Climate Chaos – Page 125

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EXHIBITION RUNS UNTIL END OF APRIL

OPENING 5TH APRIL 6PM
HARINGEY ARTS, CIRCLE COMMUNITY, 142 PROJECT, 291 GALLERY, URBAN NOMADS, CLIMATE4CHANGE AND MANY MORE PRESENTS

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COME, CREATE, AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE

ENVIRONMENTAL INSTALLATIONS, CINEMA, ART, PERFORMANCE, WORLD MUSIC, CIRCUS, CABARET AND PEOPLE
12 HUGE BAYS OF CAR SHOWROOM WITH MASSIVE WINDOWS FACING THE ROAD
EXHIBITION RUNS UNTIL END OF APRIL
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1st April – Manchester Fossil Fools Parade! / London Protest circus for a coal Fossil Fool / Notts / Leamington Spa

We’ve all been fossil fooled and now…the Climate Circus is coming to Manchester….
Join the Fossil Fools Parade on April 1st
and take part in fun and games with some of our best known local Fossil Fools!

That’s right this event is all about congratulating our sponsors

That’s right this event is all about congratulating our sponsors
RBS, Manchester Flight Centres, Petrol Stations, The City Council and other
experts in pollution, climate change and destruction of our global
eco systems.

The Parade will meet at 10.30am outside AMC cinema in Deansgate and
finish with a street party outside the Town Hall (by 12 pm).

Featuring music, madness and vegan cakes – lets make this a holiday at
home and encourage people to leave fossil fuels in the past.

Dress in suits, as clowns, come as a fossil fuel or a fossil fool but
come!!

Please circulate this invite widely!

—————-

Protest circus for a coal Fossil Fool (BERR, 1 Victoria Street, London, 8 am on 1 April 2008)

(please post far and wide)

1st April is set to pack a punch this year. Across the world April Fool’s Day is being marked by climate change activists as Fossil Fool’s Day, a day of action against the climate wrecking fossil fuel industry.

For those not able to take the many direct actions of the day, the London World Development Movement groups are co-ordinating a hilarious protest outside the Department for Enterprise Business and Regulatory Reform (or BERR) to laugh at the minister for business, John Hutton. John Hutton is currently set to make a right fool of the government’s climate policy if he signs off on EON’s new Kingsnorth power station.

Everyone’s welcome to join in the collective hilarity and to demand Hutton takes the Kingsnorth decision very seriously. There will be a real circus feel, with jugglers, clowns and acrobats, so don’t hesitate to bring juggling balls or wear your squeaky nose or silly hat.

Protest starts at 8am and will be over in time for you to be at work. Contact Rachel on 0207 8204900 for more information.

More information on the Kingsnorth campaign, see www.stopkingsnorth.org

More information on Fossil Fool’s day, see www.fossilfoolsday.org

—

Funeral for coal in Parliament square, London
Meet at 11 AM in Parliament Square

The People & Planet network invites you to join us at an action and
mass lobby. We will be building a coal power station complete with 12ft cooling towers in Westminster, while people dressed in Jesters hats and Gordon Brown masks will ‘burn’ a mock Climate Change Bill.

Contact james.lloyd@peopleandplanet.org for more information.
http://peopleandplanet.org/nonewcoal

—

Public Apology on behalf of Porsche, London
Meet 7.15 AM, Bond Street tube station

Posing as protesting polar bears and penguins, greenwash window cleaners and concerned customers, help Porsche say sorry:
• “For being so pigheaded in pushing for a judicial review of the recent changes in the congestion charge. A bit rash we know! Sorry. But now that we think about it, the change does actually seem quite a good idea.”
• “And ok, you’ve got us, with a few of our mates, we have been doing our best to railroad EU plans to set binding emissions targets for gas guzzlers by 2012. Can’t blame us for having a go though can you…ok so you can. But look, we know it’s wrong”.
• “Oh, and last, but by no means least, we should stop claiming we’re ‘green’ while making incredibly polluting cars. So we’re pleased to announce a new concept model, taking the 4×4 into the 2×2 age.”

More info: e-mail thomas_fern@hotmail.com or call Richard on 0796 046 5594

———————-

Roll up, roll up! The climate circus is in town. Confronted with melting ice caps, unprecedented species extinction, droughts and extreme weather, climate change threatens our very survival. The fools at the head of the fossil fuel empire continue to plunder the earth, with the governments as willing court jesters at their side.

