Action Reports – Page 151

Climate Protestors in Court Following Defacing of Canadian Flag

Three climate activists are this morning due in Westminster Magistrate’s Court charged with criminal damage against the Canadian High Commission in London following an action to stop the Tar Sands..

On December 15th, while the International Climate Summit was taking place in Copenhagen, the protesters scaled the entrance to the Canadian High Commission in Grosvenor Square. They cut loose the Canadian flag, before defacing it with crude oil while unfurling a banner reading “Shut Down the Tar Sands”.

The action was a response to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s obstruction of the summit in Copenhagen in order to protect Canada’s Tar Sands Industry [1]. Tar Sands are the dirtiest fuel known to man, both in terms of its impact on the climate and the devastation inflicted on the
local communities [2].

There is an enormous open cast mine in the Alberta Tar Sands region of Canada, where an area the total size of England will be exploited. This is the largest industrial development in the world and is devastating for the indigenous communities that live there, not only destroying the land
itself but increasing levels of cancer, poisoning much of their traditional food sources and leaving the water unsafe to drink [3]. This violates the indigenous treaty rights legally bound to this region.

Jake Colman, 20, Bradley Day, 22, and Daniel Whitely, 19, are all participants in the Camp for Climate Action [4], an action group that occupied Trafalgar Square for the two-week duration of the Climate Summit.

Bradley Day, a waiter from Oxford, speaking after the action:

“This is just the beginning of a UK-based direct action campaign to stop Canadian Tar Sands. These murderous ventures are being funded from within the UK, with the Royal Bank of Scotland, now 84%-owned by the public investing billions, and British Petroleum currently preparing to move in
to Tar Sands. [5] We won’t stand by and let these greed driven corporations cause catastrophic environmental and human destruction.”

Clayton Thomas-Muller, an Indigenous activist with the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN), spoke during the Copenhagen summit:
“The Canadian government continues to ignore its own laws, which state they must consult with Indigenous Peoples who have been trying to convey concerns about Tar Sands development. Tar Sands are killing our communities and trampling over our rights. Furthermore, the environmental destruction wreaked by the Tar Sands is directly threatening thousands of lives now and is driving our climate into chaos. The world has woken up to the fact that Canada is now Public Climate Enemy Number One. It’s time Canada did its global duty and shut down the Tar Sands,”

NOTES TO EDITORS:

[1] At the failed Copenhagen Climate Summit, Canada proposed an inadequate target for reducing greenhouse emissions by only 3% by 2020 ignoring world scientists’ recommendations to commit to over 40% reductions below 1990 levels in order to avoid dangerous runaway climate change. Canada already failed to meet its commitments to the Kyoto Treaty and refuses to sign the UN’s Declaration of Rights for Indigenous Peoples whilst continuing development of Tar Sands oil extraction.

[2] Tar Sands fuel is a way of extracting oil who’s energy intensive process has not only completely destroyed areas of the Boreal forests the size of England, burns enough natural gas to power 6 hundred thousand homes a year, produces lakes of toxic waste 66km wide -which filters into
all local life and drinking water- but would itself be enough to push our climate into chaos.

http://tarsandsinfocus.wordpress.com/about/

[3] http://tarsandsinfocus.wordpress.com/about/

[4] http://climatecamp.org.uk

[5] This is the start of a fast growing UK campaign against Tar Sands. Although we do not receive oil directly from Canadian Tar Sands, Corporations such as RBS which is now 84% owned by the British Tax Payer invests billions and British Petroleum have plans to move in to the ‘Sun Rise’ site in the coming months. Action on these issues and these corporations are soon to become a focus of UK activism as we begin to stand up to International injustices such as Tar Sands in Canada.

Stop the Tar Sands

Environmental Activists killed by Mining Companies in Latin America

On 26th December, Dora Alicia Recinos Sorto became the third victim of a wave of violence against environmental campaigners in the Cabañas Region of El Salvador, where community members are protesting against the re-opening of a Gold Mine by Canadian Company Pacific Rim.

Dora Alicia was a member of the Cabañas Environmental Committee, and had been active in opposing the mine. She was eight months pregnant when she was shot dead, and her two year old son was also wounded in the attack.

Her murder comes six days after the fatal shooting of Ramiro Rivera Gomez, Vice President of the Cabañas Environmental Committee, who had survived being shot eight times in August this year. In June, another environmental campaigner, Gustavo Marcelo Rivera Moreno, had been tortured and killed. Many other members of the community have received death threats, including youth workers and journalists for the local community radio station Radio Victoria, and the local priest Father Luis Quintanilla narrowly escaped an attempted kidnapping.

