Two climate activists in their early 20s were sentenced to prison by a London court Friday for throwing soup over Vincent Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” painting during a protest against fossil fuels.
Phoebe Plummer, 23, and Anna Holland, 22, from the protest group Just Stop Oil were imprisoned for two years, and 20 months, respectively, according to PA Media.
These are the latest in a string of prison sentences handed to climate activists in the UK for engaging in disruptive protests against the use of fossil fuels. Two relatively new, controversial laws have boosted the powers of police and courts to crack down on protests that are disruptive, even when they are peaceful.
Hours after Plummer and Holland were sentenced on Friday, three Just Stop Oil activists threw soup at two of Vincent van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” paintings in London’s National Gallery.
Read more at the link in our bio.
📷: Just Stop Oil/PA Media
Waste management and resource recovery remain essential to circular progress. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero’s recent review identified strong potential for circular construction strategies and end‑of‑life reuse in construction to deliver quantifiable carbon savings. Yet challenges persist in the rollout of Simpler Recycling due to legacy property structures. Strengthening these back‑end systems ensures green building products re‑enter value chains, supporting both circular economy objectives and sustainable urban development. The collective impact across policy, design, education, and technology confirms that the carbon footprint of construction can be reduced dramatically when the sector treats sustainability as an integrated, measurable discipline rather than an optional ambition.
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