Skip Nav | Home | Mobile | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Security | Support Us

World

No to Air Expansion As Climate Issue Hots Up

IMC UK Features | 02.12.2005 21:11 | Ecology | Globalisation | London | World

A coalition of eco-activists, climate change campaigners and local airport residents demonstrated in London outside the gala dinner of the the world's largest aviation industry conference on Tuesday 29th November. The area was heavily policed with mounted officers and dogs and pedestrian access to Tower Bridge bridge restricted. Aviation delegates arriving at London's Tower Bridge Walkways were greeted with a noisy protest and a brief attempt to block the route of delegate coaches was made.

Reports, pictures and video: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | video | Cambridge | Edinburgh | Australia

Earlier in the day it was reported that Earth First activists distrupted the aviation conference [report]. The campaigners were opposing plans to expand runways and drawing attention to the fact that aviation is one of the fastest growing cause of climate change. The actions also coincided with the begining of the UN Kyoto "COP 11 / MOP 1" Climate Conference in Montreal, Canada, which runs until 9th December [Official website | Climate Justice Convergence Centre | Climate Justice Blog]

On the same day Tony Blair's 'pro-nuclear' energy review speech was also disrupted by Greenpeace activists at the annual CBI conference [GP report | earlier Downing St. 'coal' blockade report]. Campaigners are now preparing for the International Day of Climate Protest this Saturday, 3rd December, with climate demonstrations planned in over 30 countries - see UK Details | International Info. A late summer Climate Action Camp for 2006 has also been recently announced.

Also see: Climate Change IMC | IMC SouthCoast Runway to Ruin Feature (Nov 05)
Indymedia Pre-G8 2005 Climate Change Resources + Reports |
SchNEWS on Nuclear Power Craze | PlanetStupid | Stop Climate Chaos Coalition | Pledge To Take Action Against Airport Expansion | Raised Voices: Climate Testimonies | Heathrow's Third Runway challenged by villagers

a banner on the bridge
a banner on the bridge




Residents from groups including HACAN Clearskies, NOTRAG (No Third Runway Group) and Airport Watch who live near to some of the airports earmarked for expansion are set to suffer further effects of noise pollution, traffic congestion and an increase in respiratory illnesses - some are being told their homes may be destroyed to make way for more tarmac.

Earlier in the day Earth First! protestors were reported to have stormed their way through security at the conference. Armed with rape alarms attached to helium balloons which they released into the high ceiling conference suite, the disruption was timed to coincide with a key note speech by a senior executive from British Airways. Ironically, each of the six alarms causes 130 decibels of noise - the equivalent of a jumbo jet taking off.

One of the activists, Richard George, explained, "Aviation is the fastest growing cause of climate change, so we decided to bring the high-flying aviation executives back down to ground. Just as Earth First! disrupted the government's road building programme in the '90s, and stopped the commercialisation of GM crops, we're just as determined to stop airport expansion using direct action."

Another activists, Joss Garman, added, "We're raising the alarm and saying the climate crisis is out of control and aviation expansion just can't go on."

Following the disruption of Blair's 'energy review' CBI speech, Stephen Tindale Director of Greenpeace UK said, "Today Blair is trying to launch a new nuclear age and we are here to stop him. Nuclear power is not the answer to climate change - it's costly, dangerous and a terrorist target."

"Just three years ago Blair conducted the biggest energy review in 60 years - which concluded renewable energy and energy efficiency, not nuclear, is the way forward. Today's new review is simply a smokescreen for pushing his new-found enthusiasm for nuclear power. It's like Iraq all over again Blair makes his mind up then tries to spin his decision to the British people."

"The real solution to climate change and energy security is a mix of efficient, safe and clean energy technologies like wind, wave, and solar. Plus we need to stop wasting energy by generating it closer to where it is consumed - Woking Council have done this and slashed their CO2 emissions by nearly 80%."

He concluded, "Nuclear power is simply a dangerous red herring in this debate. Even if the UK replaced all 23 of its operating reactors, we would only save 10% of our carbon emissions. In contrast the ?56 billion of tax-payers money being used to fund the clean up of the UK's current nuclear sites could buy and install enough wind turbines to meet 20% of the UK's electricity needs."

IMC UK Features

Additions

5 fold increase over the next 30 years

03.12.2005 18:42

...


Additional coverage

06.12.2005 15:21

The Pod Report

 http://podreport.podomatic.com/

has a special feature this week on Airport Expansion.

See also Theft of the Commons

 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/12/329359.html

We also need more objections to the Rotten Borough of Rushmoor on expanison of Farnborough Airport

 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/11/327534.html
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/11/328072.html

keith


Comments

Hide the following 2 comments

That was political action.

03.12.2005 13:10

Demonstrations are political actions. Aa empty airliner was burnt out on the ground in Glasgow some months ago. That would fit in with being a Greenwar action by the more conservative schism in that group. Actions by the radical schism have not been detected in the UK.

DC


demo

06.12.2005 00:11

I'm tired of these carrot crunchers and their boring juvenile stunts.

Private Widdle


Publish

Publish your news

Do you need help with publishing?

/regional publish include --> /regional search include -->

World Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Server Appeal Radio Page Video Page Indymedia Cinema Offline Newsheet

secure Encrypted Page

You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.

If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech