Mayday Mayday: Invasion of the climate snatchers...
1st May 2008 - A Day of Climate Action, everywhere
Action Reports
Coal Cleaning Company target E-on in London
RBS Banner Protest in York
Green Living show Inspected in Canada
Urban development sabotaged
E.on visit in Coventry
Mayday Critical Mass to Sizewell
Biofuels protest in Leeds
Blockade of GM company BASF UK HQ
INRA- French agricultural research institute in Paris - chalked about biofuels
Coal Cleaning Company target E-on in London
At 07.45 this morning E.ON offices on Pall Mall were targeted by the new upstart Coal Cleaning Company as part of a nationally co-ordinated Day of Climate Action against False Capitalist Solutions.
The Coal Cleaning Company launched their enterprise with E.ON as their first customer. According to the chatty cleaners, “There’s no mess too big! We make coal Fossil Fuel Fresh ™”.
The climate activists targeted E.ON for their promotion of
‘false
capitalist solutions’ to climate change. E.ON is exploiting the idea
of a future Carbon Capture and Storage system to justify building a new
coal fired power station at Kingsnorth - where the utopia of low-impact
living // education // high-impact direct action that is the Climate Camp
will spring up this August.
CCS requires up to 40% more coal per unit of electricity than coal generation without CCS. So more coal needs to be burnt; increasing the overall pollution caused. It also neglects to address the wider problems of over consumption or deal with coal’s other social and environmental impacts.
The Coal Cleaning Company can be contacted on 07790 430 620 for onsite interviews and updates.
For more images see UK Indymedia
RBS Banner Protest in York
People from groups across the city and both Universities took part in a banner protest outside Royal Bank of Scotland's central branch in the city. Leaflets were handed out sumarising RBS's climate crimes.
If the action was unimpressive in and of itself, then the fact we've finally
broken the inertia around actions in York was probably a success in itself.
The rain managed to hold off (only just) and even the passing cops had nothing
whatsoever to say on the matter.
The action was held today because, well, its Mayday and its the day of action against False Capitalist Solutions, of which investment in new oil is perhaps the dimmest idea of the lot!
Green Living show Inspected in Canada
Green Living show inspected and greenwash flyers handed out yesterday in Toronto Canada.
For pictures of the stalls on display visit here
Urban development sabotaged
The Earth and its inhabitants are being raped of their natural resources by the Corporate-State Complex. This is why for the Day of Climate Action we sabotaged this smooth operation in the early hours of April XX
Members of the Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front joined forces to carry out an action against unnecessary urban development in the south-west. Ecoteurs broke into the construction site that is building yet another bridge for the transport of motorized vehicles. A 4x4 was found, paintstripped, all sides completely scarred, tyres damaged, whilst a truck and JCB had logos removed and sides stripped. The flawed concept of "building our way out of congestion" will no longer be tolerated at the expense of the rivers wildlife and £8 million of tax payers money spent on this project.
No Compromise in Defence of Mother Earth.
E.on visit in Coventry
On May 1st, Leamington Rising Tide visited the E.on headquarters at Westwood Business Park in Coventry to expose the truth behind E.on's greenwash and show that carbon capture is a false solution to the problem of climate change.
E.on are planning to build a £1.5 bn extension to their coal fired plant in Kingsnorth. They justify this on the grounds that it will be 'carbon capture ready' even though the technology for carbon capture has yet to be invented and even when it does exist it will emit more pollutants trying to capture and store the carbon than if they just left the emissions unchecked.
To protest against this, Leamington Rising Tide arrived at 8am to hand fliers to the workers. Banners were erected reading "POLLUTE.ON NO MORE GREEN WASH". There was juggling and a picnic outside the doors of the building as the protestors waited for a march of students from Warwick University People and Planet to arrive at 1.30. The marchers came with a replica model of the coal power station and a game of 'catch the carbon' with balloons and nets. The protesters gathered outside the building and then the sign outside was painted green to symbolise the e.ons greenwash and one protester occupied the roof of the building. The day was a great success with a positive, festive vibe and no arrests.
Mayday Critical Mass to Sizewell
In support of the Mayday Climate Action Day, some people from Rising Tide and Earth First got together this Saturday for a Critical Mass to Sizewell nuclear power station to highlight that nuclear is not a solution to climate change.
