The fact that we are talking about this and not about climate change is also partly your decision. You are free at any point to disengage this thread and focus your energy on more productive things. The fact that you're not doing this is just one example of humans being humans and not always doing the best of all things. Me still arguing with you is of course another example.
Why do you not want these actions associated with the other group?
I can repeat this as often as you want: people want to engage in different kinds of activities under different names because the actions do not relate and the messaging becomes confusing. I can both disturb the operation of a pipeline and try to mobilize locals to support the building of a solar power plant. Doing both under the same name makes everything more complicated even if there is personal overlap. I really don't get why you are so hung up on this.
Furthermore, you don't think painting a fucking rock is confusing to the people who want to discuss climate change, but having one interest group perform varying kinds of direct activism and grassroots organizing is confusing to the people who want to discuss climate change?
I don't exactly get the question here. I'm not saying any of those options is particularly confusing. I'm saying doing both under the same name might get confusing for people not intimately familiar with your group and their actions.
It's a hypothetical, not a strawman, which should have been obvious when the sentence began with "if".
The hypothetical that you are posing instead of what I'm actually arguing for. You then argue against that hypothetical instead of my actual points. That's a classic example of a strawman.
You're advocating for bothering random people at a tourist attraction,
Yes I'm advocating for bothering people in public. Where else would you bother people?
and you're doing it in a way that a) distracts from talking about actual climate change,
That's a choice the public is making. And again I think this is fine.
b) leaves them virtually NO information about how to address climate change,
That's also fine. It's not like there aren't any publicly available sources on how to fight climate change. If the people are interested they can go talk to the many many local groups that engage in productive activities.
and c) is potentially affecting people who already do what they can to address climate change. See how this entire thread has been about painting rocks, instead of daily choices we make that contribute to or affect climate change???
This thread is a prime example of people like you who could be allies here and engage people who aren't yet convinced that we need to take action, that instead take up a lot of time and energy to argue about the kind of protest.