They would have us believe that we can escape climate change with techno-fixes, market mechanisms and offset schemes – all technocratic acrobatics that distract us from the truth: the only real solution to climate change is to keep fossil fuels in the ground.

On April 1st, 2008, we’re going to turn the tables and show them who the real fools are.

Nationally people will be targeting fossil fools – See the clowns investing in coal – The carbon offset contortionist or the oily strong man? joining with thousands around the world in taking one step closer to dismantling the fossil fuel industry.

In Nottingham we are going to take action on a local Fossil Fool. We are meeting at Market Square Tram Stop at 8am to head off together on a magical mystery tour to a climate clown near us.

Dress 4 Climate Chaos: Ski Hat, Bermuda Shorts and Wellies; Sombrero and Raincoat; Swimsuits and Woolens; Flipflops, Umbrellas and Sunglasses; whatever you think the weather may do today. Bring banners and placards against climate chaos and lets pull a prank that packs a punch

info@eastsideclimateaction.org.uk
http://www.fossilfoolsdayofaction.org

———————-

Rising Tide “Fossil Fools Day” “Fun Demo” Leamington Spa

On April 1st, 2008, we’re going to turn the tables and show them who the real fools are.

JOIN US IN LEAMINGTON SPA TO PROTEST AGAINST THE PROPOSED CLARENDON SHOPPING ARCADE…DO WE NEED MORE SHOPS? CONSUMERISM CAUSES CLIMATE CHAOS! Make the connection between OIL and RETAIL THERAPY – come in fancy dress, bring music, bikes, a sense of humour, children WELCOME.

Assemble BATH PLACE COMMUNITY VENTURE, @ BATH PLACE, LEAMINGTON http://www.bathplace.org 12.00 for a 12.30 march around Leamington. Finishing at the TOWN HALL.

Please call 07782 299181 for any further information.

Report back from Anti Shell actions in London – Gluaiseacht, RoR, anonymous

Gluaiseacht members along with Shell to Sea campaigners, friends and British supporters took part in 3 different actions over the weekend of St Patrick in London. Here is a summary of their story!

Gluaiseacht members along with Shell to Sea campaigners, friends and British supporters took part in 3 different actions over the weekend of St Patrick in London. Here is a summary of their story!
..
Having started at Ennis in County Clare at 11am on Friday the 14th picking up people along the way a full coach load of bewildered people arrived on Rampart street home of the The Rampart Social Center. It is soon to be evicted so we felt lucky to be there.

Having found a place to set up our various air beds and sleeping mats some put the head down for a few hours kip while most went out and about looking to do some site seeing, watch the rugby or catch up with friends or relations in London town.

The rest of the Day was made up of cooking food the masses and having planning meetings for the weekends actions.

THE ACTIONS

Having assembled at the given point on Sunday morning for our part in the Parade it was decided to keep our banners folded for the first few minutes until the parade got underway as he had received warning that organisers weren’t happy with protesters in their parade and may ask police to confiscate political banners.

After about 5 mins of walking we unveiled the banners and began singing songs and passing out leaflets to the crowds. We were well received for the most part and the songs streaming out from our many megaphones seemed to lift the crowd on what was a wet and cold london day.

Just as the parade was near its end police did indeed try to take out banners but we were too fast for them. The were quoting the new SOCPA laws which prevent any protest at all within a mile of any point around Westminster Parliament building.

We had heard that Enda kenny and John Gormley were to make speeches at Ken Livingston’s St Patrick’s party in Trafalgar square later so we headed on up there. As we arrived Mr Gormley was making his speech. We were unable to get near to the stage so instead unveiled ours pipeline and banners at the top end of the square and some members of our group spoke on the mega phone to the assembled crowd about why they were there.

Wet but satisfied we made our way back home to the Rampart.

The SHELL HQ

The following morning we headed over to Waterloo home of Shell in London. The pipe was unwrapped again and presented at the Door of Shell by representatives of the different sections within our group. John from Mayo protesting the coercion of the local community, Bro Anthony from Limerick protesting the Robbery Irish natural resources and Laura from Italy protesting Shells record of crimes and against humanity and the environment world wide. Despite calls for a representative to receive the pipe om Shells behalf none were forthcoming. Then the party started and musicians and mobile sound system cranked out the tunes and the crowd danced Irish jigs outside the building. This helped to keep us warm and our spirits up.

