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Category: Climate Chaos
actions in Paris at #COP21 & around the world
For all the latests updates on climate direct actions taken around the world, including in Paris parallel to the UN climate negotiations, see our twitter feed
For all the latests updates on climate direct actions taken around the world, including in Paris parallel to the UN climate negotiations, see our twitter feed
Plane Stupid kick off Red Lines COP21 direct action
The main road entrance to Heathrow airport, London, was blocked by climate change activists for four hours early on Thursday morning, causing a traffic tailback several miles long.
The main road entrance to Heathrow airport, London, was blocked by climate change activists for four hours early on Thursday morning, causing a traffic tailback several miles long. Three members of anti airport expansion campaign group Plane Stupid parked a vehicle across both lanes of the inbound tunnel and locked their bodies to it, unfurling a red banner quoting David Cameron’s election promise: “No Ifs, No Buts: No Third Runway”. David Cameron has promised a decision by the end of the year on whether to build another runway at Heathrow.
This action represents an early entry for the Climate Games, sending a clear message to the UK government that expanding aviation is a no-go for the climate; were it to go ahead the UK would undoubtedly miss its emissions targets as set out under the 2008 Climate Change Act.
Nor will aviation expansion benefit the majority of the population or businesses, as is often claimed. The demand for airport expansion is being driven by rich frequent flyers. Last year, less than half of people in Britain flew. Of those who did, a mere 15% of flyers took 70% of our flights. As well as noise and air pollution, poor people are paying the price in droughts, flooding and storms so that the rich can cook the planet with frequent leisure flights. Whilst we might hope that David Cameron might live up to his pre-election promise – “no ifs, no buts, no third runway” – we can’t rely on it. Partly after being forced to take non-violent disobedient action where all other options were exhausted, we stopped a third runway before and we’ll stop it again this time too.
#RedLines
At the COP21 talks this year in Paris, the theme for the mass day of action on December 12th (D12) is Red Lines. These blockades will represent lines that cannot be crossed if we are to stay within the 2C rise in global temperatures. Failure to stay within this threshold will take us down a road where even if we reduce emissions to zero, feedback loops will mean that emissions will continue to rise: climate chaos.
In reality there are many Red Lines we should not cross, but governments and corporations seem intent to do so. In the UK this includes the aviation industry, which if it continues to grow at its current rate will by 2050 emit all of the carbon it is safe for the UK to emit. Beyond this, other red lines that are close to being crossed nationally include increasing unconventional fossil fuel extraction through fracking and a government’s ‘dash for gas’ to build power stations rather than renewables. Internationally, there are similar concerns as well as a clear need to stop lignite coal mining in Germany and the Tar Sands in Alberta, Canada. Whilst there are many such examples of industries that cannot continue, overall the science dictates that the fossil fuel industry must transition to renewables and most of the carbon must be kept in the ground.
Beyond the Paris conference
Unlike the climate talks in Copenhagen, many activists are going to Paris with low expectations. We know that the heads of state and business leaders won’t come up with a satisfactory deal to prevent climate catastrophe. Naomi Klein writes in ‘This Changes Everything’ that climate deals always come in second place to trade deals as corporate profit and perpetual economic growth are ideologically untouchable in our neoliberal era. With this in mind, the aim for many activists is to see the Paris talks as a way for us all to network between struggles and to show on day 12 that if our ‘leaders’ won’t do it, then we can stop climate chaos ourselves. Unfortunately, with the recent events in Paris, marches have been banned out of fears over safety, which may mean that our mobilisations might not be as big or as effective as we hoped.
However, given that we know that the solutions to the climate crisis won’t come from the COP, let’s see this as an opportunity rather than a problem. Let’s get out and take action wherever the real #RedLines are: the dirty fossil fuel industries, the unsustainable, undemocratic mega-projects. #ClimateGames starts tomorrow. In this game we have nothing to lose but our fears. We have our whole futures to win. Asking our ‘leaders’ to solve our problems has left us with the hottest years on record, year after year. We are the solution we’ve been waiting for.
We are not fighting for nature. We are nature defending itself.
Sabotage at Hambach open-cast mine
On Monday night, we sabotaged some construction machinery at the open-cast mine Hambach, Germany.
