earthfirst – Page 171

keep Backwell beautiful

September 21 2009
no more quarry blasting!

Backwell is a beautiful place but is under threat from the expansion of Bristol airport over head and from Tarmac under the ground.

Tarmac said they will stop blasting at Backwell Quarry this year but have now asked for a ten year extension!

We objected but they ignored us.

September 21 2009
no more quarry blasting!

Backwell is a beautiful place but is under threat from the expansion of Bristol airport over head and from Tarmac under the ground.

Tarmac said they will stop blasting at Backwell Quarry this year but have now asked for a ten year extension!

We objected but they ignored us.

We were inspired by the tactics of direct action used by the Co-Mutiny group.

So we went to the quarry and disabled two diggers.

Next time it will be more.

No more blasting in Backwell Quarry!

Activists drop 70′ banner off of NIAGARA FALLS to tell Canadian PM ‘NO TAR SANDS oil!’

A small team of climate activists rappelled from the US observation deck at Niagara Falls. Dangling hundreds of feet above the ground, they sent a special welcome message to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper ahead of his first official visit to the White House to push dirty Tar Sands oil.

During Harper’s first official trip to meet Obama in the U.S., the two leaders are expected to discuss climate change and energy policy ahead of the upcoming G20 Summit. Canada supplies 19% of U.S. oil imports, more than half of which now comes from the tar sands, making the region the largest single source of U.S. oil imports. The expansion of the tar sands will strip mine an area the size of Florida. Complete with skyrocketing rates of cancer (by 400%!) for First Nations communities living downstream, broken treaties, toxic belching lakes so large you can see them from outer space, churning up ancient boreal forest, destroyed air and water quality, the tar sands have been called the most destructive project on Earth.

For the full story and more information visit http://understory.ran.org/2009/09/15/breaking-activists-drop-70-banner-off-of-niagra-falls-to-tell-canadian-pm-no-tar-sands-oil/

Calais: Solidarity Needed!

Around 2000 migrants living in squats and camps in Calais, France, are under threat of eviction and deportation as the French immigration minister has vowed to destroy their homes. Reports (including a statement by the French immigration minister) suggest large-scale clearances of camps could take place this week.

Calais is just one of many points across Europe where repression against migrants is at its most visible. Here, around 2000 people, unable to cross the border into Britain, are persecuted by French police; beaten, harassed, forced to sleep rough in nearby woods, & attacked during the night.

People are urgently needed in Calais to support the migrants in their fight for freedom of movement. Come and do something really meaningful and directly effective now!

Check out Calais Migrant Solidarity http://calaismigrantsolidarity.wordpress.com/ for info on contacting people there, what to bring, where you can stay. (You can get a ferry crossing for £10!)

More background information on the situation in Calais at http://london.noborders.org.uk/calais2009

Solidarity call-out http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/09/438182.html

Homeless penguins at Bristol Airport and debunking BT Pensions greenwash

Bristol Rising Tide actions during Co-Mutiny week

Bristol Rising Tide actions during Co-Mutiny week
Rising Tide was one of many groups taking part in the Bristol Co-Mutiny week of action. While we are group of activists focussing on tackling the root causes of climate chaos we wanted to make the links with other issues and campaigns. In particular we wanted to show that the exploitation of fossil fuels by big corporate interests is resulting in mass migration, resource wars, and widespread social injustice. Like all the groups involved in Co-Mutiny, we want to confront the forces of capitalism. This is the root cause of climate chaos. Key targets in the week of action were Bristol International Airport, BT Pensions who are investing in opencast coal mining in South Wales and the big banks which finance the oil, gas, and coal industries.

On Thursday 17th September, a dozen homeless penguins invaded Bristol International Airport and handed out leaflets highlighting the impact of airport expansion, and therefore increased CO2 emissions, on climate change. Due to the current pace of climate change and resulting melting of the ice sheet some Emperor penguin colonies have halved in numbers.

The planned increase in commercial flights at Bristol from 6.2m in 2008 to 10m by 2016 will also contribute in the increased suffering for millions of humans. From flood plains in Bangladesh, to islanders in the Maldives being forced to leave due to sea level rises, and Africans faced with drought – large areas of the world are becoming uninhabitable as a result of climate change. The poorest people are the worst affected – people who will never fly anywhere.