Watch RTE footage here http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0317/corrib.html

The SHELL INVESTORS MEETING

This meeting was one for Shell to sell themselves to potential investors. We decided to remind these investors that it would be unwise to receive stolen property or to become accessories to worldwide human and environmental degradation. With this in mind we went off to The London Tower bridge hotel where the meeting was to take place. The group repeated the earlier performance of music and dancing while parading the pipeline out side the hotel and around the assembled police. Having found the conference room where the meeting was taking place members of the group advised any potential investors of the record of shell worldwide and asked police to arrest those inside for there murderous activities.

With that we all piled onto the bus again to head for home exhausted but exhilarated at the same time.

http://www.gluaiseacht.ie
http://www.corribsos.com/
http://www.mayogasinfo.com/faq.html

—

old street shell garage evening of 17th march

Members of Rhythms of Resistance Samba band visited Shell’s old street petrol station around 8pm on the evening of 17th March to spread information about the pipeline to passers by and drivers visiting the petrol station.
We decided not to actually block the entrance/exit but instead to play on the forecourt (lovely accoustics!).
On arrival we noticed a tanker on the forecourt filling up the pumps. As he atemped to leave we decided to sand in front of his lorry and stop him leaving, and gave him a flyer explaining why we were present.
Several times the irate driver moved his vehicle forward attaempting to squash/scare those people standing in front of the lorry.
Eventually when he failed in running us over he decided to make a phone call instead,(we presumed to the police), and at this point we moved away from in front of the lorry but he just continued to sit there.
At this point we decided to leave before the police arrived and return once he had left and the police had been and gone.

On our return some 20 minuites later we again went onto the forecourt and commenced drumming, but this time two police appeared within some minuites.
We were asked to move to the pavement and complied, all the time drumming.
Soon the police returned from their car again and asked us if we’d promise to not go back onto the forecourt so they could leave and deal with 5 robberies!?
We said yes, of course.
So they left.
We continued for a while longer, witnessing a ‘biodiesel’ taxi enter the forecourt and fill up with regular diesel.
On talking to the driver he told me ‘you gotta put diesel in it and there’s nowhere to buy biodiesel’ and when i said ‘so the fact it says on the side “run on biodiesel” is a lie then?’ he replied “yes’.

Shell Sells Suicide
Some words:

there’s a bird dressed in black
there’s a world nearly cracked
there is me, there is you
what the hell shall we do?

it’s not hard to explain
all the ways we can gain
from a world without oil
no more spills, no more spoils

Shell smells sweet gas off the seashore in Mayo
they think it’s theirs just ‘cos the government says so
but they forgot about the will of the people
and the people of Mayo say ‘No, no, no, no, no, no, no –
it’s Shell that’s got to go!’

Shell sells suicide on the forecourt
Shell sells suicide
Shell sells suicide with such forethought
or
Shell smells sweet gas over in Rossport
or
Shell smells sweet oil in Port Harcourt
Shells sells ecocide

Shell buys South Bank silence completely
Shell sells wild lies
Shell kills wildlife and still smiles so sweetly
Shell kills wildlife (and somewhere the future quietly dies…or is reborn?)

here’s a bird dressed in black
there’s a world nearly cracked
there is me, there is you
what the hell shall we do?
– can we start anew?
– say farewell to Shell
– say no to oil etc.

—

From an anonymous tipoff call very early in the morning two Shell service stations were found to have been D-locked and shut down for several hours on the morning of Monday 17 March 2008.

To coincide with the Shell Day of Action and visiting members of the Shell To Sea campaign from County Mayo, Ireland, although no connection apart from solidarity, some activists took it upon themselves to shut down two of Shell’s garages.

The service stations remained closed for several hours as frustrated staff used hack saws to remove the D-locks clamped around petrol pumps.

The Day of Action also saw Irish protestors deliver 20 metre pipeline to Shell HQ on Southbank London, and gave a lively protest.

Shell recently declared record profits for the second year running, the second time the corporation has broken all UK records for profit made by a British company, this year declaring £13.9 billion.

But the damage from this company continues to span the globe from County Mayo in Ireland, where the unfinished gas refinery construction has polluted the local water supply with high levels of aluminium, to the continuing ecological destruction of the Niger Delta, where death and disease from pollution and pipeline accidents has become a weekly occurance.