29.10.15
On Monday night, we sabotaged some construction machinery at the open-cast mine Hambach, Germany. Five diggers, two bulldozers, one road roller and one other, expensive looking machine ahd their hydraulics and electronic cables cut. the fuel and oil tanks were filled with sand, some mechanic parts damaged and all the windows were smashed. Despite the massive security-measures RWE and the police put up against us, it was still really easy to do serious damage to these tools of destruction.
This action is targeted against the mine’s operator RWE and its accomplices, which are destroying the basis of life on this planet.
While the big mass of people in germany is sitting silently in front of their television screens, distracted from the daily destruction of our lives by smart entertainers and prophets of constant growth, hundrets of thousands of people are dying on the other side of the world through the effects of climate change.
While most people should be aware that we can’t go on like this, it is unfortunately only a small minority that is acting against this destruction, risking their health and freedom in the process.
Three of these eco-defenders are currently imprisoned in Aachen and Cologne, for their attempts to stop the clearcutting of the Hambach forest throughthe energy-giant RWE.
All three were heavily abused during their arrests, either by police or RWE’s private securities, with one person even getting their nose broken and several teeth smashed in. Therefore we want to dedicate our action to the imprisoned people of Hambach and send our solidarity to them.
Also we want to make it clear that we will not be scared into submission and hope that more people will be motivated by our action, to commit similar acts of resistance against the brown-coal-death-machine.
The Chaos Engineering Crew
Hambach Forest, Germany: Ecodefenders blockade several targets in Europe’s largest open-cast mine
The last weekend saw a series of blockades, that halted work in several parts of the Hambach open-cast-coal-mine.
8.10.15
The last weekend saw a series of blockades, that halted work in several parts of the Hambach open-cast-coal-mine.
On Saturday morning, at around 2:30, several people occupied on of the huge excavators and stopped it for several hours.
One day later, around the same time, four people stopped the two main conveyor-belts that are used to load the coal onto the trains, with one group climbing around on top of one, while the other two people locked-on to the structure of the other. After being hosed with water for several hours by angry mine workers, all people were evicted at around 11:00 and taken to the police station in Düren, where they were released about one hour later, without giving their identities.
On Monday morning, again at around half past two, another group of people occupied on of the giant excavators, again being evicted a couple hours later and realeased without ID-check.
This was followed by jet another conveyor-belt blockade, which was evicted more brutally this time. One of the persons is still in police custody.
It seems the police and the energy company RWE are getting more and more annoyed by activists constantly slipping through the holes in their security net.
For more information check out: hambachforest.blogsport.de
Phantom solar panels haunt streets of Westminster
The phantom image of a solar farm has appeared overnight on the pavement outside the main Department of Energy and Climate Change offices on Whitehall.
This morning we used clean graffiti to turn paving-stones into solar panels, kicking off our Keep Fits campaign to help ordinary people challenge planned cuts to renewable energy.
The whole government consultation process is pretty off-putting to anyone other than a professional lobbyist, so we’ve developed a dedicated website to make sure everyone who loves renewable energy can have their say on the proposed cuts.
Pressure has been mounting ever since the government released their proposal (sneakily, while we were all away on summer holidays). Last week a coalition of energy firms, investors, trade bodies and NGOs published a statement calling on the government to urgently reconsider the proposed changes. And the Mayor of London Boris Johnson is one of several MPs to have publicly voiced concerns over the jobs these cuts threaten, as well as the environmental impacts.
“The government’s own figures show there will be nearly a million fewer solar rooftops over the next 5 years if they go through with these cuts. The government wants to pull the plug on Britain’s solar revolution just as it is getting going.
Amy Cameron
Renewable energy is consistently popular amongst the UK public. According to the latest DECC polling, only 1% of the UK public strongly oppose renewables. In contrast a whopping 71% agree that renewable energy industries and developments provide economic benefits to the UK.
Using high-power washers and a stencil, clean graffiti removes dirt from dirty pavements rather than adding paint. How quickly these ghostly images fade depends on local environmental conditions, but we’re hoping they will last right up until the consultation closes on the 23rd October.
If you’re walking past today, why not share a photo of yourself standing on the panels. #StandWithSolar.
