This weekend saw the launch gathering of The Student Climate Project, held at the East Oxford Community Centre from Friday the 30th November to Sunday the 2nd December. The gathering saw activists from around the country who shared the view that current student climate activism was simply not going far enough. They discussed where they wanted to see student activism go, and how they wanted to see it grow, and become planning for action.

Climate Change poses the greatest risk humanity has ever faced. It is already killing 150million people every year, and this figure is only set to grow. Furthermore, if we don’t reduce our carbon emissions by 90% by 2030 then runaway climate change will take hold, meaning we will lose control of our climate system altogether. Yet despite this urgent challenge Climate Change is simply not being treated as the enormous and wide-ranging problem it really is. Much focus has been placed on ‘doing your bit’ through small actions such as recycling and changing your energy saving light bulb, but such actions will do pitifully little unless the required infrastructure changes are put into place.

Therefore, The Student Climate Project wants to reclaim Climate Change from simply being meticulously counting carbon by the gram and feelings of guilt. Instead it wants to inspire people into taking the action that really matters: Collective political action. The gathering also discussed how Climate Change must be seen as one the gravest issues of social injustice, not only an environmental issue, and also the need to engage with climate change on an emotional and intellectual level rather than just in terms of numbers. There was also several workshops held, including ones on international movement building, direct action, and working the media.

The Tour of Action ’08 will be their first major project, and will see student activists travel around the country to different universities offering workshops, undertaking participatory art, and taking action against the local climate criminals of the region. The more activists who get involved in this project the more effective it will be.

The Project is committed to non-hierarchical consensus decision making, and is run through open working groups whom anyone is welcome to join. The next gathering is to be held on the 18th to the 20th of January at a location as yet unconfirmed, but check for details on the website. All are welcome!