Direct Action and Rally at Chevron Richmond Refinery, USA

On Saturday March 15th, activists and community members protested the war in Iraq, environmental racism and global warming by blockading the Chevron oil refinery in Richmond, CA.

On Saturday March 15th, activists and community members protested the war in Iraq, environmental racism and global warming by blockading the Chevron oil refinery in Richmond, CA. A coalition which includes health, environmental and anti-war organizers had called for people to shut down the Chevron refinery for the day in support of community efforts to stop Chevron from expanding its Richmond refinery. An expansion will increase pollution and cause asthma, cancer and rising death rates in surrounding communities.

Chevron was shut down all day in anticipation of the protest. Protesters marched to one of the main gates of the refinery and people laid out lock down tubes and barrels and up to 50 people locked themselves down. Bands played, and there was street theater and food. The police had the entrance blocked with barricades. After several hours, the lockdown was ended. Protesters held a circle gathering then quickly moved the barricades and went toward Chevron. Police were startled but formed a line and people sat down. Other people took down the rest of the barricade and put it out in the intersection to keep the street closed. People sat in front of the police for several more hours. Eventually the police arrested 25 people. Protest organizers say that Chevron is driving the war and occupation in Iraq, refining over a million barrels of stolen Iraqi oil in Richmond a month, and actively lobbying for the privatization of Iraq’s oil fields.
Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Video: 1 | 2 | Audio

Chevron has a long and highly profitable history with Iraq—one it wants to see significantly expanded. Most recently, Chevron has teamed-up with Total to bid on Iraq’s fourth largest oil field, the Majnoon field. Chevron hopes to produce oil in the field under the terms of the Iraq Oil Law. It has continued regular negotiations with Iraq’s leading government officials in pursuit of the best contract deals possible, while the Bush administration pressures the Iraqis to pass the Iraq Oil Law.

In Richmond, a city with a population of about 100,000, the vast majority of whom are low-income people of color, 17,000 people live within just three miles of the Chevron refinery, including in two public housing projects. Built in 1902, the Chevron Richmond Refinery is one of the oldest and largest refineries operating in the U.S. To refine its capacity of 87.6 million barrels of crude oil per year—240,000 barrels a day—the refinery produces over two million pounds of climate-poisoning, smog-forming and toxic air and water pollutants each year.

Action at World Biofuels Market, Brussels (& video)

14.3.08
Thursday morning, 08.00. Activists make an attempt to block all 7 sets of entrance doors and 2 gates to the World Biofuels Market held in Brussels this week. All but one set of doors succeeded. The action ended after 3 hrs with three people arrested, who were released after a few hours.

This morning, activist group ‘Agrofools’ closed down the World Biofuels Market by locking closed with padlocks and chains four sets of double doors and sandwiching themselves in between just before the official opening soon after 08:00. A battle ensued between protesters and security to lock the fifth set of doors.

Outside the conference centre the gates were also locked by a chain and blocked by activist group of Rhythms of Resistance who then made their presence felt with upbeat Samba for nearly two hours before being given an ultimatum by police. The Samba was played to a backdrop of three banners with slogans like ‘Agrofuels are a Scam’ and ‘No Solution to Oil Addiction’.

Meanwhile security forces inside the conference centre managed to re-open one door as guards and staff overwhelmed protesters in a comic ‘tug-o-war’. Delegates were then allowed to enter while the other doors remained blocked for a further hour. Between each set of double doors, a couple of activists, dressed up as conference delegates, had locked themselves in.

When the entrance was not effectively blocked anymore, both groups were still in direct sight of participants, outside at the entrance or through the glass of the locked doors.

Activists targeted the World Biofuel Market as a “blatent attempt to greenwash the oil industry”. The long list of corporate delegates, and the texts issued by the World Biofuel Market itself, clearly show that they enter the emerging market of agrofuels not because they’ re worried about climate change or environmental damage: agrofuels are just another corporate marketing strategy to squeeze the last bits of money out of our oil dependancy and to win control. The run for agrofuels is already causing severe social and environmental damage, especially in the South. The so-called 2d generation agrofuels are often put forward as an alternative, a claims that lacks serious scientific background.

The activists were soon either arrested or sent away by Police after a thorough ID check. The 3 arrested people were released at 12am.

