Climate activists have been celebrating a double victory this week, while
continuing plans to take control of a second power station this weekend.
continuing plans to take control of a second power station this weekend.
Today BAA, Heathrow's owners, announced that they are withdrawing their
application to government for a third runway at Heathrow airport, which
the Camp for Climate Action targeted in 2007 (1). On Wednesday, E.ON
announced they were indefinitely delaying building a new Kingsnorth power
station in Kent, which the Camp targeted in August 2008 (2). Both Climate
Camp targets now look very unlikely to ever be built.
The announcements have come as the climate movement prepares for the Great
Climate Swoop on 17th October, when they plan to take control of
Ratcliffe-on-Soar coal fired power plant operated by E.ON, which emitted
9.9 Million tonnes CO2 in 2008, and is the UK's third largest source of
CO2 emissions (3). Activists will be using youtube and twitter to
coordinate their takeover of the site and provide live minute-by-minute
internet coverage of the event (4).
Targetting E.ON's Ratcliffe plant continues the Camps focus on stopping
emissions from coal plants which are the UK's largest emitters, targeted
by the first Camp of Climate Action, at Drax, in 2006.
Campaigner Kay Wilkinson, said, "It's amazing. Two down, Heathrow and
Kingsnorth, one to go. But this is the hard one, can we get these dinosaur
coal plants replaced by renewable energy in time to avert a climate
catastrophe? It won't happen unless we step out of line, which is why I'll
be at Ratcliffe on Saturday."
Camper Dennis Stevens said: "This really shows people power in action.
These u-turns aren't coming from government, but from big businesses
backing down because of a ground swell of civil disobedience."
Emma Jackson, a spokesperson for the Climate Camp, added: "E.ON and BAA
know that the days of committing new climate crimes are over. Now we have
to start shutting down existing coal-fired power stations, and that's why
we're going to Ratcliffe-on-Soar next week."
More information on the Great Climate Swoop at Ratcliffe on Soar is
available at www.thegreatclimateswoop.org
07772861099, 07040900905 or 07932096677/
press@climatecamp.org.uk
ENDS
_______________________
NOTES FOR EDITORS
(1) www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6869676.ece :
'The airport operator BAA has bowed to opposition to a third runway at
Heathrow airport. It will not submit a planning application before the
general election and will not sign large contracts to “bounce” a future
Conservative government into accepting it.'
(2) Kingsnorth would have been the first coal-fired power station in the
UK for more than 30 years. If built, Kingsnorth will emit between 6 and 8
million tons of CO2 every year. If all the proposed coal plants proposed
for Britain were built, an extra 50 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a
year would be pumped into the atmosphere.
(3) Emissions from 2008:
www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSLM253369. Ratcliffe-on-Soar emits
more CO2 each year than Costa Rica.
(4) see www.climatecamp.org.uk, climatecamp.tv
application to government for a third runway at Heathrow airport, which
the Camp for Climate Action targeted in 2007 (1). On Wednesday, E.ON
announced they were indefinitely delaying building a new Kingsnorth power
station in Kent, which the Camp targeted in August 2008 (2). Both Climate
Camp targets now look very unlikely to ever be built.
The announcements have come as the climate movement prepares for the Great
Climate Swoop on 17th October, when they plan to take control of
Ratcliffe-on-Soar coal fired power plant operated by E.ON, which emitted
9.9 Million tonnes CO2 in 2008, and is the UK's third largest source of
CO2 emissions (3). Activists will be using youtube and twitter to
coordinate their takeover of the site and provide live minute-by-minute
internet coverage of the event (4).
Targetting E.ON's Ratcliffe plant continues the Camps focus on stopping
emissions from coal plants which are the UK's largest emitters, targeted
by the first Camp of Climate Action, at Drax, in 2006.
Campaigner Kay Wilkinson, said, "It's amazing. Two down, Heathrow and
Kingsnorth, one to go. But this is the hard one, can we get these dinosaur
coal plants replaced by renewable energy in time to avert a climate
catastrophe? It won't happen unless we step out of line, which is why I'll
be at Ratcliffe on Saturday."