Update The panels survived until lunchtime, when they were washed off!
President of Uganda threatens death to Protesters of Palm Oil land grab
President Museveni of Uganda has joined his support to Bidco and Wilmar. calling for Bullets to be used against those who protest the Palm Oil development on the islands of Kalangala.
President Museveni of Uganda has joined his support to Bidco and Wilmar. calling for Bullets to be used against those who protest the Palm Oil development on the islands of Kalangala. The development has meant that 10,000 hecatres of virgin forest has been destroyed leaving environmental damage and economic hardhsip for the people. The words from Museveni come after a renewed protest against Bidco began earlier this year through twitter and Youtube. Further direct action against Vimal Shah the owner of Bidco is expected soon.
Activist’s 75th Birthday Party Disrupts Spectra Pipeline Construction in CT
August 20th, 2015
NORTH WINDHAM, CT: In celebration of his 75th birthday today, Middletown resident Vic Lancia locked himself to two giant “birthday cakes”—actually concrete-filled barrels decorated with candles and frosting— on the sole road leading up to a site where Spectra Energy stores construction equipment and materials for use across Connecticut. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission reports posted at capitalismvsclimate.org confirm what local residents have seen: Spectra trucks regularly using the facility to expand fracking infrastructure.
By blocking Spectra workers from accessing the site, Vic aimed to disrupt Spectra’s ongoing construction of it’s “AIM Project”, a billion dollar fracked-gas pipeline expansion affecting communities across the State.
“It’s simple,” Vic explained. “Capitalism and the burning of fossil fuels are destroying our beloved and beautiful planet, the habitat for all humanity and life, all for profit and convenience. Isn’t it time to resist? Do we not care for our children, the generations beyond our lives, and for life itself?”
After blocking the entrance to the site for over two hours – Vic negotiated with the police and unlocked. Vic wasn’t arrested and we got to keep the concrete “birthday cakes”.
Vic is a member of Capitalism vs. the Climate, a horizontally-organized, Connecticut-based group that takes direct action against the root causes of the climate crisis. About ten other members and supporters joined Vic, sharing chocolate cake and waving balloons. Beneath the festivities, however, they expressed outrage at Spectra’s pipeline expansion.
“Spectra’s pipeline expansion is catastrophic in many ways. It creates incentives for fracking in the shale fields. It transports highly flammable gas just one-hundred feet from a nuclear power plant in New York, potentially endangering tens of millions of people. It accelerates global warming, since fracked gas has an even higher impact on the climate than coal does,” said Willimantic resident Roger Benham.
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Protesters Storm Open-Pit Coal Mine in Western Germany
Protestors look at a huge bucket-wheel excavator as they arrive for a demonstration at the open-pit coal mine near Garzweiler
Protestors look at a huge bucket-wheel excavator as they arrive for a demonstration at the open-pit coal mine near Garzweiler, western Germany Saturday Aug. 15, 2015. Several hundred environmental activists have stormed a lignite mine in western Germany to protest against the use of coal for electricity production. dpa via AP Marius Becker
August 15th, 2015
Environmental activists have stormed a lignite mine in western Germany to protest the use of coal, a major source of greenhouse gases.
The German news agency dpa reports that several hundred people from a group calling itself Ende Gelande — which loosely translates as “it’s finished now” — broke through a police line in Garzweiler, west of Cologne.
Police spokesman Anton Hamacher says officers used pepper spray to stop the crowd and are removing protesters from the site.
A spokesman for German energy company RWE says several huge bucket-wheel excavators used at the open-pit mine had to be shut down for safety reasons. Spokesman Lothar Lambertz says RWE has canceled plans to bring employees onto the site to rally in favor of coal mining.
Germany: Hambach Forest Defenders Occupy Four Bucket Wheel Excavators for July 4th Climate Games
July 14th, 2015
At the Climate Games in Amsterdam today countless playgroups make their moves. Team Blue (the police) and the team of industrial companies play their usual strategy: In Amsterdam they want to expand the West port for coal transshipment and in the resident companies they strongly contribute to the fact that the world’s climate passes several points of no return. Thereafter, the further warming would get unpredictable and irreversible. Our teams hamper them, as far as possible without being beaten by Team Blue. Their game objective is to enable a smooth flow of the work of destruction.