PRESS RELEASE

ACTIVISTS PROTEST AT WORLD BIOFUELS MARKET
Brussels, 13 March 2008
EMBARGOED UNTIL March 13, 8:30
Today at 08.30 am, the action group ‘Agrofools’ staged a protest the entrance to the World Biofuels Market. Visitors to the World Biofuels Market were met by activists, a group of international drummers, banners, and flyers entitled “Agrofuels ? No Solution for Oil Addiction”.
The human blockade is a protest against the blatant promotion of agrofuels by the World Biofuels Market and the corporations taking part in it. “Massive expansion, reaching into many millions of hectares, of monoculture plantations will cause further damage to biodiversity, human rights and livelihoods”, says activist Remy de Boer. “Agrofuels will exacerbate climate change and will certainly not help to combat it. It is immoral to keep promoting the use of
agrofuels like the World Biofuels Market does”, he added.
The World Biofuels Market describes itself on its website as a great place for business to ‘network’ with decision makers and “structured to maximise business opportunities”. Meanwhile, agrofuels are being legitimised by claims of environmental benefits. That, however, is a pure greenwash exercise. “The corporations push for agrofuel production, pretending they care about the climate. While in reality agrofuels will help them to ensure that our oil addiction continues, that the car industry can keep selling more and heavier cars, and that the unequal access to resources in the world remains unchanged”, says De Boer.
There have already been many declarations and moratorium calls from movements and organisations from North and South denouncing new targets for agrofuel use, such as the 10% target by 2020 proposed by the EU. One such call by African organisations states that “.. the reality is that the gold rush is firmly controlled by giant transnational companies which are taking over Africa’s land at an incredible pace, and are bringing about disastrous socio-economic and environmental impacts on our communities, food security, forests and water resources”.
‘Second generation’ agrofuels, like cellulose ethanol, are often said to deal with problems such as competition for land for food production and targets are set, based on expectations that these will become available soon. But the large amounts of cellulose needed to produce them can lead to the expansion of large scale monoculture (GM) tree plantations, with all problems involved. These plantations have already invoked strong resistance from local communities. On March 4th this year, nearly 900 women of La Via Campesina occupied Stora Enso’s Taruma estate in Rosario do Sul municipality, near the border with Uruguay. They entered the land -of nearly 2,100 hectares- and cut
eucalyptus trees and planted native trees instead. This action was responded to by police forces with repression and violence. Overall, the North must stop exporting its over-consumption problems to the South and begin to solve its own problems. We need a strong reduction of consumption of energy use especially in industrialised countries. We say no more roads, no more promotion of individual motorised transport; but a cheap, sustainable collective transport system. The production and use of food, feed and energy should take place as locally or regionally as possible. Industrial agriculture
must be replaced by more small scale, diverse community supported agriculture.

For more information:
Press contact: 0471/ 37.35.01 and 0495/ 31.76.46 [english and dutch] High resolution pictures can be sent to you on request. Send an email to
———————————-END PRESS
RELEASE———————————————————————
Facts for the editor:
* Deforestation and other types of land use change is estimated by the Stern Review (2006) to be responsible for 18% of all greenhouse gas emissions globally. Peat drainage accounts for even more carbon emissions than deforestation worldwide. Monoculture expansion is a leading cause for both land use change and peat destruction worldwide. Large amounts of fossil fuels are needed to produce the fertilizers, running agricultural machinery, transporting feedstocks and fuels, and refining agrofuels. NOx emissions from fertilizer use are also a major greenhouse gas.
* The European Union is already the largest importer of palm oil products in the world and the Netherlands is the main importer within the EU. Crude Palm Oil imports grew from 1.7 million tons (Mt) in 1995 to 5 Mt in 2007. The EU imports of soy meal from Argentina and Brazil combined added up to 24 Mt in 2007, in addition to 14 Mt of soy from which oil is produced in the EU. Use of soy oil as agrofuel will be another added value to the product, which is likely to increase its production.
* A collection of calls for a moratorium on targets and incentives for agrofuel use and trade can be found on www.biofuelwatch.org.uk

Axion video of the succesful blockade of the world biofuels market

Earth First! summer gathering date change & contact details

The dates of the EF! Summer Gathering have been changed, to work better with other events happening over the summer such as the Saving Iceland protest camp and the Camp for Climate Action.

The new dates are Wednesday 27th August to Monday 1st September 2008.

This should give us all the space to recover & reflect, and to plot & plan onwards and upwards.

