Climate Activists Fill Golf Holes With Cement After Courses Exempted From Water Ban

• Thomas Nelson
• August 14, 2022
• News
• 0 Comments

Climate activists associated with Extinction Rebellion Toulouse in southern France filled the golf holes of several golf courses with cement. The move was an act of protest against golf course exemptions from water bans amid France’s severe drought.

Parts of Europe, including France, are currently experiencing what some experts are calling the worst drought in 500 years. There has been no significant rainfall for almost two months throughout Western, Southern, and Central Europe, which has been forcing water restrictions. Startlingly, even some rivers in Europe have run dry.

In Toulouse, golf courses have been exempted from water restrictions, which has sparked an incredible amount of controversy given that 100 French villages are experiencing drinking water shortages. Extinction Rebellion targeted golf courses, calling them the “leisure industry of the most privileged.”

Golf officials have pushed back on the protest and defended the water ban exemption, saying that golf course grass would die in just 3 days and noting that 15,000 people are employed by golf courses in France.

The activists involved say that exempting golf courses from the water ban demonstrates that “economic madness takes precedence over ecological reason.”

“At a time when the greatest drought ever observed in France since the beginning of meteorological readings is raging, while the drying up of rivers is accelerating in our regions, at a time when 93 departments out of 96 are placed under water use restrictions, resulting in total bans on irrigation for certain market gardeners and for agriculture; a sector concerning a tiny fraction of the population seems to enjoy a privilege worthy of another world in these times of crisis; golf,” the group said in its online petition.

Climate activists aren’t the only ones criticizing the exemption. Mayor Éric Piolle of Grenoble city expressed dismay at the exemption, saying: “We continue to protect the rich and powerful.”

Even though golf courses are exempt from the water ban, there are some restrictions. They are required to water only at night and can use no more than 30% of their normal volume of water.

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