We turned up at the meeting point – a train station in the tiny Suffolk village of Saxmundham – to be greeted by 15 police officers including some FIT from London. As we set out on a lovely sunny ride through the countryside, the extent of the over-the-top police operation became clear as we passed several unmarked cars full of FIT photographers, the entrance to Sizewell guarded by another twenty cops, and a further ten congregated at our end-point on Sizewell beach. All told we reckon there were fifty cops on hand to police our fun family day out to Sizewell. It was a great critical mass, a good time was had by all, and the local press seemed as bemused as we were by the ridiculousness of the police operation. Wonder if there are any red faces in police intelligence this weekend?
Biofuels protest in Leeds
Leeds activists set up a series of banners with messages like 'food not fuels' and Beware of greenwash' alongside a local tescos petrol station and leafleted passing motorists and shoppers at peak traffic time about the dangers of agrofuels as a false solution to climate change. Fun activities included the construction of a model car who was fed with skipped tesco goods to try and satisfy its insatiable appetite!! Food was given out to people too and a good time was had by all despite some overzealous tesco security guards.
Blockade of GM company BASF UK HQ
On 6 May 30 protesters from Earth First! shut down the BASF UK headquarters at Cheadle Hulme near Manchester to highlight the company's role in pushing GM onto our plates. The GM lobby is using the threat of catastrophic climate change to push their GM agenda - claiming that GM can provide a solution not only to the effects of a changing climate but even help to prevent it. Engineering agrofuel crops, fast growing trees to absorb CO2 and manipulating algea for absorbing pollutants are only a few of their Frankenstain phantasies.
The protesters arrived early in the morning at the flagship offices and successfully blockaded all entrances using d-locks and other equipment. They successfully prevented any staff from entering between 7.30am and 12noon, when they left after some negotiation, with all their equipment, no arrests and no personal details taken. The activists demand the company pull out of GM immediately. They also hung a giant 30 x 10ft banner reading "No To GM".
Mary Sunderland from Earth First! Said: "GM has no part to play in our future: it's a dangerous, unwanted and unproven technology geared towards maximising profits for multinational corporations such as BASF. It is not the answer to food shortages, hunger or climate change. The real solution is to change now to a sustainable farming system and to distribute resources fairly around the world." The bio-tech industry claims GM will feed the world's poor, but experts disagree. A major new study published in April shows that modified soya produces 10 per cent less food than its conventional equivalent, confirming earlier studies showing the same trend. The study finds that the very process of modification depresses productivity.
This revelation came just a week after the biggest study of its kind ever conducted,the International Assessment of Agricultural Science, concluded that GM was not an answer to world hunger. The UN study, conducted by over 400 scientists and approved by over 54 governments is a sobering account of the failure of industrial farming. The key message of the report is that small-scale farmers and agro-ecological methods provide the way forward to avert the current food crisis and deal with the effects of climate change.
For photos and a more detailed report see www.earthfirst.org.uk/actionreports/node/20631
INRA- French agricultural research -chalked about biofuels
The words AGRO-CARBURANTS = DANGER were chalked on the side of the French Agricultural Research institute, as were various cars throughout paris.
May 1st, international workers day, has traditionally been a day to challenge the capitalist system and a celebration of solidarity and workers' struggle for a more just social system.
On this day we are calling on people to make the link between capitalism, economic growth, climate change and social struggle.
As climate change is starting to hit people around the world, a huge number of techno-fixes are forming a new economic sector: from biofuels to nuclear power, carbon-trading to hydrogen fuel cells, carbon capture and storage. Everywhere corporations are seeking the elusive elixir which allows us to continue business as usual. All this whilst our planet is burning and people are loosing their homes, their livelyhoods and their lives to climate chaos.
All of these technologies are a distraction from the root cause of climate change: an economic system based on endless economic growth not only at the cost of the environment we live in but also based on an exploitative social system.
Many of these technofixes are also directly counterproductive to stopping climate chaos and pose new threats to people's livelyhoods and the survival of the planet.
Agrofuels expansion is direcly responsible for subsistence farmers being cleared of their land, food shortages and enormous price rises, whilst doing nothing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Nuclear power is heralded as a green fuel, but the environmental hazards of uranium extraction, radiation leaks during use and storage, the danger of melt-down and fatal applications in warfare are as dangerous as they have always been.
Scientists promise genetically engineered wonder plants to cope with climate changes, but people in third world countries have yet to see any benefits and fight against the patenting of the genes of traditionally used plants, whilst multinationals are lining their pockets.
The real solution to climate change must be a massive reduction in our consumption, the end to economic growth and a society based on equality and mutual aid.
Technofixes are not the answer to climate change - what we need is far reaching social and economic change!
