The activists sought excitement and a boost to their self-esteem in the Stockholm Diamond League

Climate activists disrupted a star-studded athletics competition yesterday in Sweden by blocking the track with 400-meter hurdles. This upset the competition's winner, Norwegian Karsten Warholm, who said, "it is completely idiotic. It should be allowed to protest, but that is sickeningly bad. That's not the way to do it, no matter what it's about". 

The activists themselves claimed, "we are doing this because people die every day from the climate disaster. Politicians do not act. We need to raise this issue."

However, especially in Europe, politicians have taken significant action to mitigate climate change. The European Union, in particular, has made a decision to become climate-neutral by 2050 at the latest. Additionally, as an interim goal, it has been decided to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 55 percent by 2030.

In other words, the activists' justification is not valid, and there seems to be an entirely different reason behind their actions. It is likely driven by a disregard for others and a search for excitement, as well as a boost to the participants' self-esteem. This is evident considering the significant attention it received worldwide.

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In this context, it is also worth looking at how the climate has evolved in the Arctic region predicted to warm more rapidly than other parts of the world. The timing is ideal as the NSIDC (National Snow and Ice Data Center) has just released data on the extent of Arctic sea ice for the past month.

According to the data, the ice extent surrounding the North Pole was slightly larger this year´s June compared to the years 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2017, 2016, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2007, 2006, and the same as in 2015. To get a better understanding of the situation beyond a series of years, it is helpful to examine the development of ice extent visually.

From the image, we can see that the extent of Arctic sea ice in June has been quite variable but has decreased over the years surrounding the turn of the millennium. In recent years, it has remained stable, and no further ice melt has been observed. 

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