In Mexico, Mariano Abarca Roblero campaigned against the environmentally destructive open-pit Barium mine Blackfire, a World Bank project. He was shot to death on the evening of November 27, 2009, in front of his house in Chicomuselo, Chiapas. More details.

Whalers and Whale Defenders Clash for the First Time This Season

The first clash between whalers and whale defenders took place on December 14th when the Steve Irwin and the Shonan Maru #2 exchanged shots with their water cannons.

The Shonan Maru #2 has been following the Steve Irwin from Fremantle since December 9th. At 1400 Hours (Melbourne time) the Steve Irwin went around an iceberg, did a figure eight out of view of the Shonan Maru #2 and re-emerged within a quarter of a mile of the Japanese whaler’s portside quarter catching the whalers completely by surprise.

A pursuit began and the Shonan Maru #2 turned on two water cannons. The crew of the Steve Irwin immediately responded by placing their water cannon in readiness. The Shonan Maru #2 and the Steve Irwin were engaged in a high speed pursuit for two hours before Captain Watson decided to break off the pursuit to resume course to the coast of Antarctica.

The Japanese whalers are spending a great deal of money, first locating the Steve Irwin by air and then directing the Shonan Maru #2 to the coordinates of the Sea Shepherd vessel. By staying on the tail of the Steve Irwin, the harpoon vessel is able to keep the rest of the fleet aware of the Sea Shepherd position. Captain Paul Watson needs to lose the tail of the Shonan Maru #2 in order to locate the whaling fleet. He is counting on heavier ice conditions to assist in this effort.

“We will use the icebergs and the ice floes to our advantage.” Said Captain Paul Watson. “I’ve observed today that I am a more experienced ice navigator than the Japanese captain chasing us. We need to get him to follow us into the ice fields and let the ice work for us.”

The Steve Irwin crew were left wet, but in good spirits after the confrontation.

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Sea Shepherd Evades Pursuit by Japanese Whaling Fleet Security Vessel

The Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin has successfully left the Australian Economic Zone (EEZ) without any sign of the Japanese whaling fleet security ship Shonan Maru No. 2.

The Steve Irwin departed from Hobart at 1800 Hours on December 31st and took advantage of gale force winds and heavy swells to slip past the waiting Japanese vessel.

“It’s a big ocean down here they have no idea where we are,” said Captain Paul Watson. “I’m now confident that we can proceed with our search for the Japanese whaling fleet without further interference from the Shonan Maru No. 2.”

The Sea Shepherd vessel Ady Gil is patrolling the Southern Ocean in advance of the Steve Irwin in search of the fleet.

The Shonan Maru No. 2 was waiting for the Steve Irwin when it left Fremantle on December 7th. The Japanese had chartered an aircraft out of Albany to locate the conservation vessel. They then relayed the Steve Irwin’s position to the Shonan Maru No. 2 to enable the Japanese security vessel to intercept the Steve Irwin.

The Steve Irwin was unable to lose the pursuit of the Shonan Maru No. 2 for more than two weeks. Only by returning to Tasmania was the tail lost because Japanese whaling ships are prohibited from entering Australian territorial waters.

“Thanks to the stormy weather, there was no possibility of a chartered flight locating the Steve Irwin and we were able to pass back into international waters without any sign of the Shonan Maru No. 2,” said Captain Watson. “They will be hard pressed to locate us now and without them on our tail, I am confident that we will be able to track down the whale poachers in the Australian Antarctic Territory.”
“It was awesome seeing them run like cowards when we turned on them,” said Third Mate Vincent Hayes from Williamstown in Victoria.

Sabotage at Broken Cross Open Cast Coal Mine (Mainshill Solidarity Action)

In the early hours of the 25th December, a group of autonomous activists delivered their Christmas present to Scottish Coal. Four machines were sabotaged at the Broken Cross open cast site, the largest of its type in Europe, just 5 miles from Mainshill Solidarity Camp.
This is a message to Scottish Coal that regardless of the time of year, we will resist. Not just at Mainshill, but at all of their sites across South Lanarkshire, which is one of the most heavily mined areas in Europe.
As the “festive” season comes to an end, the destructive work will commence again at Mainshill. Eviction is looming as their work progresses. Numbers are needed as ever on site to help out and fill defences.

