[...cont’d from part 1]


ISSUE 1

NO to a 3rd runway at Heathrow and runaway aviation expansion

“Spurred on by BAA the government wants to build a third runway at Heathrow. Aviation is the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions. If aviation continues to grow at the current rate then by 2050 it will account for half of what even the government thinks is the most the UK should be emitting by then (under the 60% target originally proposed in the Climate Bill – see here ). In other words it would cancel out all the reductions that had been made up to then.
Curbing aviation growth will not prevent the destabilisation of global climate on its own – but there's no way we can get serious about tackling climate change until we get serious about tackling the runaway expansion in aviation. The current trend in the expansion of aviation is just not compatible with any realistic plan to prevent a climate catastrophe.
The government is planning for a near trebling of air passengers by 2030. To cope with these the government envisages up to 5 new runways being built with just about all existing runways working close to full capacity. This amounts to the biggest single programme of airport expansion ever seen in this country. The governments aviation policy is clearly on a collision course with its climate policy. We need to make sure that it is the former that is made to give way.
If we eliminated short haul flights – journeys that could feasibly be made by other less polluting forms of transport – then there would be no need for a third runway at Heathrow at all.”
‘Heathrow, Aviation and Climate Change’, Campaign Against Climate Change [9]

More Info & Take Action Links
Plane Stupid –  http://www.planestupid.com
T5 Flashmob –  http://t5flashmob.wordpress.com
AirportWatch –  http://www.airportwatch.org.uk
Stop Heathrow Expansion (Greenpeace UK) –  http://stopheathrow.org
Stop Stansted Expansion –  http://www.stopstanstedexpansion.com
Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign –  http://www.gacc.org.uk
Stop Bristol Airport Expansion –  http://www.nobristolairportexpansion.co.uk



ISSUE 2

NO new coal – no new coal-fired power stations as planned at eg Kingsnorth in Kent

“There has been no new coal-fired power station in the UK for 30 years but now it looks like we are about to see the first of a whole new wave of coal-fired power stations, at Kingsnorth in Kent.
Coal produces more CO2 than oil or gas. Coal is much the biggest single fossil fuel source of greenhouse gases globally. It was only the "dash for gas" (away from coal) in the 90s which has allowed the UK to reach its 'Kyoto targets'. (In fact subsequent to the 'dash' and under the Labour government UK emissions of CO2 have actually risen.)
Building a whole new generation of coal-fired power stations represents a huge leap backwards – it will lock us into a massive increase in emissions for decades to come. This is just the kind of disastrous big investment decision that we really don't need if we want the UK to play any serious part in the global struggle to prevent the catastrophic destablisation of the world's climate. It is currently coal, perhaps more than anything else that is wrecking the world's climate – in particular the huge expansion of coal-fired power stations in India and China. We are in no position to ask these countries to constrain their expansion into coal if we are doing it ourselves. This is a recipe for global catastrophe!”
‘Kingsnorth and New Coal’, Campaign Against Climate Change [10]

More Info & Take Action Links
E.ON – F.OFF! –  http://www.e-onf-off.org.uk/home.html
Climate Camp –  http://climatecamp.org.uk
Rising Tide –  http://risingtide.org.uk
Coal Action Network –  http://leaveitintheground.org.uk
The Coal Hole –  http://thecoalhole.org
No New Coal –  http://www.nonewcoal.org.uk
Give Coal The Boot (Greenpeace UK) –  http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/gctbpage2



ISSUE 3

NO to the expansion of agrofuels – with negative impacts on forests, the climate, and world food supply

“We are not convinced by the deluge of national and international advertising promoting the expansion of the agricultural industry and the production of agrofuels. This will only serve to make the current environmental situation even more unbearable, and will contribute to the degeneration of the air, water and soil, to which everyone has a right.
We reject the imposition of global market strategies, which take our produce and dictate our destiny, resulting in devastating consequences for our communities and our environment.
We denounce Al Gore, ex-Vice President of the USA, as a new coloniser and publicist for global markets, and we also denounce his film ‘An Inconvenient Truth?’ for half-revealing the reality in order not to unsettle his financial backers – the oil, seed, and motor industries.
We refuse to be subjugated to the neo-colonial role assigned to us by global capitalism or any other model which makes us dependent on international markets and reduces our food sovereignty. We will resist the cellulose pulp mills, and the production of ?food? for North American and European cars. We will fight against the shameless wastefulness of consumerism which is jeopardising our heritage and environment and leaving us to face the future defenceless and vulnerable.
We will not allow another hectare to be given over for monoculture!”
‘The Gualeguaychu Declaration’ by Argentinean Groups against Agrofuels [11]

