism Degrowth, told The Associated Press. Then, some turned their water guns from each other to tourists. The images went around the world, becoming a publicity coup for the anti-tourism cause. The guns reappeared in April when the same group stopped a tour bus in Barcelona, the Catalan capital. Guns drawn On Sunday, around a thousand people marched from a luxury shopping boulevard popular with affluent foreigners before police stopped them from getting closer to Barcelona's top sight-seeing destination: La Sagrada Familia church. The marchers spritzed unsuspecting tourists along the way, chanting slogans and carrying protest signs. One read: 'One more tourist, one less resident!' They left a trail of stickers on hotel doors, lampposts and outdoor café tables showing a squirting water gun encircled by a message in English: 'Tourist Go Home!' Still, the number of Barcelona protesters carrying water guns was a minority — and in the gun-toting group, many were only shooting in the air or at each other. One dad was toting his baby in a front-pack, water gun in hand. Outside the protests, Barcelona locals are not toting water guns or taking aim at tourists. And many in the city still support tourism, which is a pillar of the local economy. 'A symbol' Can the water gun really change the minds of tourists, authorities or the businesses that drive the industry? Depends on who you ask. Protester Lourdes Sánchez and her teenage daughter, each holding a water gun, said the gun "really isn't to hurt anyone.' 'This is a symbol to say that we are fed up of how tourism industry is transforming our country into a theme park,' Sánchez said. Another demonstrator, Andreu Martínez, acknowledged it was 'to bother the tourists a bit." Laurens Schocher, a 46-year-old architect, said he didn't shoot any suspected tourists but hoped that carrying a water gun would bring more attention to their cause. 'I don't think the tourists will get it," he said. "I think this is to send a message to authorities.' A squirt can hurt your feelings The marchers had no monster, pump-action water cannons most kids use for backyard battles in the summer. Theirs were the old-school, cheap-o water guns that send a slim jet of water not that far away. Some tourists who were sprayed took it in stride, even claiming it was refreshing on a day with temperatures pushing up to around 30 degrees Celsius (87 Fahrenheit). But there were moments of tension. When several marchers squirted workers at a large hostel, tempers flared and one worker spat at his attackers as he slammed the hostel door shut. Nora Tsai, who had just arrived from Taiwan on a short visit, was among those spritzed on Sunday. She said she was a bit frightened and saddened. The 'Tourist go home!" chants didn't help either. 'I still like Barcelona," she said. "I have met a lot of people who were kind.'
Yahoo
16-06-2025
- Yahoo
How the humble water gun became the symbol of Barcelona's anti-tourism movement
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — A group of tourists were sitting at an outdoor table in the Spanish city of Barcelona, trying to enjoy their drinks, when a woman raised a cheap plastic water gun and shot an arc of water at them. Her weapon of choice — the cheap, squirt-squirt variety — is an increasingly common fixture at anti-tourism protests in the southern European country, where many locals fear that an overload of visitors is driving them from their cherished neighborhoods. How did the humble water gun become a symbol of discontent? From refreshing to revolutionary The phenomenon started last July, when a fringe, left-wing activist group based in Barcelona that promotes the 'degrowth' of the city's successful tourism sector held its first successful rally. Some brought water guns to shoot one another and stay cool in the summer heat. 'What happened later went viral, but in reality it was just kind of a joke by a group of people who brought water guns because it was hot," Adriana Coten, one of the organizers of Neighborhood Assembly for Tourism Degrowth, told The Associated Press. Then, some turned their water guns from each other to tourists. The images went around the world, becoming a publicity coup for the anti-tourism cause. The guns reappeared in April when the same group stopped a tour bus in Barcelona, the Catalan capital. Guns drawn On Sunday, around a thousand people marched from a luxury shopping boulevard popular with affluent foreigners before police stopped them from getting closer to Barcelona's top sight-seeing destination: La Sagrada Familia church. The marchers spritzed unsuspecting tourists along the way, chanting slogans and carrying protest signs. One read: 'One more tourist, one less resident!' They left a trail of stickers on hotel doors, lampposts and outdoor café tables showing a squirting water gun encircled by a message in English: 'Tourist Go Home!' Still, the number of Barcelona protesters carrying water guns was a minority — and in the gun-toting group, many were only shoot in the air or at each other. One dad was toting his baby in a front-pack, water gun in hand. 'A symbol' Can the water gun really change the minds of tourists, authorities or the businesses that drive the industry? Depends on who you ask. Protester Lourdes Sánchez and her teenage daughter, each holding a water gun, said the gun "really isn't to hurt anyone.' 