A radical environmental group has caught attention on Twitter after encouraging people to let the air out of tires on SUVs to fight climate change.
The group, Adbusters, describes itself as “an international collective of artists, designers, writers, musicians, poets, punks, philosophers and wild hearts”.
It posted instructions on how to deflate the tires, calling the act a “gentle escalation” to up the urgency about climate change.
“Wedge gravel in the tire valves, leaflet the SUV to let them know the tires are flat and why it was done, and walk away. It’s that simple,” the group tweeted.
“If we organize, we can hit enough SUVs in particular neighborhoods to spark reporting and spread the metameme,” it added.
Adbusters also told followers to “Start by targeting wealthy areas – our goal isn’t to disrupt workers – and avoid targeting vehicles with disabled stickers or hangers”.
The group says their goal is a “total reinvention of the cultural and political playbook” and argues that climate change is the “biggest crisis we’ve faced as a species, and we are failing the test at every step”.
On the group’s Twitter page, a leaflet can be found that it suggests leaving on windshields. “Your tires are flat. It isn’t personal,” the message reads.
Many Twitter users were angered by the group’s suggestions. “You should do this in Texas and report back if you can,” said one tweet.
“Here’s a suggestion: Don’t touch other people’s property or you face a risk of exponentially higher levels of lead in your body than you previously had. Seriously, don’t do it,” another user wrote.
One user shared a photo of his SUV with the message “Start with mine. It’ll be a short campaign”.