More Info & Take Action Links
Biofuelwatch –  http://biofuelwatch.org.uk
Food vs fuel –  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_vs_fuel
Biofuels: green dream or climate change nightmare? (Greenpeace UK) –  http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/blog/climate/biofuels-green-dream-or-climate-change-nightmare-20070509



ISSUE 4

YES to a renewable energy revolution and green jobs – a "Green New Deal"

Frankly, I’m all for “a renewable energy revolution” and the socially valuable employment that will provide – but a "Green New Deal"? This is where revolutionaries and reformists tend to part company, a latter-day reflection of the Socialism or Barbarism question posed throughout her political career by Rosa Luxemburg, and especially in ‘Reform or Revolution’ (1900) and ‘The Junius Pamphlet’ (1915) [12]. The real horrorshow happening to our sisters and brothers in Iraq and Afghanistan at the hands of invading capitalist armed forces and reactionary local militias are a continuation of the barbarity revealed to the world as capitalism entered its decadent phase with the outbreak of the “Great” War.

“Shamed, dishonoured, wading in blood and dripping in filth, this capitalist society stands. Not as we usually see it, playing the roles of peace and righteousness, of order, of philosophy, of ethics — but as a roaring beast, as an orgy of anarchy, as pestilential breath, devastating culture and humanity — so it appears in all its hideous nakedness.
A look around us at this moment shows what the regression of bourgeois society into barbarism means.
This madness will not stop, and this bloody nightmare of hell will not cease until the workers of Germany, of France, of Russia and of England, will wake up out of their drunken sleep; will clasp each others hands in brotherhood and will drown the bestial chorus of war agitators and the hoarse cry of capitalist ["Green New Deal"] hyenas with the mighty cry of labour, `Workers of all countries, unite!' ”
‘Junius Pamphlet’, 1915

“ Humanity is facing the alternative: dissolution and downfall in capitalist anarchy, or regeneration through the social revolution. The hour of fate has struck. If you believe in Socialism, it is now time to show it by deeds. If you are Socialists, now is the time to act.
And therefore, we call to you: "Arise for the struggle! Arise for action! The time for empty manifestos, platonic resolutions, and high-sounding words is gone! The hour of action has struck for the International!" ”
A Call to the Workers of the World, 1918

The "Green New Deal" [13] is yet another example of “empty manifestos, platonic resolutions, and high-sounding words”, a reformist attempt to perpetuate the outmoded and anachronistic millstone around humanity’s neck: Capitalism. I hope you’ll reject pleading with bourgeois politicians for a marginally less rapacious and slightly greener Capitalism in favour of taking direct action to halt climate change, and thereby helping to create the “regeneration through the social revolution” which ourselves and our biosphere so urgently need.

[cont’d in part 3...]


Footnotes

[9] ‘Heathrow, Aviation and Climate Change’, Campaign Against Climate Change –  http://www.campaigncc.org/heathrow.shtml

[10] ‘Kingsnorth and New Coal’, Campaign Against Climate Change –  http://www.campaigncc.org/kingsnorth.shtml

[11] ‘The Gualeguaychu Declaration’ by Argentinean Groups against Agrofuels –  http://www.wrm.org.uy/subjects/biofuels/Gualeguaychu.html

[12] Rosa Luxemburg: see, eg –  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Luxemburg
▪ Rosa Luxemburg Library –  http://www.marxists.org/archive/luxemburg/
▪ ‘Reform or Revolution’ –  http://www.marxists.org/archive/luxemburg/1900/reform-revolution/index.htm
▪ ‘The Junius Pamphlet’ –  http://www.marxists.org/archive/luxemburg/1915/junius/index.htm
▪ ‘A Call to the Workers of the World’ –  http://www.marxists.org/archive/luxemburg/1918/11/25.htm

[13] "Green New Deal" – unlucky for all; see, eg: ‘UK needs ‘Green New Deal’ to tackle ‘triple crunch’ of credit, oil price and climate crises’ –  http://www.neweconomics.org/gen/greennewdealneededforuk210708.aspx


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