Climate activists in France have taken drastic measures to protest against water ban exemptions. The country is currently experiencing a severe drought, with a hundred French villages short of drinking water per <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-62532840" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BBC</a>. Water bans have been brought in to combat the situation - though not everyone has to observe the rules, with golfing greens exempt from the rationing policy. Outraged by the exemption, a group of climate activists has taken matters into their own hands by filling in golf holes with cement. They targeted sites near the city of Toulouse, in the towns of Vieille-Toulouse and Blagnac. A local Extinction Rebellion branch has claimed responsibility for the protest. In a <a href="https://agir.greenvoice.fr/petitions/exigeons-l-interdiction-d-arrosage-des-golfs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">petition</a>, the group argues that golf is "a sport reserved for the wealthy" and brands the exemption an example of how: "economic madness takes precedence over ecological reason". [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/xrToulouse/status/1557740655887011840]] "At a time when the greatest drought ever observed in France since the beginning of meteorological readings is raging ... a sector concerning a tiny fraction of the population seems to enjoy a privilege worthy of another world in these times of crisis. Golf," it reads. The petition goes on to demand "the total cessation of the irrigation of golf courses" and the "obligation of transparency and regular reports from the golf courses on the data of water samples." <img class="wp-image-1263165236 size-full" src="https://img.vt.co/2022/08/E2AJX6-scaled.jpg" alt="" width="2560" height="1706" />[[imagecaption|| Credit: Hemis / Alamy]] Extinction Rebellion Toulouse also took to Twitter to share photos of the ruined golf holes at the Vieille-Toulouse club course and at the Garonne des Sept Deniers course. In the snaps, the holes can be soon to have been totally clogged with cement. A sign reads: "This hole is drinking 277,000 litres. Do you drink that much?" Gérard Rougier of the French Golf Federation defended the exemption. He told the <a href="https://www.francetvinfo.fr/monde/environnement/crise-climatique/vrai-ou-fake-secheresse-l-arrosage-des-greens-de-golf-est-il-vraiment-autorise-malgre-les-restrictions-de-consommation-d-eau_5290852.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">France Info</a> news website that greens would die in three days if deprived of water. <img class="wp-image-1263165238 size-full" src="https://img.vt.co/2022/08/E2AJX5-scaled.jpg" alt="" width="2560" height="1706" />[[imagecaption|| Credit: Hemis / Alamy]] "Without water, a green dies in three days and it takes three months to regrow it," he explained, adding: "A course without a green is like a skating rink without ice, it will have to close." <h6>Featured Image Credit: Alamy / incamerastock</h6>

Climate activists fill golf holes with cement after course given a water ban exemption

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