UK Coal ‘ greenwash’ Durham planner’s! OPENCAST looks likely (near where Winter Moot will be in February)

Money grabbing UK coal have overcome one of the largest barriers in their plans to opencast the PONT VALLEY,

OPPONENTS of a large opencast mine in a picturesque valley fear the worst now that planning permission has been granted to move a colony of Great Crested Newts – a protected species.

Money grabbing UK coal have overcome one of the largest barriers in their plans to opencast the PONT VALLEY,

OPPONENTS of a large opencast mine in a picturesque valley fear the worst now that planning permission has been granted to move a colony of Great Crested Newts – a protected species.

Durham County Council planners agreed to an application by UK Coal to create four habitat ponds for wildlife near Leadgate, Consett, County Durham.

The company, which plans to extract 556,000 tonnes from the Bradley site, an area of 73,000 square meters in the Derwent Valley between the villages of Leadgate and Dipton, was hindered by the presence of the tiny animals on a pond in the middle of the area where it wants to mine. Now that councillors have approved the plans to create new ponds UK Coal will proceed with its application to mine.

A spokesman for the company said: “The proposals are to create a site of nature conservation involving additional planting and landscaping and new ponds on part of the site to form an extended wildlife habitat from the adjacent Billingside Wood Site of Nature Conservation Importance.

“The application for habitat ponds in construction terms is relatively minor in nature and has the potential for significant conservation and habitat enhancement opportunities for the local area.”

Eight letters of objection including responses from the Dipton Community Partnership and the Pont Valley Network were received.

Objectors argued that the application is part of the intention to opencast the site, known as the Bradley site and should not be treated separately.

But senior planning officer Mike Hempsall said the two applications had to be treated individually.

He said: “The proposal provides an opportunity for additional habitats that would be of ecological and landscape benefit to the area and can be carried out in an environmentally acceptable manner.

“The stated grounds of objection concerning determination of the application separate to the surface coal mine application, archaeological, landscape character, effects on public rights of way and wildlife impact are not considered sufficient to lead to reasons to refuse the application.”

UK Coal says the opencast proposal would create 38 jobs, produce 556,000 tonnes of coal needed for the British steel or electricity industry, and provide a new conservation area after mining is completed within three years. It intends to formally submit a planning application in the new year.

But Durham County councillor Watts Stelling said: “This area has been ravaged by industry in the past and should now be allowed to recover.

“Everybody knows the two applications are linked. UK Coal is not building new ponds due to any fondness for Great Crested Newts. It wants to dig a great big hole in attractive countryside.”

It should be noted that Durham wildlife trust didn’t even respond when asked for an opinion by Durham County Council maybe this is because lots of funding for wildlife trusts comes from the aggregate industry or maybe their just lazy!

GOOD NEWS!!!
FAMILIES in a rural hamlet are calling on a development company to abandon its bid for an opencast mine in the Northumberland countryside after planners firmly rejected the controversial scheme.

Campaigners in tiny Halton Lea Gate near Haltwhistle say they are “overjoyed” after county councillors voted unanimously to refuse permission to dig 140,000 tonnes of coal from a 75-acre site, within the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

They urged applicant HM Project Developments to “get the message”, admit defeat and not launch an appeal against the decision.

HM Project Developments’ agent, Newcastle-based firm Blackett, Hart and Pratt, did not comment.

Tree felled despite protesters underneath & protection agreement

23 December 2009
A MAJESTIC 350-year-old oak tree in Steep was chopped down just hours after a deal was struck to save it.

Shocked villagers looked on in horror as contractors reneged on an agreement to save the landmark oak, which has stood in Ashford Chace since the time of Oliver Cromwell, by clambering up into the highest branches and hacking it down last Tuesday afternoon.

23 December 2009
A MAJESTIC 350-year-old oak tree in Steep was chopped down just hours after a deal was struck to save it.

Protestors standing underneath the canopy were forced to take cover when it became clear tree surgeons had no regard for their safety, as parts of the tree came crashing to the ground.

Police were called amid confrontational scenes between villagers and contractors, before the residents were forced to watch helplessly as the oak was systematically dismantled.

Ashford Hangers Preservation Society tree warden Drake Hocking said: “They started off carefully and slowly and then sometime in the middle of the day they changed tack and started butchering it.
“They did not stop.
“It was tragic and the village is now in shock.”

