They’re called the “Tyre Extinguishers” and their goal is to force SUV owners to downsize through inconvenience.
Forty three SUV-owning Bostonians had their tires deflated overnight on Thursday, April 20. The residents of Beacon Hill, one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in Boston, were the latest victims of Tyre Extinguishers, the climate activists set on mildly inconveniencing SUV owners into ditching their gas guzzling cars.
The activists hit 43 different SUVs, over a few different blocks in Beacon Hill, and left a leaflet on each windshield, taking credit and providing their reasoning.
“Attention—your gas guzzler kills,” the leaflet begins. “You’ll be angry, but don’t take it personally. It’s not you, it’s your car.”
The leaflet then links you to their website, which has their mission statement, goals, and even instructions on how to deflate a tire. Their preferred tire deflation method is to unscrew the valve stem cap, put a small bean in valve (they recommend a green lentil or some couscous), and screw it back on.
Not only did they take credit for Boston’s tire sabotage but they’re broadcasting it by posting a photo of someone deflating the tire of a Mercedes GLC-Class.
Interestingly, Tyre Extinguishers isn’t excluding large EVs from their tire deflation offensive. Their website clearly states that large EVs and hybrids are fair game, citing the pollution caused by mining their batteries and even the pollution from their brake pads. The only exclusions from their tire attacks are “Cars clearly used for people with disabilities, traders’ cars (even if they’re large), minibuses and normal-sized cars.”
As far as police have seen, no tires were punctured, nor does that seem to be part of Tyre Extinguishers’ methods. Instead, the idea is to just inconvenience and annoy SUV owners on a large enough scale that they either switch to smaller cars or public transportation.
I think most car nerds like myself can agree that there are plenty of owners with unnecessarily large SUVs and that reducing our carbon footprint by driving more efficient vehicles is a good thing. However—and maybe I’m wrong—I don’t think making people late to work, preventing parents from taking their kids to school on time, or keeping someone from an important doctor’s appointment is the way to get SUV owners to downsize en masse.
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