PRESS RELEASE – For immediate release


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Royal Bank of Scotland, Kingsnorth and Shell branded ‘Stupid’ in series of actions.

Thursday 19th March 2009: Groups inspired by the film ‘The Age of Stupid’ have staged a series of audacious actions to highlight the ‘Stupid’ and ‘Not Stupid’ of Britain.

In a wave of protests, Shell, BP and Esso had 'Stupid' oil drums delivered to their petrol stations across London. Earlier this week Shell withdrew investment from clean wind and solar power. Last night, the headquarters of largely state-owned Royal Bank of Scotland, which continues to be a primary financier of the fossil fuels industry, was stickered with 'Stupid' stickers, while Kingsnorth Power Station, which has become a symbol of the government’s equivocation over environmental issues, had ‘Stupid Stupid Stupid’ projected onto it.

Wednesday saw climbers scaling one of the U.K’s highest wind turbines to display a banner reading ‘Not Stupid'. The actions culminated today with 'Not Stupid' flashmobs at Eurostar terminals in Paris and London, and at Manchester Piccadilly station.

One of those involved with this week's protests, Gemma Waite, said: “Everywhere we look, there’s climate stupidity. But it doesn’t have to be that way – we can solve the problem if we want to and we act quickly enough. The message we’re getting from the climate scientists is that we don’t have time to mess around. We’ve got to get on with it.”

Having seen ‘The Age of Stupid’ at last year's Climate Camp at Kingsnorth in Kent, members of the audience planned the events to echo the message of the film, which describes the need for urgent and direct action to avert climate catastrophe.

Last week climate scientists gathered in Copenhagen also lent their support to urgent action on climate change, warning that unless immediate and ambitious action is taken, we will face abrupt or irreversible shifts in the climate which would be near-impossible to adapt to.

Another protestor, Sam Elliott, said “I was inspired to do something by seeing ‘The Age of Stupid’ at climate camp. The police may have warned of a ‘summer of rage’, but the only anger we feel is towards a political system which has so spectacularly failed to deal with the problem of climate change. As the impacts of climate change become more and more obvious, we’re definitely going to see more direct action against those causing the problem.”

PHOTOS: Are available on Flickr at  http://www.flickr.com/photos/cleverphotos They show climbers scaling the wind turbine, projections of 'Stupid' onto the side of Kingsnorth power station, oil barrels labelled 'stupid' at petrol stations, and flashmobs at London, Manchester and Paris railway stations.

VIDEO: A press reel of the actions is available.

INTERVIEWS are available with protestors.

More details and live updates are available on  http://clevercrew.wordpress.com

Ends.

EDITOR'S NOTES

The actions are:

Yesterday climbers scaled a wind turbine to drop a 'Not Stupid' banner.
Last night saw RBS stickered, oil barrels delivered to Esso, BP and Shell petrol stations, and 'Stupid Stupid Stupid' projected onto the side of Kingsnorth power station.
Today saw pro-rail flashmobs at London St Pancras, Manchester Piccadilly and Paris Gare du Nord.
The Age of Stupid premiered last saturday. It opens in cinemas tomorrow.