Camper Dennis Stevens said: "This really shows people power in action.
These u-turns aren't coming from government, but from big businesses
backing down because of a ground swell of civil disobedience."
Emma Jackson, a spokesperson for the Climate Camp, added: "E.ON and BAA
know that the days of committing new climate crimes are over. Now we have
to start shutting down existing coal-fired power stations, and that's why
we're going to Ratcliffe-on-Soar next week."
More information on the Great Climate Swoop at Ratcliffe on Soar is
available at www.thegreatclimateswoop.org
07772861099, 07040900905 or 07932096677/
press@climatecamp.org.uk ENDS
_______________________
NOTES FOR EDITORS
(1) www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6869676.ece :
'The airport operator BAA has bowed to opposition to a third runway at
Heathrow airport. It will not submit a planning application before the
general election and will not sign large contracts to “bounce” a future
Conservative government into accepting it.'
(2) Kingsnorth would have been the first coal-fired power station in the
UK for more than 30 years. If built, Kingsnorth will emit between 6 and 8
million tons of CO2 every year. If all the proposed coal plants proposed
for Britain were built, an extra 50 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a
year would be pumped into the atmosphere.
(3) Emissions from 2008:
www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSLM253369. Ratcliffe-on-Soar emits
more CO2 each year than Costa Rica.
(4) see www.climatecamp.org.uk, climatecamp.tv
Homepage:
we are winning
11.10.2009 18:59
!
Recession NOW!
12.10.2009 11:46
I'd love to say that Kingsnorth and Heathrow were shelved because of our protesting, and that "we're winning", but I think it's mostly just a matter of simple economics - it won't make them enough money to do it, under the current economic climate. They still aren't listening to us, and they are unlikely ever to, really.
OK, we've been telling them of natural limits to certain things for some time, and now those natural limits are beginning to bite a bit, which is perhaps one of the factors which has lead to the recession. But ultimately, it's almost certainly economics rather than protesting which has resulted in these decisions. (That's not to say protesting doesn't have a purpose, or that we shouldn't do it anyway!)
So really, we need to hope that the recession carries on for as long as possible, if humanity is to stand any hope of surviving into the future. Yet politicians are already talking about "rebuilding the economy" and companies are still acting under the assumption that the current economic conditions won't remain forever - albeit cautiously.
Therein lies a great danger - that if they do somehow manage to squeeze another few "booms" out of this, that by the time of the final "bust", it's going to be far too late to do anything about the state of the environment.
Ultimately, under industrial consumer capitalism, economic downturn is essential for our survival.
So NOW - while the apparatus of the money system is falling apart around us - would be a very good time to pull together and help the general public discover new ways of living outside of capitalism as much as possible. There are many positives to the recession, but we need to emphasise them and build exciting, liveable alternatives NOW!
I do worry that the Puritan work ethic (employment and the career ladder) is far too strongly ingrained in people's minds for them to even consider the type of life you can lead where instead of being employed, you simply work to meet your own and your community's needs directly.
We need living alternatives to employment so that we can arrive at full (and sustainable) UNemployment as rapidly as possible, having convinced as many people as possible that it's the way forward. This is no easy task!
I've been racking my brains for some time about how this can be achieved in cities - and to be honest, I really don't know how it can. A city is in many ways a manifestation of the wealth economy - I'm not sure the concept even makes sense in the type of future we'll need to create if we are to survive. At the very least, we'd need large amounts of land in and around the cities with which to produce food, and probably a lot less people living in cities in the first place.
Strong self-reliant communities are ultimately one of the main things that will help stop (and deal with) climate disaster - so we need outreach to build those, NOW!
Any significant economic recovery will spell chaos for the ecosystem, and thus humanity, so we have to create the alternatives as soon as we possibly can.
Can cities continue to exist in the future? I really don't know.
Anyway, just some thoughts at the present moment...
Recession NOW!