Smartly dressed campers arrived at the DfT just after 8am as workaholic transport fans were scurrying to their desks.
Five superglued themselves to he doors and two to each other, jamming the revolving doors shut whilst two more occupied the roof of the doorway with a sign reading "No Airport Expansion".
*am - climate camper superglues herself to the door
Main entrance to DfT fully blocked
Glued together in the corner entrance
Medics free camper from the door (1)
Medics free camper from the door (2)
Calling the story in whilst being unglued
Community police showed up shortly and called in the real police who arrived in dribs and drabs over the next half hour. Ambulances showed up and just to complete the triangle, police called in the Fire Brigade for good measure.
Full marks to the medics who did a sensitive job with the soapy water keeping up and encouraging banter throughout.
There were 10 arrests including, of course, our passing hero.
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Comments
Hide the following 9 comments
Congratulation
17.08.2007 13:32
JC
Well Done Guys
17.08.2007 21:14
Keep it up.
Keith
Keith
Homepage:
http://www.theearthblog.org
lol...great day
17.08.2007 21:19
stevexx
stephenc
e-mail:
stephenc@libero.it
Homepage:
http://realfathersforjustice.org
doh.....
17.08.2007 21:44
While all movement of people and goods generates CO2, and I have some sympathy with your ideals it's better to change things positively, by offering the public informed choices in how they travel and what they buy, rather than coming across as being anti-progress, lefty nutters. Anyway, transport generate a small minority of emissions, why not go after reductions from industry, power stations, construction and housing first.
chaz
A Waste of Time
17.08.2007 22:47
And anyway havent you got the wrong target. Given where the majority of emissions come from in the UK - the home (inc power stations and gas boliers) and cars and lorries, shouldnt you be targetting manufacturers of high power comsumption gadgets - plasma screen TVs, dishwashers - or households with old boliers - or Vauxhall and Ford for their cars - get your priorities right.....
I think the Police should have left you lot stuck there till the NHS had some free time !! Think those paramedics could have been treating someone really ill and in trouble !!!! Just plain selfish!!!!
Mark London
bravo
18.08.2007 09:48
They have a lot more guts than the armchair detractors on this site - some how they always think the target or the action should be somewhere else. How about >you< going to industry or where ever you thinhk it should be done and doing similar. These people have done their bit to highlight the issue, now its your turn.
The issue is serious and we don't have time to waste - we have to turn the titantic around that is the old way of thinking that believes that consuming fossil energy has no impact and that resources are infinite.
Wake up guys - time for change
ch ch ch changes
Mark from London is wrong the protest was just right
18.08.2007 09:54
The camp was right to target the DfT try DTi as well as the other has more economical influence on aviation policy.
steve from Leicester
Response to Steve from Leicester
20.08.2007 18:09
My point is this your facts dont stack up:-
Take a look at the stats:
Transport accounts for c22% of total UK C02 emissions
Residential accounts for c15%
Energy Industry c40%
Of the 22% that is Transport - around 80% is Car Vans and HGVs whilst civil aviation is around 3% (of the 22% or less than 1% of UK total) - rail shipping buses etc makes up the rest....
Given this my point is that even if aviation trebles the impact on overall CO2 emissions (although important and unwanted) and even if the numbers are wrong by a factor of 3 it isnt going to fundamentally change CO2 emissions. Every house moving to Plasma Screen TVs (that are more power hungry) and digital TV with 25+million households will impact on such emissions due to the sheer volume of use.
My point is that to reduce CO2 emissions the MOST effective thing to do is to reduce emissions from the home, cars and vans and energy production. Aviation is [FACT] a minor player in TOTAL CO2 emissions, even if it increases significantly. The real target should be other areas of our lives but whuilst accepting that ALL areas shouldf try and make impacts...
My suspicion is that aviation is being targetted as a soft target linked to expansion/ And the protests ignore FACT and REALITY of where impacts could be greatest (but which are more difficult and unpalatable to Joe Public)
Mark - London
mark from london
29.08.2007 18:28
actually aviation contributes more than you think- from defra's own figures, it is responsible for 7% of total uk emissions- although they only count flights OUT of the uk and not returning domestic flights.
it also says in the small print underneath that "climate impact of aviation about 3 times greater than CO2 emissions alone". this is due to radiative forcing. so even if you don't count the emissions from returning flights, the figure should be nearer 20% CO2e(quivalent). domestic transport is down as 25.2% and residential 25.8%. this is even before the disasterous expansion plans of big business and the government.
of course, business, industry, agriculture and the public sector together account for 42%, but if you familiarise yourself with the climate camps' aims stated on their website, you'll see that business is firmly in their sights. no aspect of the climate change problem will remain unaddressed, everything has to be discussed and solutions sought, by us, the people.
katy