There’s a picture doing the rounds on Facebook of St Mary’s Tower in Hornsey Village that has a big XR logo painted on it with the words ACT NOW.

The post asks people to pick a reaction: A: Disgust and anger, B: The cause justifies the act, C: Dumb.

My initial reaction, which seems to be the same as the majority, is a combination of A and C, “how stupid, how selfish and how disrespectful", wrote one person.

It’s not real, it’s Photoshop. For those who thought it was real, it was interesting to see their anger.

The outcome is that people are not going to align with XR's beliefs. And this is very much what is happening with environmental groups who have been making lots of noise but no progress.

In fact, many less extreme environmental groups believe they are having a negative impact.

It's become a modern-day thing to justify any behaviour based on a cause. But that's a path that takes you to a bad place, that's the same thinking terrorists use - killing people is justified by the cause.

Chris Arnold recognises a growing frustration among communities on a wide range of issues (Image: Chris Arnold)

I have noticed a growing frustration among our communities around a wide range of issues. Yes, trees do feature a lot, but road schemes, policy changes, street lighting, dogs, parking, parks.

It seems today we are getting angry about everything. It starts with a rant on social media and then suddenly up pops a protest group on WhatsApp and next thing you know, out comes a tin of paint…

Throwing paint on things may be good for anger management and creating a mess, but it’s a lousy strategy for creating change.

I believe that it doesn’t matter if you are saving the planet, or a tree, or trying to change how people behave, you need to approach it smartly if you want to win hearts and minds and create a change in behaviour.

Acting like a two-year-old having a tantrum doesn’t get you sweets, it just annoys everyone.

From Romans (who invented it) to modern-day marketing, the AIDA rule seems to work best.

A: get attention (without upsetting everyone).

I: get the public’s interest (it has to be engaging and relevant).

D:  make it positively emotional to create a desire to want change.

A: create a positive action people can take and make it easy to do.

This methodology has been working very effectively in marketing for over 100 years, but many activists have a twisted belief that all publicity is good publicity and that noise will change behaviour. WRONG! It doesn't. And after a while, the press either ignores you or mocks you.

In a world where we want change for the better, it is true that we sometimes need to take action, but it is far better to use brains over brawn.

Chris Arnold is co-founder and director of the Crouch End Festival (crouchendfestival.org).