Locally the BIA expansion will mean a flight every 210 seconds over 16 hours of normal opening hours and thus more noise pollution for local residents. Increased passenger numbers mean increased road traffic with a projected extra 2 million car journeys per year, and an estimated cost to the local council of £50m in order to extend the Bus Rapid Transport system from central Bristol

The aviation sector currently amounts to 13% of the UK’s total climate impact and this will grow to 30% with BIA and other UK airport expansion plans. This is at a time when the UK Government has committed the UK to an 80% cut in CO2 emissions by 2050. In order to achieve this with the current plans for airport expansion across the country such as that at BIA, we would need to reduce emissions from all other sectors by an additional 10% to 90%. In order to make up this additional 10% ordinary people are expected to work even harder just to compensate for companies like BIA, Easyjet and Ryanair expanding their profits. Once again the government is clearly putting big business’s interests first – this has been a constant theme of the Co-Mutiny week of action.

On Friday 18th September during the Co-Mutiny Repossess the Banks protest, Rising Tide took action against BT offices in Bristol to highlight the link between the BT Pensions Scheme and the giant Ffos y Fran opencast coal mine at Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales. Fake coal was strewn on the floor of one office and walking lumps of coal attempted to enter another. A number of activists were arrested.

We wanted to show the lie to the claims made by BT Pensions Scheme that their investments are made with any regard to social, ethical, and environmental criteria. BTPS own Hermes, an outfit that administers the pension scheme who in turn own Argent – a partner in Miller Argent the developer of Ffos y Fran, one of Europe’s largest new opencast coal mines. This opencast mine is a massive scheme that will blight the lives of people in Merthyr Tydfil for at least 17 years. It is only 37 Metres from the nearest housing estate and is on the edge of a large community. The coal from Ffos y Fran is going to Aberthaw power station which is the biggest polluter in Wales. In 2006 the power station pumped out more than 7.4million tonnes of CO2 and is in the top 5 largest polluters in Britain.

The first Climate Camp Cymru was held at Merthyr Tydfil in August partly to support the local campaign against Ffos y Fran and to highlight the massive development of new coal projects throughout the UK .

http://comutiny.wordpress.com

Climate activists pay Jeremy Clarkson a visit

17th September 2009
This morning seven activists from Climate Rush on the Run decided to pay Jeremy Clarkson a visit.

“Seven of our activists dumped dung on Jeremy Clarkson’s front lawn this morning – he can deal with our emissions since he won’t deal with his!” — Climate Rush on the Run

17th September 2009
This morning seven activists from Climate Rush on the Run decided to pay Jeremy Clarkson a visit.

“Seven of our activists dumped dung on Jeremy Clarkson’s front lawn this morning – he can deal with our emissions since he won’t deal with his!” — Climate Rush on the Run

“I’m the biggest libertarian of them all — I’m dumping dung at Clarkson’s gates so he might understand that his attitude will land us all in the shit.” — Tamsin Omond”
“Jeremy is keen to land us in the shit! So he can have ours … ‘ — Climate Rush on the Run

At a cost to the environment of an estimated 1.7 tonnes of CO2 emissions, petrol head Jeremy Clarkson drove to the Arctic to deliberately antagonise environmentalists.

The Arctic is a fragile environment. CO2 emissions in the Arctic has a disproportionate bad impact. The Arctic is warming much faster than predicted, the ice is melting much faster than predicted.

Temperatures are rising fastest at the poles. The Arctic Ice Sheet is vanishing. Were the Greenland Ice Sheet to melt, sea levels would rise by 17 metres. Many coastal cities, including London, Bangladesh, South Pacific Islands, would not survive these sea levels.

The Arctic is expected to be ice free in the summertime sometime between 2011 and 2015, that is 80 years ahead of what was predicted only a few years ago!

Climate Camp on the Run are wending their way through England from Sipson near Heathrow to Totnes in Devon. They are highlighting and raising awareness of climate change with the occasional direct action against climate criminals.

Ratcliffe on Soar installing new fences – in time for the Great Climate Swoop

Ratcliffe on Soar are currently installing new perimeter fences (12ft chain link).

As I went past on the train today they were installing new metal fences (about 12ft tall) near the train line. The fence is metal metal chain-link (the newer heavy duty design) and has vertical wire running accross the top 4ft section (doesn’t look to be electrocuted or razor wire). They are also installing large amounts of portable pedestrian barrier the other side.