This year, a team in the Rhineland has stumbled over the fact that the playing field is not limited to the Amsterdam West Port. While it is folded by all sorts of boundaries together, but we can unfold and make our move at any time, anywhere – after all, the other side also works as good as anywhere in the world.
Our “new” expansion pack is the Rhenish lignite mining area between Aachen and Cologne. This industrial-scale clockwork (consisting of five power stations, three mines, a network of coal railways, tens of kilometers of conveyor belts and pipelines for pumped off groundwater) is the largest single source of greenhouse gas emissions in Europe – and in many places it is damn easy to attack for sabotage! A good man on this game board is the occupation of excavators: In the largest machines in the world, that [destroy] landscape around the clock here and produce coal, a lot of capital is at work – until we stop them! On the occasion of the last occupation, a spokesperson of the group publicly confirmed, that RWE can not stop actions of this kind in the future just because of the huge dimensions of the open pits.
The motto of this year’s Climate Games is “BIGGER, BOLDER, STRONGER”, and so we want to do things in style. Therefore, this time since 2:55 h we are occupying four excavators : The first as usual at the rim of the open pit, where now it can not swallow any more landscape for a while. The three other occupied excavators are at the bottom of the open pit: This means that in the Hambach mine, for the first time in the Rhenish mining area, among other things, the two coal diggers themselves are occupied! At least one person did not reach her/his destination and now supports others by bugging her/his warders of Team Blue. He/she will certainly not be alone a very long time …
The game goes on – also in the Rhenish lignite mining area. From august 14 to 16, our friends of the Campaign “Ende Gelände“ (“end of the area”) mobilize to a mass blockade action in the Rhineland, and we are very keen to see what is about to happen around there. In october, a Skills Sharing Camp will be held again on the occupated meadow at the rim of the Hambacher Forst, which is acutely threatened by deforestation. And in December delegations of the United Nations gather in Paris on the question of how to talk climate change away, without changing anything in their exploitative economic systems – and, of course, many other teams are also there to play to unmask the lies. Make Your Move!
If you have got time and desire, we would be glad if you look in on the meadow to support the occupations and retain the ticker track of when solidarity is needed outside the police station!
Here you will find pictures of the most recent similar occupation of a single excavator. (Click in thumbnails to enlarge.) Pictures of the current action will follow here.
Please spread out the Action Statement (above) and also the press release and communication.
Press Release
Dear Sir or Madam!
We hereby send you a press release entitled “Four bucket wheel excavators occupied in open-cast mine Hambach”.
You can reach us at the following phone number:
+49 1573 7181446
You are also invited to visit us for more information or sound bites at the meadow occupation in Morschenich. On our blog
www.hambacherforst.blogsport.de
incoming news are switched in a live ticker.
Best Regards,
Kathrin Schneider
Tino Sturm
Press Release
Four bucket wheel excavators occupied in open-cast mine Hambach
Düren – Last night 2:55h climate activists started again to occupie bucket wheel excavators of RWE. This time it were four excavators in the open pit mine near Hambach. Two of them are located on the bottom of the mine in depth 450 m, where the coal layer is. For the first time, the declared aim is to stop coal production. With the action they are protesting against the mining and burning (electricity production) of lignite and this way they offer direct resistance.
As with previous excavators occupations, the activists climbed up the stairs, ladders and walkways on the machines to the top.
At 70 meters high they installed themselves, with tarpaulins for sun protection, and they rolled out banners on which they demanded once more an immediate withdrawal from coal mining and a clearing stop in the Hambach forest. “It has long been known that the habitability of the planet is at stake. Is just as clear that there are alternatives to inefficient electricity production out of coal,” said an activist who wants to remain anonymous, and added: “An economic system that is dependent on constant growth, cannot do anything else than exploit the environment at the expense of us all.”
The action statement puts these occupations in the context of the “Climate Games” in Amsterdam. There, the West Port will be expanded, which is an important coal trading center. Via Amsterdam among others coal from South America is transported to the Rhineland to be incinerated together with lignite.
The action ended at 9 pm, July 4th, when the last arrested activists left the police station.