'This is a symbol to say that we are fed up of how tourism industry is transforming our country into a theme park,' Sánchez said. Another demonstrator, Andreu Martínez, acknowledged it was 'to bother the tourists a bit." Laurens Schocher, a 46-year-old architect, said he didn't shoot any suspected tourists but hoped that carrying a water gun would bring more attention to their cause. 'I don't think the tourists will get it," he said. "I think this is to send a message to authorities.' A squirt can hurt your feelings The marchers had no monster, pump-action water cannons most kids use for backyard battles in the summer. Theirs were the old-school, cheap-o water guns that send a slim jet of water not that far away. Some tourists who were sprayed took it in stride, even claiming it was refreshing on a day with temperatures pushing up to around 30 degrees Celsius (87 Fahrenheit). But there were moments of tension. When several marchers squirted workers at a large hostel, tempers flared and one worker spat at his attackers as the slammed the hostel door shut. Nora Tsai, who had just arrived from Taiwan on a short visit, was among those doused on Sunday. She said she was a bit frightened and saddened. The 'Tourist go home!" chants didn't help either. 'I still like Barcelona," she said. "I have met a lot of people who were kind.' Joseph Wilson, The Associated Press Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Associated Press
16-06-2025
- Associated Press
How the humble water gun became the symbol of Barcelona's anti-tourism movement
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — A group of tourists were sitting at an outdoor table in the Spanish city of Barcelona, trying to enjoy their drinks, when a woman raised a cheap plastic water gun and shot an arc of water at them. Her weapon of choice — the cheap, squirt-squirt variety — is an increasingly common fixture at anti-tourism protests in the southern European country, where many locals fear that an overload of visitors is driving them from their cherished neighborhoods. How did the humble water gun become a symbol of discontent? From refreshing to revolutionary The phenomenon started last July, when a fringe, left-wing activist group based in Barcelona that promotes the 'degrowth' of the city's successful tourism sector held its first successful rally. Some brought water guns to shoot one another and stay cool in the summer heat. 'What happened later went viral, but in reality it was just kind of a joke by a group of people who brought water guns because it was hot,' Adriana Coten, one of the organizers of Neighborhood Assembly for Tourism Degrowth, told The Associated Press. Then, some turned their water guns from each other to tourists. The images went around the world, becoming a publicity coup for the anti-tourism cause. The guns reappeared in April when the same group stopped a tour bus in Barcelona, the Catalan capital. Guns drawn On Sunday, around a thousand people marched from a luxury shopping boulevard popular with affluent foreigners before police stopped them from getting closer to Barcelona's top sight-seeing destination: La Sagrada Familia church. The marchers spritzed unsuspecting tourists along the way, chanting slogans and carrying protest signs. One read: 'One more tourist, one less resident!' They left a trail of stickers on hotel doors, lampposts and outdoor café tables showing a squirting water gun encircled by a message in English: 'Tourist Go Home!' Still, the number of Barcelona protesters carrying water guns was a minority — and in the gun-toting group, many were only shoot in the air or at each other. One dad was toting his baby in a front-pack, water gun in hand. 'A symbol' Can the water gun really change the minds of tourists, authorities or the businesses that drive the industry? Depends on who you ask. Protester Lourdes Sánchez and her teenage daughter, each holding a water gun, said the gun 'really isn't to hurt anyone.' 'This is a symbol to say that we are fed up of how tourism industry is transforming our country into a theme park,' Sánchez said. Another demonstrator, Andreu Martínez, acknowledged it was 'to bother the tourists a bit.' Laurens Schocher, a 46-year-old architect, said he didn't shoot any suspected tourists but hoped that carrying a water gun would bring more attention to their cause. 'I don't think the tourists will get it,' he said. 'I think this is to send a message to authorities.' A squirt can hurt your feelings The marchers had no monster, pump-action water cannons most kids use for backyard battles in the summer. Theirs were the old-school, cheap-o water guns that send a slim jet of water not that far away. Some tourists who were sprayed took it in stride, even claiming it was refreshing on a day with temperatures pushing up to around 30 degrees Celsius (87 Fahrenheit). But there were moments of tension. When several marchers squirted workers at a large hostel, tempers flared and one worker spat at his attackers as the slammed the hostel door shut. Nora Tsai, who had just arrived from Taiwan on a short visit, was among those doused on Sunday. She said she was a bit frightened and saddened. The 'Tourist go home!' chants didn't help either. 'I still like Barcelona,' she said. 'I have met a lot of people who were kind.'