In this a coincidence? It may be part of the ongoing works at the power station and part of the completion of new train station placed next to power station (East Midlands Parkway). After climate camp went to Drax they installed new fences at a cost of £3-£4Million (source – tour guide at Drax power station).

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http://www.thegreatclimateswoop.org/

17-18th October 2009

Don’t be confused – 2009 is just another year of climate talks, in which governments and corporations will continue business as usual and tell us how a load of corrupt (but profitable) trading is in fact a real attempt to save the world.

To solve climate change we’re going to have to get together and make a real noise. CO2 levels are rising 20,000 times faster than at any point in life’s astonishing billion year history and coal is the biggest source of emissions. If we burn all the coal in the ground we’re toast. No butter, no jam, just toast. So stopping the burning of coal in the rapidly warming world is a good place to start.

That’s why on the 17th & 18th October 2009 we’re having a mega get together to close one of the UK’s biggest coal fired power stations, E.ON’s Ratcliffe-on-Soar in Nottingham.

Another end of the world is possible.

Vestas Solidarity Action At SEEDA Offices

17 September 2009

17 September 2009
Throughout the country today actions are taking place in solidarity with the workers of the Vesta Blades factory on the Isle of Wight. This morning the offices of the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) was targetted by protesters who dropped banners and built a mini windfarm in the lobby. SEEDA is being pressured to withdraw £3m of public money they’ve said they’ll give Vestas for a R&D facility despite the Danish company pulling its manufacturing from the UK. Tonight there will be a protest at the Department of Environment and Climate Change, in Whitehall Place, central London.

PRESS RELEASE – CHATHAM OFFICES IN WIND POWER PROTESTS

SEEDA (South East England Development Agency) offices in Chatham, Kent where today visited by protesters, as part of a national day of action for Vestas wind turbine workers.

Occupying the lobby of the building after hanging banners from the balcony of the top floor, the protesters built a mini wind farm on the development agency’s model of the Medway estuary.

Paper windmills were handed to workers along with a satirical guide on building windmills, which instructed SEEDA to cut up the contracts promising to give Vestas money for nothing.

Pressure is mounting on SEEDA to withdraw the offer of £3 million (part of £10 million of public money being given toVestas by the government) unless the Danish multinational stand aside and allow their closed factory on the Isle of Wight to continue to be used for turbine blade manufacture.

Vestas closed the factory to move production to the U.S. and slashing 600 green UK jobs. The workers then occupied the factory and are demanding that the government nationalise the facilities, the only significant blade manufacturing plant in this country.

“By failing to act on the closure of the Vestas Blades factory, and supporting a return to outdated coal power (like Eon’s Kingsnorth proposal), the Government is showing it currently has no serious commitment to building a low carbon economy or preventing catastrophic runaway climate change.” Anastazja Jarek, Kingsnorth Climate Action Medway
“Vestas workers have fought magnificently to save jobs and essential wind turbine manufacturing in Britain. The government say that Vestas have refused to sell them the factory, yet it is still rewarding Vestas with public money through SEEDA. The government needs to stop pussyfooting around big corporations and take serious action to provide jobs and prevent catastrophic climate change.” – Steve Wilkins, Medway Trades Council

tippingpointmedway@gmail.com

Penan tribe arrested outside government offices in Borneo

16 September 2009
The arrested indigenous people and activists have been released on bail and charged with illegal assembly. The group, who number 15 people, are due to appear in court on 29 September. They maintain that they have committed no crime. Survival has written to the Malaysian government expressing its concern over the arrests.

-—

At least fourteen people, including six members of the Penan tribe, were arrested in Malaysia today as they tried to voice their opposition to hydroelectric dams that will force them off their land.

The group of indigenous people and activists were arrested outside the offices of the Chief Minister of the state of Sarawak, in the Malaysian part of Borneo. They were attempting to hand in a statement calling on the government to stop the construction of dams that are to flood the land of many Penan and other tribespeople, destroying their forest and burial grounds. Over 600 Penan have added their signatures to the protest.

Raymond Abin of the Sarawak Conservation Action Network was one of those arrested. Speaking from police custody, he told Survival that they had not been allowed to hand in the statement, so had waited outside. After four hours, the Chief Minister’s office called the police and they were arrested. No charges had so far been made against them.