The oak tree is situated on the Hangers Way and forms part of the right of way for a new four-bedroom house, built by Rolls Royce’s head of human resources Avery Duff and wife Elfrida of Empshott Green.

They intend to turn the site where the oak tree stood into a straight tarmac drive for their property.

The tree was considered rotten by East Hampshire District Council’s arbocultural team, so was not protected by a tree preservation order.

Mr Hocking explained an agreement had been thrashed out on Monday evening with the Duff’s contractors Pegasus Builders, which stated it would only remove about a third of the tree.

However, the promise was broken within 24 hours.

“It appears the Duff’s architect went over the head of the contractor and insisted the tree should be cut,” he said.

Kate Burke, of Ashford Chace, said: “It is shocking, absolutely shocking.
“I am so upset about it and the way the situation has been handled.
“I cannot understand how some people can have such disregard for the countryside.
“If it had been a different owner or a different arbicultural officer at the council then I think the outcome would have been very different.”

She added when she went to inspect the tree after it was felled, the rot inside was only the size of her cupped hands.

“As a proportion of the whole circumference of the tree, it was nothing,” Mrs Burke said.
“It is so, so sad.”

Another angered resident, Jessica Pocock, said: “I think I can speak for all those present when I say that we have all been truly shaken and appalled by the crass and disdainful attitude displayed to to the people of Steep, many of whom tried to negotiate with the Duffs for over two years, and to the magnificent oak tree, which has been felled for no good reason.

“We did consider taking up a stance again to try and prevent the work being done, but in truth, we have no chance of stopping such ruthless behaviour, and the strain of the last few days has been considerable.”

On Monday a sign was placed beside the tree which quoted the famous war poet Edward Thomas, who lived in Steep 100 years ago.

It read: “In the sun and in the snow, there are no more sins to be sinned on the dead oak tree bough.”

Avery Duff was unavailable for comment when The Post went to press.

New Zealand climate camp report-back

15 December 2009

15 December 2009
Preparations for New Zealand’s first Climate Camp are going well with people moving onto the site yesterday. Campers spent the day setting up some of the infrastructure required for the camp including the kitchen and storage tents. As the day progressed water lines could be seen snaking across the field, solar panels popped up next to tents and by the end of the day hot food was being prepared in the kitchen. The site is perfect, large trees dot the field, a river with swimming holes runs beside the camp and there is easy vehicular access.

Climate camp officially kicks off tomorrow (Wednesday) and will be going until the 21st. The camp will be a working demonstration of sustainable living with composting toilets and electricity generated on site. It will also host workshops on dozens of subjects as well as providing space for people to organise to take action against the root causes of climate change. The 21st will see campers taking to the streets in protests which will be organised at camp. As details of these protests are organised they will be distributed widely.

Feel free to bring anything you think might be useful – tools, bikes, koha to help pay for food and tents etc. The camp is being organised and run by participants so feel free to make it your own. If you want to run a workshop or spend a few hours in the kitchen that would be great! Weather has been a mixed bag over the past day so a good tent and heaps of warm clothes in case you get wet would be a really good idea. Food will be provided throughout the camp.

So if you have any spare time over the next week be it an afternoon or the entire camp pop on down to Moonshine park in Upper Hut from today.

For more information and regular updates on how the camp is going please visit climatecamp.org.nz

For the days photos please visit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/45638777@N08/

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Activists disrupt presentation by head of the New Zealand Carbon Exchange.
18 December 2009

This action coincides with New Zealand’s first climate camp in Upper Hut Wellington and pecedes mondays day of direct action against false solutions planned for Wellington on monday.

Yesterday members of Carbon Progress Response (CPR) disrupted a presentation by Stuart Frazer member of the New Zealand Carbon Exchange. The protesters disrupted the meeting at three points holding banners saying “Our Climate Not Your Business”, “Food Markets Not Carbon Markets” as well as talking about why carbon trading would not result in real action being taken to prevent climate change. During the presentation Stuart Frazer talked of how we need to stabilise atmospheric CO2 levels at 450ppm and global temperatures at a 2 degrees Celsius rise. The protesters pointed out that at these levels hundreds of millions of the worlds poor will be affected by drought and famine.

The action was taken in solidarity with the 100,000 protesters in Copenhagen as well as the 300 civil society delegates which walked out of the conference.

The CPR activists involved in the disruption explained their actions in this way “Carbon trading, also known as Cap and Trade, allows wealthy, industrialized countries and companies to keep polluting at the same rates by trading carbon credits amongst themselves. This allows business to continue as usual and encourages the disadvantaged and poor to sell their livelihoods for the gain of the rich.”

