Climate activists should be applauded as advocates for public health

Smith is right to acknowledge the admiration that many of us hold for those who make huge personal (and in Patrick Hart’s case, professional) sacrifices by acting in line with their conscience.1

But we must avoid framing climate activists as merely acting on “their beliefs.” Hart and others who have been imprisoned for engaging in non-violent climate action are not acting based on beliefs or personal opinions, but rather in the name of decades of well established climate …