CBC
06-06-2025
- Business
- CBC
What is degrowth? The throwdown over growing down
Hello, Earthlings! This is our weekly newsletter on all things environmental, where we highlight trends and solutions that are moving us to a more sustainable world. Keep up with the latest news on our Climate and Environment page. What is degrowth? The throwdown over growing down I started planning to write this story a year ago. Every time I tried to crack into the subject of degrowth, I would hit a wall of arguments and counter-arguments that are enough to make your head spin. But let's give it a go. Imagine a graph measuring the progress of nations. It's a given that none of us can control the X-axis of time moving to the right. But as that happens, most countries want the Y-axis of success to trend upward. But what can we even quantify as success? Gross domestic product — the value of goods and services over a period of time — is relatively easy to understand and, more importantly, a comparable way of measuring it. Chasing GDP growth is seen as favourable because it means your country is wealthy, moving that money around, competing with other nations and all this is generally associated with having better health care and education. To be clear, GDP is not and never was a measure for total societal well-being — especially when it comes to impacts on the environment. With global climate, pollution and biodiversity crises linked to humanity's over-consumption, an old argument against chasing GDP growth takes a new form: degrowth. It's one concept under the umbrella of what proponents call "post-growth" thinking. "What's common in all of them is just questioning the fundamental thesis of current economies: That we are only well off if we keep growing our consumption year by year," said Diàna Ürge-Vorsatz, professor at the Central European University in Vienna, who recently co-authored research looking at post-growth. The paper says degrowth, applying to high-income countries, means "a lower GDP as a probable outcome of efforts to substantially reduce resource use." That might look like a Canada where we drove less, bought fewer new clothes, grew more food locally (and, notably, worked fewer hours). "The point is that instead of measuring progress by increasing consumption, we could measure progress by increasing well-being," said Ürge-Vorsatz, who is also one of the vice-chairs for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. She points to metrics such as the OECD Better Life Index, which looks at factors such as health, the environment and work-life balance. Canada scores high on the first two, lower on the third. But this kind of metric is only available for some countries; it takes a lot more data and is harder to measure than GDP. The criticism against degrowth is plentiful and vocal. Here's a boiling down of just some of those positions: High-income countries' reduction in resource consumption would negatively affect the low-income countries that they trade with. Lower-income countries would pollute as they industrialize further, thereby not solving the climate crisis. Degrowth would stifle innovation, which has led to advancements in lower-carbon technology. And you bet there are rebuttals. Jeroen van den Bergh, a policy scientist and environmental economics expert at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, finds current degrowth arguments "a bit naïve." He agrees that the future has to look different from the past and that means changing our relationship between growth and resource extraction. "There's too much pessimism that we cannot move away from that relationship that we've seen so far. And I'm not optimistic about it, but I think we can achieve a lot of change if we have very ambitious policies." He advocates, instead, for "agrowth" — with the 'a' standing for 'agnostic', meaning countries don't assess policies on their growth potential, but on their societal well-being and on environmental impact. "The only way to get away from the dominance of GDP is to have a replacement that looks very much like it," he said, arguing this approach would mean keeping GDP but also seeking policies that value other societal benefits. So while some degrowth advocates call for a reduction in what they see as less necessary consumption such as commercial air travel and fast fashion, agrowth instead pushes for being flexible, by seeing strength in policies that, for example, promote planetary health. All this might seem like arm-chair quarterbacking (on your last down with five seconds on the clock), but it's worth mentioning that this search for an alternative has both sides agreeing the world is already experiencing a stagnation in GDP growth. Unrelated to any degrowth policies, the world is seeing a decline in growth from around four per cent in the 1960s to around one per cent now in high-income countries. And climate change is forecast to hit GDP, whether we want it or not. Based on analyses by actuaries — that is, estimates by people who estimate for a living, the worst-case scenario shows climate-fuelled catastrophes causing a 50 per cent loss in GDP by the end of the century. In other words, a massive economic depression occurring alongside deaths, destruction of long-term assets and more geopolitical fragmentation. Faced with that future, it's perhaps more understandable why people are seeking a different way to measure success. In our newest episode: Corporate leaders say Canada's new greenwashing rules are causing companies to pull back on their climate ambitions. We hear from the executive chair of Maple Leaf Foods about what he says is a "greenhushing" effect of the legislation. Then, we hear from a lawyer and a climate advocate about the pros and cons of the federal government's new law. What On Earth drops new podcast episodes every Wednesday and Saturday. You can find them on your favourite podcast app or on demand at CBC Listen. The radio show airs Sundays at 11 a.m., 11:30 a.m. in Newfoundland and Labrador. How bad is the wildfire smoke where you