The dates of the EF! Summer Gathering have been changed, to work better with other events happening over the summer such as the Saving Iceland protest camp and the Camp for Climate Action.

The new dates are Wednesday 27th August to Monday 1st September 2008.

This should give us all the space to recover & reflect, and to plot & plan onwards and upwards.

The new contact details for the EF!SG collective is summergathering@earthfirst.org.uk

You can download publicity – 2 posters & leaflet all in one: (front & back)

Watch this space for more info nearer the time.

Climate Case

Court fined activists… who pledged to shut down coal and stop climate chaos

On the last week of Winter exams, I donned a media badge and reporter’s notebook to observe the trial of eleven normal people as they faced Nottingham Bridewell Magistrates Court.

Some say it is beautiful. Just across the M1 from Sutton-Bonnington research farm lies the 40-year-old power station. The coal plant is the worst source of carbon dioxide pollution in the East Midlands. To me, its cooling towers are a symbol of waste.
Did you know that the wasted steam released from Ratcliffe could be piped to provide free hot water for the entire borough of Rushcliffe?

I agree with those determined to down that machine. Whilst the so-called “Ratcliffe 11” admitted they went into the power station, they lodged a special defence of necessity. One of the activists said “I believe this (attempted) action was a reasonable and proportionate response to the threat of catastrophic climate change and that this action was to prevent a greater crime occurring.” – According to an anonymous report online.

Dating back to the Luddite movement, so-called “non-violent direct action” (NVDA) is a slightly anarchist set of solutions, clashing with the politics of public order. Inspired by an international convergence of thousands of people to the first climate camp in Gigawatt Valley, the Nottingham neighbourhood continued to cook hot curries, skill-share and develop practical solutions. An educational “Spring into Action” week culminated on 10th April 2007, with a crammed mini-bus to the power station.
The power company are responsible for the safety of those on site, who stopped an estimated 5,000 tonnes of coal from getting to the bunkers. From there, the coal is burned to boil water from the river Trent to turn turbines to generate electricity for the National Grid. Of the 12, one escaped, one remained silent and used only body-language, and the remaining ten were found guilty of trespass.

Meet the climate criminals.
The eleven activists used their grandparents to illustrate “duties of care, as they give care to you.” One stopped working in offices, a cog in the capitalist system, felt so much better after taking action.
“I realised I was living in denial.” Testified Sam, an ecology graduate. “Drastic action needs to be taken, yesterday! In the next ten years… Otherwise it’s too late.”
Tim, 23, testified that their action was directly aimed at disrupting coal-burning, but nervously expressed thanks to other more public protesters. At the gates more people covered the corporate sign with “STOP! DON’T BE A FOSSIL FOOL”. To the make the “reclaim power” agenda clear, props included a giant thermometer and gas-masks. Beware of government-controlled TV News rushing into millions of homes! Defending economic growth may lead to media statements being economical with the truth. For the entire day of action, the power company inaccurately claimed that police were on site keeping things “fully operational”. “Head of Security” Nicholas was on holiday when 12 people walked inside. Using ordinary household equipment, they locked on to a range of railings, fire protection pipes, and “trash screens”. Christopher, shift-team-leader, went down to help explain the dangers of coal falling on to the latter position, so they produced the keys and moved to a safer location, from which they were arrested. One then ran up the coal chute and stayed a while in the rafters, covered in coal dust.

We suspect there are corporate sensitivities around energy traders and carbon emissions. The Plant Manager Roy “forgot to bring” any data. The contingency plan for “keeping the lights on” has not been published. The E.ON employee refused to confirm future plans for nuclear.

Guilty?
It was ruled that the defence of necessity may be used on a case by case basis. District Judge Cooper decided that catastrophic climate change should be tackled by democratic government, not autonomous individuals. The defence lawyer Mr Thomlinson researched case law and explained that if Anne Frank had escaped the holocaust on a stolen bicycle, she wouldn’t have to wait for the Gestapo to knock at her door, under English law. But is climate change comparable? Alan Simpson MP explains that you have to get a lot of people to break bad laws in order to repeal them. A spokesperson from e.on said the ten … had acted irresponsibly by breaking the law.

“This is not justice!” I declared. I read the judgment fully. The legal and historical importance of this trial in terms of environmental issues highlights what is a step too far. I’m not saying the guilty verdict was wrong, but if I were the judge, I would have found the activists innocent.

