Activists who campaigned to close a coal-fired power station received a public grumble rather than applause.

Some were arrested for their beliefs, others risked their lives to climb up chimneys, all for the cause of stopping multi-million pound companies making even more by destroying the environment further.

These are the types of actions that go down in history as legendary, something that ought to be remembered, but like the legends before them, activists from Greenpeace met with criticism, rather than praise.

“Can we have their addresses so we can come and petition outside their houses when we no longer have light?” was a comment made on one national newspaper website.

It astonishes me that people can be so short-sighted. I am by no means an environmental activist, but I try not to use plastic bags, I recycle whenever I can and I am also prepared to cut down on my carbon footprint if it is needed.

So what if we have to sit in the dark, or have to wear extra layers rather than having the heating turned on? This is a very small price to pay.

As we don’t have unlimited options in this matter, either we all make much-needed sacrifices and start making them now, or soon even that option will be taken away. This is something that everyone is fully aware of, and yet they still don’t applaud those who devote their lives to making our society better.

Then you get witty comments like: “I hope they themselves read the article by candlelight”. It implies that you have to be on one end of a very long spectrum or the other.

You are either a saint and live your life perfectly, or you’re completely decadent and live your life totally in vice. Surprisingly, these are not the only two options. If you want to fight for the environment you don’t need to take an all-or-nothing approach.

While in an ideal world everyone should be a saint, our modern society is not ideal and so it’s better to do what you can. People who try to then insult you for not living up to their ideals should really think before they open their mouths and complain, about where their personal energies would be best spent – insulting others or taking action?