Chapter 3595: Just a Business

When Ye Chen and his group got out of the car, many people had already gotten out of their vehicles around them.

Most of those traveling this road were heading to the airport to catch flights, and they had reserved at most one or two hours, with some having less than an hour until their flight's departure; now, getting out of the car and running frantically toward the airport still gave them a chance to make it within an hour, but if they waited in the car, they would likely miss their flight.

Hundreds of people dragged their luggage through the stalled traffic, and Ye Chen noticed that many local faces seemed accustomed to this, walking expressionlessly with their heads down, pulling their luggage as if indifferent to the situation.

When Ye Chen reached the end of the congestion, he saw hundreds of people of various skin tones and ages ranging from teens to fifty or sixty, wearing sweatshirts emblazoned with the slogan "Stop Global Warming," sitting in line in the middle of the road, holding various flags and banners, and a few who appeared to be leaders facing the traffic jam, shouting passionately through handheld megaphones.

Interestingly, there was even an East Asian face among them, and her shouting was the most fervent.

Ye Chen listened carefully and realized she was shouting in English: "You people are all the culprits behind Earth's climate warming! You are the chief perpetrators of the melting of Antarctic and Arctic glaciers!"

Another white girl joined her in shouting: "Exactly! The penguin babies in the Arctic are losing their habitat, and it's all because of you selfish humans! You drive cars, emitting massive amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere—don't you feel ashamed?"

Ye Chen frowned and asked Lin Waner: "There are no penguins in the Arctic, right?"

Lin Waner laughed and said: "Probably not. About a hundred years ago, someone tried to bring penguins from Antarctica to the Arctic, but for various reasons, the population failed to survive stably."

Ye Chen sighed: "To come out as an environmental volunteer with such nonsense—how embarrassing."

Lin Waner smiled: "Young Master, think the other way around—anyone with sound values and sufficient knowledge would never do something so childish."

"That's true too," Ye Chen said helplessly, shaking his head; he found it hard to comprehend the mindset of Western extreme leftists.

At that moment, a middle-aged man in a suit stepped forward and said: "Even if you don't allow fuel cars through, at least let electric vehicles pass? I drive a Tesla—even if you think cars cause global warming, that doesn't include electric vehicles, does it?"

One of the young men holding a loudspeaker angrily retorted: "I despise you hypocrites who drive electric cars! You think your car doesn't pollute the atmosphere just because it doesn't use fuel? Power plants burn vast amounts of coal to generate electricity, emitting greenhouse gases in astronomical figures! You electric car drivers are all accomplices!"

The middle-aged man, unable to tolerate this, countered: "You're definitely not a Nordic person! In our Nordic countries, renewable energy accounts for at least 98% of electricity generation, with the vast majority coming from hydropower—how could we possibly emit greenhouse gases?!"

The other man was visibly taken aback by his words, then stiffened his neck and asked: "You're talking without proof—you claim renewable energy accounts for 98%, so it really does? Why should I believe you?"

The middle-aged man angrily replied: "You can look it up yourself! Don't you have a phone?"

At that moment, a little girl behind the environmentalist man quietly checked her phone, then leaned in and whispered in his ear: "Charlie, I just checked—renewable energy does indeed account for 98% of electricity generation in the Nordic countries..."

The environmentalist man's face flushed slightly, but he quickly regained composure and snorted coldly: "So what? Do you know where your car was manufactured? If I'm not mistaken, your Tesla was very likely made in Germany—Tesla built factories there, severely damaging our ecological balance, causing many small animals to lose their homes, and Germany's electricity generation relies on coal for nearly half—meaning, you hypocrite, although driving your Tesla in Nordic countries doesn't pollute Nordic air, the German people, to build your Tesla, have polluted their own air and harmed their own wildlife! And the real culprits are you hypocrites!"

"I..." The middle-aged man was momentarily speechless, then angrily demanded: "Don't you people still talk about reason? I paid for my car—it wasn't a gift from the German people. I paid Tesla the full purchase price, Tesla paid the German government the taxes they owed, and paid German employees their wages. Even if this car generated greenhouse gases during production, I have borne the financial cost!"

After saying that, he pointed at the other man's sweatshirt and questioned: "You blame my car for emitting greenhouse gases during production—then I ask you, does your clothing not emit greenhouse gases during its production?"

The other man was once again left speechless, but the Asian-faced young girl quickly found a counter, rushing forward and shouting loudly: "You hypocrite, instead of reflecting on your own problems, you maliciously smear us! Do you know our clothes are made entirely from recyclable, biodegradable materials? And the raw materials are all recycled from donated used clothing collected from people worldwide—so even if the original materials emitted greenhouse gases during production, the blame lies not with us, but with the previous owners before recycling! And to avoid burdening the Earth, we never buy new clothes—we only wear recycled and reused garments! Now look at yourself—sharp suit, pretentious—what brand is your suit? Boss or Armani? Do you know how much extra pollution the Earth bears to produce your outfit?"

Her sudden barrage of arguments not only stunned the opposition but even left her close comrades stunned.

Ye Chen saw the two environmental protesters below whispering to each other: "Are our clothes really made from recycled materials? If so, they must be filthy—how disgusting..."

Another whispered: "Don't listen to her nonsense—our clothes are all bulk-ordered online, how could they be recycled? I checked the wash label—made in Vietnam, 100% cotton—rest assured."

That person asked again: "Are you sure? We really did receive tons of donated used clothing from people around the world—what if we actually processed a batch from them for secondary use?"

The other laughed and said: "Don't be foolish—being an environmentalist is just a business. Those donated clothes, superficially claimed to be recycled and reused, are actually packed and sold to Africa by our superiors above; there are people in Africa who specialize in buying used clothes from around the world, purchasing them by the ton, then distributing them by kilogram to various distributors, who sort and categorize the clothes for normal sale—this is a zero-cost venture for us, earning at least several thousand tons annually; otherwise, you'd think our constant protests across Europe, eating, drinking, and entertainment, plus travel and accommodation expenses, come from where?"