Over fifty young protesters from the climate action group Plane Stupid have this morning shut down Stansted Airport by camping on the runway and surrounding themselves with fortified security fencing.
The peaceful protest began at 3.15am this morning (Monday) whilst the runway
was temporarily closed for maintenance work. Plane Stupid aims to prevent
the scheduled reopening of the runway at 5am. The group intends to maintain
its blockade for as long as possible, preventing the release of thousands of
tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere.
One young woman, Lily, aged 21 said:
"We're here because our parents' generation has failed us and its now down
to young people to stop climate change by whatever peaceful means we have
left. We're afraid of what the police might do to us, we're afraid of going
to jail but nothing scares us as much as the threat of runaway climate
change. We've thought through the consequences of what we're doing here but
we're determined to stop as many tonnes of CO2 as we can."
The young campaigners have raised a banner reading 'CLIMATE EMERGENCY'.
Wearing high visibility vests which have the message "Please DO something"
printed on them, they chose this day for the peaceful trespass as they knew
the runway was closed for maintenance works and no flights were due to take
off or land for two hours after they arrived.
Tilly, 21, said:
"We all grew up listening to Blair and Brown talking about the urgent need
to slash emissions, but nothing ever happened. Even now politicians from our
parents' generation are in Poland holding talks about talks, but still
nobody's actually doing anything. The scientists tell us we've got about
seven years to make emissions peak then drop, and if we fail it will be the
people on this runway, and our children, who'll live with the consequences.
That's why I'm doing this."
The campaigners chose to close Stansted after the government approved the
expansion of capacity at the airport by ten million passengers a year.
Aviation is Britain's fastest growing source of emissions, already amounting
to at least 13% of our country's climate impact. With plans for new runways
across the UK, including at Heathrow and Stansted, experts from the Tyndall
Centre for climate research say Labour's aviation policy alone will scupper
any chance the UK has of hitting its climate targets.
Daniel, 24, said:
"We fully appreciate the scale of what we've done here today and we know
many people will struggle to understand why we've done it, but the Arctic
ice cap is disappearing, the seas are rising and our last chance to save our
future is vanishing. With people taking more flights in Britain than
anywhere else on earth, we have a unique responsibility to tackle emissions
from flying."
In the past two years, members of Plane Stupid have climbed onto the roof of
the Palace of Westminster, blockaded a taxiway at Nottingham Airport and
super-glued themselves to the Prime Minister.
was temporarily closed for maintenance work. Plane Stupid aims to prevent
the scheduled reopening of the runway at 5am. The group intends to maintain
its blockade for as long as possible, preventing the release of thousands of
tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere.
One young woman, Lily, aged 21 said:
"We're here because our parents' generation has failed us and its now down
to young people to stop climate change by whatever peaceful means we have
left. We're afraid of what the police might do to us, we're afraid of going
to jail but nothing scares us as much as the threat of runaway climate
change. We've thought through the consequences of what we're doing here but
we're determined to stop as many tonnes of CO2 as we can."
The young campaigners have raised a banner reading 'CLIMATE EMERGENCY'.
Wearing high visibility vests which have the message "Please DO something"
printed on them, they chose this day for the peaceful trespass as they knew
the runway was closed for maintenance works and no flights were due to take
off or land for two hours after they arrived.
Tilly, 21, said:
"We all grew up listening to Blair and Brown talking about the urgent need
to slash emissions, but nothing ever happened. Even now politicians from our
parents' generation are in Poland holding talks about talks, but still
nobody's actually doing anything. The scientists tell us we've got about
seven years to make emissions peak then drop, and if we fail it will be the
people on this runway, and our children, who'll live with the consequences.
That's why I'm doing this."
The campaigners chose to close Stansted after the government approved the
expansion of capacity at the airport by ten million passengers a year.
Aviation is Britain's fastest growing source of emissions, already amounting
to at least 13% of our country's climate impact. With plans for new runways
across the UK, including at Heathrow and Stansted, experts from the Tyndall
Centre for climate research say Labour's aviation policy alone will scupper
any chance the UK has of hitting its climate targets.
Daniel, 24, said:
"We fully appreciate the scale of what we've done here today and we know
many people will struggle to understand why we've done it, but the Arctic
ice cap is disappearing, the seas are rising and our last chance to save our
future is vanishing. With people taking more flights in Britain than
anywhere else on earth, we have a unique responsibility to tackle emissions
from flying."
In the past two years, members of Plane Stupid have climbed onto the roof of
the Palace of Westminster, blockaded a taxiway at Nottingham Airport and
super-glued themselves to the Prime Minister.