Science was central to their case.
Scarier than “Gore’s Law” as I call it, that CO2 warms the planet, is what I like to call “Climate Chaos”. Previously regarded as a stable atmosphere, the biosphere modeled by the “Gaia theory” could be thrown into a state of catastrophic climate change.
The defendants called an expert witness, Dr Simon Lewis, Royal Society Research Fellow at the Earth & Biosphere Institute of the University of Leeds. He is the author of many peer-reviewed technical papers in the world’s leading journals, several of which are cited by the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He is a member of the Royal Society’s Climate Change Advisory Network and the United Nations ad hoc Expert Working Group on Biodiversity and Climate Change. He advised the Government of the United Kingdom during preparations for the G8 and UN meetings discussing climate change.
“I solemnly, sincerely, and truly swear and affirm that the evidence I shall give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth”.
Dr Lewis used the term nonlinearities: points at which global warming feeds back to generate more global warming. Actually ecosystems like the Amazon or oceans could have separate thresholds. Every climate scientist with an academic position agreed that the government’s 2-degree target is already 50% likely to tip the system over the edge.
In other words, it is not like gradually polluting a lake and it gets gradually muddier and muddier, it is more like pushing a car over the top of a hill.
A grimly funny question about the environmental problems of palm plantations, certainly raised a few laughs amongst the audience. “Why are you asking me about illegal logging in Indonesia? Of course by definition, loss of trees…”
How many deaths can be attributed to climate change? The court heard Dr Lewis state in a low tone that in 2005, in Mumbai a record-breaking 1 metre of rain fell on a single day. 1000 people died. There are extensive studies on every continent, which can be compared with climate models. Climate change threatens to affect us all. And the UK? “We live in an increasingly globalised world.” An article in the Guardian called for more research attributing deaths to climate change “It’s time for a body-count”.

A defendant from Nottingham has degrees in biology and epidemiology. Her calculations, not peer-reviewed but based on George Marshall of coinet.org, estimate the amount to kill a person is in the region of 200,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions. (nice science reviews the current eco-situation on page 49)

Did you know that the University of Nottingham’s growing rate of carbon emissions could fill three hot-air balloons for every student?!

Ideas for Eco-worriers
– Dig up the dirt on energy and carbon markets.
– D.I.Y offsetting by providing consumers with contraception, solving the population problem too.
– End the bloodshed for oil.
– Take “direct action” to fix your bike!
– Choose your own career path.
– Fancy dress as an endangered polar bear.
– Do you know anyone who died from climate change? Report it to the Environment Agency.
– Get the facts
– Reprint this article!
http://sen.blog-city.com/finally_the_judgement.htm

What Better Time? Issue Three out now!

The third edition of Scottish Climate Activists newsheet, What Better Time?, is out now. Read online at whatbettertime.livejournal.com

This months edition looks at biofuels, the M74 and more.

The third edition of Scottish Climate Activists newsheet, What Better Time?, is out now. Read online at whatbettertime.livejournal.com

This months edition looks at biofuels, the M74 and more.

Invitation to the Camp for Climate Action at Kingsnorth Power Station: August 3-11 2008

***Please forward and post widely***

Invitation to the Camp for Climate Action at Kingsnorth Power Station

Day of Mass Action at Kingsnorth: Saturday August 9th, 2008

www.climatecamp.org.uk

***Please forward and post widely***

Invitation to the Camp for Climate Action at Kingsnorth Power Station

Day of Mass Action at Kingsnorth: Saturday August 9th, 2008

www.climatecamp.org.uk
Low-impact living // education // high-impact direct action

This summer the Camp for Climate Action will pitch its tents outside
Kingsnorth coal-fired power station in Kent for a week of education,
sustainable living and direct action. Everyone is invited to the camp,
which is now part of an international movement, with eight climate camps
on four continents planned for this summer. Together, we will show that
the blind pursuit of economic growth at any cost is simply insane, and
is to blame for the CO2 emissions and ecosystem destruction that are
causing catastrophic climate change.

Get out the diary, here’s the plan:

In late July this year’s camp will begin with a one-day event at
Heathrow, which will continue the fight against airport expansion and
support the people who welcomed us into their communities last year.

