'Clean' Coal On Trial

On 10th April 11 activists walked into Ratcliffe on Soar Power Station. Production at the plant was halted when they locked themselves to the conveyer belts, stopping the supply of coal to the plant for over 3 hours. The accused all protest their innocence to the charges of aggrevated tresspass. One of the activists said; "I believe this action was a reasonable and proportionate response to the threat of catastrophic climate change and that this action was to prevent a greater crime occuring."

According to one contributor, the action did not only seriously affect production at Ratcliffe but put pressure on the whole grid; "To an extent production could have increased elsewhere to cover the shortage but not immediately to great affect. This was about stopping coal from being burnt but also electricity from being produced in this way altogether. The activists came very close to shutting Rattcliffe down for 48 hours; EON nearly had to fire the whole furnace back up. If this shortage had persisted, the grid would have been vulnerable to further such actions. It is estimated that the action at Rattcliffe stopped the burning of 5,000 tonnes of coal, eqivalent to preventing 9,000 tonnes of CO2 being emitted. A low impact lifestyle could release as little as 1 tonne of CO2 per year. Meaning that each of the activists could have offset their emissions for up to the next 1,000 years!"

The action at Ratcliffe took place as part of a wider week of activities around the issue of climate change in Nottingham called 'Spring Into Action'. It showcased practical solutions to climate change. From workshops on bike maintenance, local food production, community compost projects and strawbale building to concerts and performances, it was an action packed week. It also acted as a showcase for existing projects in Nottingham including Country Parks, allotment projects and the Attenborough Nature Reserve. A lot of the events took place at a for-the-occasion occupied former lace factory, also known as the J.B. Spray factory in the area of Radford. 'Spring into Action' was organised by Eastside Climate Action, a group made up of local people and groups inspired by the Camp for Climate Action. The week was all about inspiring, educating and empowering people to start making changes in their own lives and demonstrating practical alternatives, local projects and local campaigns in action. "It is about changing our lifestyles, but also inspiring collective action to create the wider social change that is needed to deal with climate change. Climate change is the greatest threat humanity has ever faced, and we are already feeling its effects. Change is coming whether we like it or not. We need to make these changes sustainable and equitable." according to one of the organisers. Read this feature article for reports from Spring Into Action.