live? Check the CBC News Climate Dashboard for live updates on wildfire smoke and active fires across the country. Set your location for information on air quality where you live. Tune into CBC this Sunday evening at 8 p.m. for the one-hour network special CBC in Antarctica. Experience stunning vistas, curious penguins and dramatic real-time navigation through ice-entombed channels with the Canadian Navy and a team of dedicated Canadian scientists. The special will also be available on CBC Gem and CBC YouTube this weekend. The Big Picture: How shoreline litter changed after plastic bans When Ocean Wise volunteers picked up litter on Canada's shorelines last year, they found the usual top items, including cigarette butts, plastic and styrofoam pieces. But they also found 32 per cent fewer straws and 25 per cent fewer plastic bags compared to the previous year. The results are promising, said Kaitlyn Harris, manager of Ocean Wise's shoreline cleanup. "This means that the federal plastic ban is working," she said. "This is having an actual impact on the environment, which ultimately means less [plastic] is ending up in our oceans, affecting habitats and ecosystems." The federal government labeled plastic manufactured items as toxic in 2021, paving the way for a national single-use plastic ban on some items in 2022, including plastic straws, bags and utensils. While the regulations are still in place today, it's been a confusing back and forth. Industry groups quickly challenged the "toxic" label that underpins the regulations, and the Supreme Court sided with them, deeming it unconstitutional. But it still upheld the regulations until a decision came from an appeal, which is still pending. Some provinces already had their own provincial bans on items such as plastic bags, and fewer of those items were found on their shores. The highest number of plastic bags, straws and utensils per capita were found in Ontario, which has no plastic bans. — Charlotte Lepage Alberta solar farm tests tech to raise chickens, sheep, pigs and bees The goal of 'farming under every panel' 7 days ago Duration 1:30 Solar Sheep's Janna Greir and Capital Power's Wade Heuscher explain why animals are used at the Strathmore Solar site in Alberta. This summer, a solar field in Alberta will not only be generating about 40 megawatts of electricity each sunny day but also producing eggs, honey, meat and wool. There are 110,000 solar panels on the 130 hectares of land, in addition to about 400 sheep, 40 pigs and 100 chickens. The bees are arriving soon. The solar project, which is owned by Edmonton-based Capital Power and located near the town of Strathmore, is beginning to resemble a hobby farm. But for those involved, it's an important opportunity to test new technology and farming techniques. As demand for electricity grows every year, this site provides a glimpse into the future of the solar industry in Canada. The chickens arrived this week and began laying eggs inside their new home, a mobile coop that slowly moves between the long rows of panels. The structure is a self-propelled pasture barn designed by UKKÖ Robotics, a Manitoba-based startup. The concept is to house animals in a building, while providing fresh grass to graze and spreading the manure evenly on the land. Multiple times a day, the coop slowly moves a small distance, usually half a metre at a time. The company has installed 50 of the roaming structures around the world, but this is the first time it will operate on a solar site. "If it does work, I think there's some great applications throughout North America because this is underutilized agricultural land," said Daniel Badiou, co-founder and CEO of UKKÖ Robotics. Solar industry vs. farming As the solar industry has expanded, especially in Alberta, rural landowners have raised concerns about the impact on farmland. Those critiques are in part why the Alberta and Ontario governments have introduced new rules that restrict solar panel development on prime agricultural land and require solar operators to include some type of agriculture, depending on the quality of the land. But sheep farmer Janna Greir said she thinks solar farming and regular farming can actually go hand in hand. She's the co-founder of Solar Sheep, and this is the fourth summer that she'll manage the vegetation at this solar field. "Our vision is essentially farming under every panel," said Greir, who began by using sheep and has expanded to test out on other animals. "We want to kind of prove the concept that we can raise more protein and more local food per acre," she said. "There's a ton of solar development going on throughout the province, and so we're just trying to keep that land in agriculture. But we're also trying to keep it and leave it in a better place than when we started." 'Rethinking how beekeeping is done' The bees will also be part of testing new technology, as they will be housed in a predator-proof, climate-controlled building that's similar in size to a garden shed. The mobile indoor apiary is designed and built by Bee Cube, a Calgary startup. Each building has sensors to monitor temperature, humidity, weight and the sound of the bees. "All that data goes to a database so that beekeepers will know what's going on inside their hives at any given time," said Herman Van Reekum, founder and CEO of Bee Cube. At the solar field, the bees will not only produce honey; they'll help pollinate the various types of flowering plants. The main objective of the Strathmore solar field, located about 40 kilometres east of Calgary, is to generate electricity, but the agricultural activities are nonetheless important, said Wade Heuscher, solar manager for Capital Power, the power generator that owns the project. The company is beginning a 10-year soil-testing program to better understand how the livestock, rotational grazing and vegetation management are impacting the soil conditions. "This is the way of the future, " Heuscher said. "I think this is a partnership that all solar providers should be looking at doing."
