>> Finally tonight, activists
turning to a new form of protest
to call attention to the climate
crisis.
Climate protesters have targeted
prices works of art, making for
viral moments that grab
attention, but is the message
getting through?
We look at how the polarizing
protests can be helping and
hurting the fight against
climate change.
Visitors at the national gallery
in London stood stunned as two
activists glued themselves
beneath Vincent van gogh's
sunflowers.
>> What is worth more, art or
life?
Is it worth more than food,
worth more than justice?
>> The protest went viral,
making international headlines.
The environmental activists
demand no new oil or gas
licenses from the British
government.
Emme brown, a spokesperson for
the group responsible, says the
shock factor is intentional.
>> There is a moment one goes
security, and that kind of
outrage people feel is
justified.
It is shocking what we're doing.
If we take action people can
ignore, we stood in a park
somewhere.
People did not know about it,
they did not even hear about it.
That would be completely
ineffective form of protest.
>> These protesters are not
alone.
In the Australian capital,
activists were blue marker
across an Andy Warhol painting.
>> We are in a climate
emergency.
>> Outside Berlin, they flashed
mashed potatoes across the work
of Claude Monet.
And in Paris, one of the most
famous artworks, the Mona Lisa
smeared with cake.
Each time bystanders were left
in disbelief.
And headlines followed.
In the media coverage, most
protests were reduced to acts of
vandalism.
>> It is interesting because the
artwork was not vandalized, it
had a sheet of glass.
But everyone was outraged about
was the bit of soup thrown on a
piece of glass.
There is no pain of glass
protecting the life-support
systems we need to survive.
There is no pain of glass
protecting the flooding, there
is no glass protecting the 146
million people in Africa
suffering, drought related
starvation.
>> Bill Mckibben is an author
and environmental activist who
founded the third act in
350.org.
He says the previous protests
have been.
He understands the message in
these new demonstrations.
>> We live in an incredibly
beautiful world.
Filled with almost unbelievable
treasures.
We are desecrating and
destroying the treasures every
hour, every day.
It doesn't seem in that context
quite so shocking.
People decide to throw a can of
soup on the painting.
I think it is a way to try and
get people to understand that
much larger desecration that is
underway.
One kind of protest and figure
out another.
Left to its own devices, inertia
invested interest, will win this
existential fight.
>> Millions of people are dying.
>> Others question the
effectiveness of the recent
protests.
>> Who was the target?
Van gogh?
What did he do to create a
crisis?
>> He's a climate scientist who
studies the effectiveness of
climate communication.
>> There just wasn't a sensible
connection.
The headline would say
protesters throw soup on van
gogh's sunflowers.
Only if you've got to paragraph
six did you learn the painting
wasn't actually damaged.
>> In two recent surveys, the
protests setback public support
for climate causes across the
board.
>> It played poorly with
independents, a key swing vote
winning over for support for
more aggressive climate action.
It played bad with Democrats.
Even people who are generally
overwhelmingly on board with
climate action.
It turned them off, even if
they knew the painting was
preserved.
>> Some scholars say disruptive
nonviolent protest has in some
instances, spurred dialogue and
change.
Shannon Gibson reachers --
researches social movement and
climate governance at the
university of southern
California.
>> Tons of examples in history
and civil disobedience like
this.
We are drawing on predecessors.
I think in some cases, they are
justified.
30 years of climate negotiations
and fairly little progress.
Now it is time to be loud and
rowdy.
>> We will be noisy and
disruptive, we will be
unignorable, we will be a pain
in the -- until you listen to
us.
>> It would be tragic of the
protests are instead driving
people to the other side.
Let's make sure that the public
is getting the right message.
>> As advocates debate the
merits of targeting great works
of art to spur action on climate
change.