Next, everyone is invited to travel together over a number of days
across London to Kingsnorth in Kent (around 50 miles in total).
Marching through London highlights the political links between aviation,
coal and agrofuels: Central London’s investors, industry lobbyists and
PR companies all determine what gets built and what gets passed off as
‘solutions’.

The camp will converge on Kingsnorth power station where owners E.ON
plan to build the UK’s first coal-fired plant in 30 years. The science
shows that expanding the fossil fuel economy must stop. Yet, without a
forceful campaign against this madness, government and business are set to
build a power station that will burn the dirtiest of all fossil fuels.

The camp will bring together thousands of people for a week of
workshops, discussion and direct action. Run without leaders by everyone
who comes along, the camp will be a working ecological village using
renewable energy, composting waste and sourcing food locally.

Climate campers will not only highlight positive solutions, but will
also take direct action against two drivers of climate change:

Wednesday August 6th: Day of Action against Agrofuels. Agrofuels are
fast replacing rainforests and agriculture for food production, meaning
more hunger, CO2 emissions, and biodiversity loss. They must be stopped.
Join us on this day of action, details to follow.

Saturday August 9th: Day of Mass Action against Kingsnorth coal-fired
power station. The power station must not and will not be built! This
promises to be an epic moment in the battle against climate change. If
you can only make it for the day, not to worry: trains run from Central
London to Kingsnorth, every few minutes and take less than an hour.

Too much to manage? They said that last year, and look what we pulled
off. We say – we must be audacious; the Camp for Climate Action is just
warming up! We are the last generation that can avert catastrophic
climate change, so come and play your part!

For more information, visit www.climatecamp.org.uk and join our email
list at http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/climatecamp

***Important dates***

Late July: Heathrow event and travel to Kingsnorth. Details soon…
Sunday August 3th: Camp set up. We’ll all make the camp happen together.
Monday August 4th-10th: Workshops, networking and action training.
Wednesday August 6th: Day of Action against Agrofuels
Saturday August 9th: Day of Mass Action against Kingsnorth coal-fired
power station
Monday August 11th: Help return the camping field back to nature.

Shell Shuts Up in Nottingham

7.03.2008

7.03.2008
Student activists raised issues such as corporate corruption and climate change at a Shell-run event. Shell employees only commented “I do not have an opinion on this subject” when asked how they respond to these polemical matters.

Leaflet used on the night

A hugely successful disruption/complete domination of the Shell “Recruitment Event” took place last night.

A group of seven Nottingham student activists utilised the event’s exercise of identifying “risks” Shell might face when drilling for oil of the coast of a West African island to raise awareness amongst potential Shell graduate employees and send a message to Shell that they are not welcome in Nottingham. The activists employed varying tactics with some preferring to employ a highly effective “Yes Men” style, some sporting anti-shell clothing, others distributing leaflets about the corporation and others still opting for outright, heated debates with (rather disheartened and dispirited) Shell employees. Despite the fact that students tackled Shell differently, an impressive sense of unity was achieved as four out of the five groups’ presentations ended with harsh criticism of the corporation. Such criticism included a condemnation of Shell’s previous brutal, corrupt, murderous and polluting history in West Africa, the corporation’s implication in peak oil, climate change and the necessity of the rejection of the global economic system which has led to climate change and absolute poverty in the first place. During the question and answer section at the end of the presentations the need for real solutions to the climate change challenges was raised – not “green wash”, not “Corporate Responsibility” and not bio fuels. Despite there being a bio-fuels “expert” from Shell present, whilst all of these issues were being raised by the students the corporation’s employees remained strangely quiet.

Along with the environmental discussions, the student activists highlighted the fact that corporations like Shell are content to fund violent dictatorships and private armies (e.g MoPol in the case of Nigeria) to repress local opposition to their exploitation of natural resources. The response from the majority of students attending the corporate event was one of interest, as they did not know of Shell’s sinister past, whilst Shell employees almost universally denied knowledge of the corporation’s links to the hanging of innocent environmental activists in the Niger Delta.

Before leaving, the activists made it clear that a better world is possible citing the environmentalist/anti-globalisation, non-hierarchical, grass-roots movements springing up all around the world that “will continue to grow until corporations like Shell do not exist”.

Numerous other harsh threats to the corporation’s multi-billion pound existence were met with silence from the corporate employees. Surprising as it may seem, Shell consistently rejected the opportunity to put a corporate spin on the charges made against them – even when directly asked to do so.