One Penan man told Survival earlier this year, ‘This land is my ancestral land. It has been used by Penan for ten generations. We don’t want to move, and we don’t want to give this land to anyone.’ The people of his village have been told they must move to make way for the Murum dam, which is already being built by the controversial Chinese state-owned China Three Gorges Project Corporation.

Survival’s director Stephen Corry said today, ‘Survival is extremely concerned that the Penan and others have been arrested for trying to voice their concerns about these dams which, if completed, will devastate their lives. Instead of locking them up, the Malaysian government should listen to them.’

In a separate development, Malaysian police are reported to have dismantled three road blockades mounted in August by twelve Penan communities against the logging and plantation companies that are destroying their forest.

-—

Six members of the Penan tribe were arrested along with nine other indigenous people and activists as they tried to hand in a letter voicing their concerns to the Chief Minister of Sarawak.

The Penan say in their statement:

‘We have not come to Kuching city for pleasure but full of concern, anxiety and tears. We bring the deep pain in the hearts of all the people of the Penan villages on the Peleiran river because of the heavy concerns with how our lives have been since the start of the construction of the Murum dam project.

‘If this Murum dam continues, the water from the dam will flood our traditional lands including our villages, properties, gardens, paddy fields and farmlands, fruit trees, graves etc. The forest areas and resources that support our lives will be destroyed. We will be forced to move to an area that we do not know and is not compatible with our life conditions.’

Murum is the first in a series of twelve new hydroelectric dams planned for Sarawak. It is being constructed by the Chinese state-owned China Three Gorges Project Corporation.

Statement in full

Vestas Protestors Occupy Crane and Boats in Southampton – update

15.09.2009
Blade Runner Protest launched from Power Boat [post-arrest update at bottom]

Using Southampton’s Boat Show as cover, protesters have arrived by power-boat this morning to occupy cranes and vessels at the city’s docks.

15.09.2009
Blade Runner Protest launched from Power Boat [post-arrest update at bottom]

Using Southampton’s Boat Show as cover, protesters have arrived by power-boat this morning to occupy cranes and vessels at the city’s docks.

Coming from the Vestas factory blockade on the Isle Of Wight, the group aim to prevent the loading of wind-turbine blades from the Newport plant, which was closed in July with the loss of 600 jobs.

“We made these blades, and now Vestas want to take their profits and leave us high and dry,” said ex-Vestas worker Jamie Rigby, who is stationed at the dock entrance, Jamie was one of 11 workers sacked for occupying their factory after Vestas announced the mass lay-off in July. The occupation ended in August after 18 days, and on that occasion Jamie leapt uninjured from a balcony rather than be escorted out by bailiffs.

Jamie is joined today by supporters from the island community, climate activists and workers from the mainland, who have hung banners saying “Wind power to the people” and locked themselves to a crane loading blades onto the BBC Ohio in Empress Dock. Others have occupied the so-called ‘Blade Runner’ Barge which is needed to fetch the remaining blades from the St Cross factory in Newport. They have a banner which reads, “Our blades, Our power”. The barge is visible to the east from the Town Quay, which is also a Red Star Terminal for IOW passengers.

On the crane at Empress Dock, Jackie Sheedy said, “ After the factory occupation ended, Vestas and the government hoped we’d all just quieten down. But we’re united in this blockade. The island workers need those jobs, and we all need them if we want even a chance of combating climate change for our children.”

Speaking by phone from the occupied Blade Runner barge, Robin Sivapalan, a Unison member from the group Workers Climate Action, said “Workers like Jamie were victimised and robbed of their redundancy pay for taking a stand on behalf of all of us,. If Vestas want the blockade lifted, they had better start talking about re-instatement and terms. And if the government want the protests to end they had better drop the greenwash and start taking some real action for a renewable power industry in this country”.

Meanwhile, other sacked Vestas workers are at the TUC conference in Liverpool, lobbying the labour movement for solidarity action and support on Thursdays “National Day of Action”, while

workers from the Lush Cosmetics factory in Poole, Dorset, are taking part in direct action training at the Vestas Marine Gate blockade on the Newport-Cowes cycle path, Newport IOW.

