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A UK climate protester literally put his skin in the game when he ran onto a tennis court before Roger Federer\u2019s final match at O2 Arena in London and set himself on fire. That was surely meant as a sign of his absolute commitment to the cause but apparently no one had told him that fire is hot<\/a>.<\/p>\n Wearing a white T-shirt reading \u201cEnd UK Private Jets,\u201d the protester, a young man, appeared on the court during the afternoon singles match between Stefanos Tsitsipas and Diego Schwartzman. Sitting down near the net on Schwartzman\u2019s side of the court, the man briefly set fire to his right arm, and to the court, as security officials ran toward him.<\/p>\n The protester appeared to immediately regret the decision to set fire to himself, and quickly put out the flames with his left hand while a small fire burned on the court next to him. A staff member smothered the on-court fire with a suit jacket while the protester calmly waited to be removed.<\/p>\n Once the fire was out, and with Schwartzman keeping a safe distance, three security guards carried the man off the court to a chorus of boos from the crowd.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The whole thing only lasted about 30 seconds and accomplished nothing.<\/p>\n A man has set his arm on fire after invading the court at the Laver Cup on Roger Federer’s last day as a professional tennis player. pic.twitter.com\/g0LcBU8PeJ<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Sam Street (@samstreetwrites) September 23, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Here\u2019s the moment the protester realized he\u2019d made a terrible mistake.<\/p>\n The man, wearing a t-shirt that read \u201cEnd UK Private Jets,\u201d was quickly removed from the court by security before Stefanos Tsitsipas and Diego Schwartzman\u2019s game resumed. https:\/\/t.co\/EUQv5z3Jl3<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 NBC News (@NBCNews) September 23, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Who knows what this guy was thinking but his t-shirt may have been a reference to the travel of some of the top players, including Federer:<\/p>\n Federer and other leading tennis stars including Novak Djokovic were seen to arrive in London earlier in the week using private jets, with the Laver Cup Twitter account sharing pictures of the two multiple Grand Slam champions stepping off private planes earlier in the week. Federer also has a long-standing sponsorship deal with Netjets, the \u2018world\u2019s leading private jet company\u2019, according to their website.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Here\u2019s the sort of thing he\u2019s, presumably, protesting.<\/p>\n \ud83d\udeec\ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7\ud83d\udc4b<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s probably a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.\u201d \u2014@DjokerNole<\/a> on being a part of Team Europe for #LaverCup<\/a> 2022 pic.twitter.com\/DUDF41oPpA<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Laver Cup (@LaverCup) September 20, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n RF has arrived. #LaverCup<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/aW0tdUWgYj<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Laver Cup (@LaverCup) September 18, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The protester has been identified as Kai, aged 20. According to the group that he is affiliated with, Kai prefers \u201cthey\/them\u201d pronouns.<\/p>\n BREAKING NEWS \u2014 End UK Private Jets (@EndUKPrivateJet) September 23, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Here they<\/em> are earlier today explaining the point of this stunt.<\/p>\n Carbon emissions in 2022 are genocide. We\u2019re accelerating towards the cliff of runaway collapse \u2013 every second takes us closer to human extinction. And the elites are still flying in private jets. \u2014 End UK Private Jets (@EndUKPrivateJet) September 23, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n His spiel is extreme but not quite as extreme as whoever wrote that tweet. Humanity is not facing global extinction. Well, I mean there\u2019s the sun becoming a red giant, random nearby hypernovas and the heat death of the universe, but Kai isn\u2019t likely to see any of those. More to the point, private jets are not going to result in human extinction or the end of the world. Even Vox has rejected<\/a> that sort of junk argument<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2026climate change is going to be bad, and it will hold back humanity from thriving as much as we should this century. It will likely cause mass migration and displacement and extinctions of many species.<\/p>\n What it won\u2019t do, however, is make the Earth unlivable, or even mean that our children live in a world poorer than the one we grew up in. As many climate scientists have been telling us, the world is a better place to live in \u2014 especially for people in lower-income countries \u2014 than it has ever been, and climate change isn\u2019t going to make it as bad as it was even in 1950.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Anyway, I hope Kai didn\u2019t injure himself too seriously (didn\u2019t seem like he did) and I hope he finds a more productive way to make the world a better place. Setting yourself on fire is not it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Kai, 20, set their arm on fire at #LaverCup<\/a>
The liveable climate of our planet is collapsing. No one is taking it seriously.
Is humanity not worth saving?
Let\u2019s get into resistance against this death machine.#EndUKPrivateJets<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/n81bXJtHsw<\/a><\/p>\n\n
Kai, aged 20, on why they support the demand to End UK Private Jets. pic.twitter.com\/r0JjqWwOvM<\/a><\/p>\n\n