After the first two groups of protesters were removed around a dozen protesters held banners outside as well as using a siren to emphasis that we are facing a climate emergency. After the presentation had finished an activist slipped back into the meeting and disrupted it for a third time.

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21 December 2009
About 150 people took to the streets early this morning in Wellington as two banners were hung overnight in prominent locations. First stop was the Stock Exchange, to disrupt business as usual and tell the profiteers of climate change that our climate is not their business. While people entered the building a samba band, radical cheerleaders and a kids block were outside all main entrances. There was also a vocal bunch from a group claiming to be counter-protesting for the right to profit from exploiting the environment. Nine people were arrested in a sit-in blockade but later released with no charge.

After 9 arrests the protest took over Lampton Quay to go and support two climbers occupying the outside of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Trade with a giant banner denouncing Foterra for its part in New Zealand’s high emissions from agriculture. The action was taken to draw attention to the fact that 51% of New Zealand’s climate changing emissions come from agriculture. The protesters who were initially at the stock exchange, marched down Lambton Quay to support the two activists hanging off MFAT. The two climbers came down later and were not arrested. A Reclaim the Streets style protest continued for over half and hour.

The nine from earlier are coming out of the police station now, some or all without charge…

OUR CLIMATE IS NOT YOUR BUSINESS!!

http://climatecamp.org.nz/

Copenhagen failure sparks coal terminal blockade

Updates:

4:30pm:

The Kooragang rail line has just reopened, 7.5 hours after the blockade began

3:00pm:

Updates:

4:30pm:

The Kooragang rail line has just reopened, 7.5 hours after the blockade began

3:00pm:

Police have removed the final protester blockading a coal rail bridge in Newcastle, Australia, more than six hours after protesters shut down the coal delivery line into the world’s biggest coal port.

There were twenty three arrests in total at the protest, including an 86 year old man, a Buddhist priest , and an elected Newcastle city councillor.

12:00pm:

Police have made their first arrests at a dramatic coal train blockade on a bridge in Newcastle – the world’s biggest coal port.

Three hours into the blockade, police have arrested ten people who were sitting on the rail bridge and refusing to move. Protesters expect the blockade to last for the remainder of the day and perhaps into the night, with a further 15 people still blocking the bridge in difficult to remove positions.

Activists shut down the rail line at 9am this morning to protest the failure of the UN climate talks in Copenhagen to produce a just, effective, and legally binding treaty.

9am, Sunday 20th December 2009, Newcastle Australia: Forty climate activists have closed down the rail line into the world’s biggest coal port this morning, protesting the failure of the UN climate talks in Copenhagen to produce a just, effective, and legally binding treaty.

Twenty five of the diverse group – aged from 19 to 86 years and including a Buddhist priest, and an elected local councillor – are occupying a rail bridge in Newcastle, Australia, and refusing to leave. They have hung large banners reading “Greed wrecked Copenhagen: Now it’s up to us all”, and “You could have done something great.”

“The US, Australia, and other wealthy countries wrecked the Copenhagen climate talks,” said Steve Phillips, spokesperson for protest organisers Rising Tide Newcastle.

“They refused to lift their paltry greenhouse pollution targets to the levels required to avoid catastrophe. They could have done something great, but they failed. They let greed and self interest take precedence over the survival of life on earth, and we are here today to condemn them in the strongest possible terms.”

“We put world leaders on notice that their continuing failure to solve the climate crisis will result in widespread direct action against the causes of climate change, as we are seeing here today. We’re taking this action because we have had enough. We’ve seen too much grandstanding, and precious little action. We won’t continue to watch as people die, as species go extinct because of climate change, while emissions continue to rise. Politicians are failing to act against the causes of climate change, so we have come here today to take action ourselves. Newcastle coal exports are Australia’s single biggest contribution to the climate crisis.”

Newcastle City Councillor Michael Osborne is among those occupying the rail bridge. He explained why: “The people of Newcastle and the Hunter expected a fair, ambitious, and binding treaty at Copenhagen. They have been let down. Australia has failed to take leadership on this issue, so now people from the Hunter are taking it themselves. It is time we moved away from the fossil fuels that are causing this crisis and embraced the renewable industries that can solve it.”

“Our elected leaders are failing to take action against the coal industry that is causing the climate crisis, so we are taking that action ourselves,” concluded Steve Phillips.