ENDS

Location: BBC Ohio and cranes – Empress Dock, Eastern Docks, Southampton

Blade Runner barge – Opposite Town Quay, (Red Funnel Terminal)

Best view: Blade Runner east from Town Quay;

BBC Ohio and cranes – restricted access through Oceanographic Centre, or by sea/air.

Contacts:

On the Docks protest: Jackie Sheedy, 07944 744922;
Jamie Rigby (sacked Vestas worker), 07875 441668 and Martin Shaw 07950539254 at END OF TOWN QUAY, Southampton.
Robin Sivapalan, 07974 331053

For interview off site: Ian Terry at TUC conference, 07970 739921
Mark Smith at TUC conference, 07980703115
Lush Campaigns Manager: Andrew Butler on 07876 596541

Background:

http://savevestas.wordpress.com
http://ventnorblog.com

Campaign Video including Jamie’s jump: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4CrTEFtSGU

Shipping and Docks info:

http://www.ais-live.co.uk/AIS%20Live/aissolent.html and http://www.abports.co.uk/files/southampton%202008.pdf

workersclimateaction.info@googlemail.com
http://workersclimateaction.wordpress.com

——-

Update: Vestas Crane Activists Charged and Released

16th September 2009 – 3pm

The four Vestas supporters arrested yesterday have just been released after 17 hours of detention in Southampton police station. Originally threatened with arrest under the Terrorism Act they have now been charged with aggravated trespass after spending seven hours locked on to Vestas cranes in Southampton Docks.They have been bailed to return to court on the 29th of September. Their bail conditions include non-association with one another and they have been banned from entering all Vestas sites in Southampton and on the Isle of Wight. One of the activists suffered minor injuries during the traumatic police removal.

The four now intend to press charges against Vestas shipping manager for ordering the two crane drivers to recklessly endanger their lives by turning on both cranes and moving the boom whilst one protester was attached to the moving parts that were then pulled voilently through her arms and legs whilst police watched on and videod the incident.

One of the four, Jacqueline Sheedy said: ”Throughout the action we were peacefully occupying the crane and Vestas arrogance and quest for profits drove them to risk our lives in order to remove us in an attempt to carry on loading the blades as quickly as possible. The behaviour of Vestas management throughout has shown scant regard for the health and safety of their workforce and little sign of humanity in dealing with the closure of the factory. Dock workers in Southampton were calling us during this incident incredulous that this could happen, as did the RMT legal team. We were inundated with messagesof encouragement from workers and activists around the while on the cranes and this is yet more proof that this campaign is far from over and that it is only a small part of what will soon prove to be a much more widespread struggle for workers rights and the environment.”

It has been revealed that the actions have delayed transport of the wind turbine blades to the US by a day, as was intended. However there is little doubt that the blades will eventually be moved due to the lack of demand for wind farms in the UK. We have the components for green energy right here, right now so why are we not using them to full effect?

Vestas workers have been talking about their struggle at the TUC conference happening this week in Liverpool. There is also a national day of action taking place in support of Vestas workers tomorrow, September 17th. The protest will continue untill the demands of the campaign have been met.

For further information please call: 07950 539254 or Jamie ex-vestas occupier:07875441668

For further campaign information see website: savevestas.wordpress.com

Nuclear New Build Blessed by Bishop of Cumbria

The Bishop of Carlisle ( which includes all of Cumbria) has given his blessing to the “green future” of nuclear new build.

We will be in Carlisle on 10th Oct to witness his inauguration at the Cathedral and make clear that nuclear is as far away from a green future as it is possible to get.

Remember the story of Turning the tables over in the Temple at defunct moral compass ?

The Bishop of Carlisle ( which includes all of Cumbria) has given his blessing to the “green future” of nuclear new build.

We will be in Carlisle on 10th Oct to witness his inauguration at the Cathedral and make clear that nuclear is as far away from a green future as it is possible to get.

Remember the story of Turning the tables over in the Temple at defunct moral compass ?

If you would like to join us please contact me on rafl@mariannebirkby.plus.com

more info below……

http://www.timesandstar.co.uk/anti_nuke_cathedral_protest_1_604487?referrerPath=home/search_results_page_2_1681

http://web.mac.com/mariannebirkby1/iWeb/Radiation%20Free%20Lakeland/Update%20on%20Open%20Letter%20to%20Carlisle%27s%20pro-nuke%20Bishop.html