Save Titnore Woods!

With the threat of development on Titnore Woods, one of the two remaining semi-ancient woodlands left on the West Sussex coastal plain fast approaching, now is the time to rise up and resist the destruction of our natural environment by corporate greed.

West Durrington Consortium, which consists of Persimmon Homes, Taylor Wimpy and Heron Homes could be given the go ahead to build a 1250 home development and a road in the new year. Previously 875 homes where to be built, so clearly their eyes are seeing more pound signs as they envision more clearance of the precious land. The project is estimated to cost over 3 billion pounds to build and take 6 years to complete which is utter madness when Worthing is reported to have over 1000 empty buildings! If planning permission is granted West Durrington will no longer home a semi- ancient woodland with it’s rich diversity in rare species, flora and fauna or it’s surrounding farmland but a massive housing development, road, a giant Tesco and possibly 2 schools and a health centre.

Already the destruction is evident when you visit Titnore. Just across the field from the protest site the eye sore that will be Tesco is well under way and is due to open in February/March 2010. West Sussex County Council gave permission on December 9th 2009 to close the public footpath reaching Tinore woods from Fullbeck Avenue. No persons are allowed to use this right of way to visit the woods now as it is viewed as a public safety hazard until the West Durrington Consortium project is completed. Also trees and bushes have been cleared here, although none are of the semi ancient woods this is still a haunting reminder that construction is imminent.

On Thursday January 28th 2010 at 6pm the West Durrington Consortium will meet at Worthing Borough Council’s Control Committee to push for permission to begin development. If they win then it’s full steam ahead for the bulldozers and a very sad day for the hard working folk of Camp Titnore who have occupied the woods in resistance of the destruction for the last 3 and a half years, and also for the local Worthing residents who strongly oppose the plans and wish to see their ancient woodland left standing.

To show that you oppose their plans to tear down an irreplaceable natural space come and join the counter demo at 5.30pm outside Assembly Hall, Stoke Abbott Road, Worthing on January 28th 2010.
Please visit Camp Titnore. Enjoy its beauty, help to build new defences and walkways. Donations of wood, nails, polyprop and corrugated iron would be much appreciated.

Camp Titnore needs you!

See Titnore contact links for directions and so on

Climate Camp Trafalgar- Ice Bear action & Copenhagen solidarity demo at Embassy & Copenhagen climate camp

As Copenhagen refuses entry to NGO’s and delegates from around the world, Climate Camp Trafalgar enter another day of solidarity action. This time, the target….. The London Ice Bear…. He just didn’t see it coming.

The team at Climate Camp Trafalgar square saw another day of actions this wednesday 16th. This time targeting a (corporate, aka M&S, sponsored http://plana.marksandspencer.com/we-are-doing/climate-change/stories/82/) ice sculpture.

The London Ice Bear ( http://www.wwf.org.uk/what_we_do/tackling_climate_change/the_london_ice_bear.cfm) has been attracting the attention of passers by in Trafalgar Square since friday the 11th of December. WWF (who are backing the ice bear) state, on their web page, that “everyone is invited to touch the ice sculpture. Artist Mark Coreth hopes that by touching this sculpture audiences can become sculptors themselves and make a direct connection with the bear and its icy Arctic kingdom, now under threat from man-made climate change.”

Here at Climate Camp, we took this statement rather literally. Though, obviously, we felt the need to direct the focus away from the rather sweeping statement of “man made” climate change and give it a shove towards the more fitting statement of corporate funded climate chaos.

At around 4pm on Wednesday the 15th of december, Campaigners took a banner stating “This isn’t just climate change, this is RBS funded climate chaos” and a kettle full of hot water (also branded with the RBS symbol) to the ice bear and proceeded to melt the bear with the ‘hot water of capitalism’.

Artist and sculptor Mark Coreth was more than please to see his project “interacted” with in this way.

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On Thursday December 17, approximately 50 demonstrators gathered outside the Danish Embassy in Sloane Street, London, to object to the Danish police’s harsh treatment of demonstrators at the COP Summit in Copenhagen.

After a spirited rally, demonstrators occupied the road in front of the embassy before leading a roaming traffic blockade up Sloane Street and onto Brompton Road, before eventually halting outside Harrods department store.

There were no arrests.

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A climate camp to occupy a vital location in Copenhagen was announced. 100 people with 4 pop-up tents gathered in a central square and decided to stay for two hours – full report and photos