The Global Climate Campaign is the collective name given to all the organisations, groups and individuals around the world who come together for the Global Day of Action on climate, this year set for 4 December.
The day of action has occurred every year since 2005 at the time of the annual United Nations Talks on climate change (the COP or “Conference of Parties” to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change). The “World People's Conference on Climate Change and the…
“Give me the directions. There’s loads of people here”, the kilted figure said into his mobile phone, turning to us to make an announcement: “They’ve taken the site and need as many people there as quickly as possible. I’ll take you.” At 10pm it was still 14 hours before activists were scheduled to take the site for the 2010 Climate Camp, but after a gruelling 12-hour journey on the Megabus we had finally made it to Edinburgh’s Forest Café.
Unfortunately, our guide had overestimated…
Responding to a call by the Latin American network “Global Minga” for an annual day of action in defence of mother earth on 12 October, reclaiming the day that used to be imposed as “Columbus Day”, the international network Climate Justice Action is proposing a day of direct action for climate justice on 12 October 2010. The call is for “system change, not climate change!”
“Give me the directions. There’s loads of people here”, the kilted figure said into his mobile phone, turning to us to make an announcement: “They’ve taken the site and need as many people there as quickly as possible. I’ll take you.” At 10pm it was still 14 hours before activists were scheduled to take the site for the 2010 Climate Camp, but after a gruelling 12-hour journey on the Megabus we had finally made it to Edinburgh’s Forest Café.
Unfortunately, our guide had…
This report is written as a letter to Pat O’Donnell and Niall Harnett who are in jail in Ireland for opposing Shell’s Corrib gas pipeline.
Dear Pat and Niall
We’re just back from the Merthyr to Mayo Solidarity Bike Ride, which connected the struggles of the people of Wales and Ireland opposing the misuse of our natural resources by multi-national corporations and complicit governments.
My partner and I joined the ride in Galway. Some of the other riders did…
On 7 June, Kent police issued an unqualified apology to long-time activist Dave Morris and to twins aged 11 after test case litigation challenging police on unlawful searches during the Kingsnorth Climate Camp in July 2008.
Evidence was given that the twins had been reduced to tears after being stopped and searched while attending their first political event.
With their apology, Kent police also gave a commitment to disseminate the lessons learned to every police force in the…
A call for direct action against climate change has been made by Mohamed Nasheed, president of the Maldives, a state made up of a necklace of atolls whose maximum natural ground level is only 7 feet 7 inches above sea level (ASL), and whose average ground level is only 4ft 11in ASL. Speaking at the Hay literary festival at the end of May, Nasheed said: “What we really need is a huge social ’60s-style catalystic, dynamic street action.”
The main problem was the US, not China: “If the…
Public shareholders of RBS put the case for sustainable investment at the bank’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Edinburgh on 28 April. Since the bank bailout in 2008 the UK government owns 84% of RBS shares, effectively taking the bank into public ownership.
However, the public who amassed outside Edinburgh International Conference Centre, many suited and booted for the occasion, held their meeting from behind police barriers.
The meeting was supported by the World…
On 26 April, people involved in the Rising Tide Network literally put their necks on the line by blockading the railway line which carries coal from the controversial open-cast mine at Ffos-y-Frân in Merthyr Tydfil to Aberthaw power station, the biggest emitter of carbon dioxide in Wales.
It took the combined efforts of British Rail police and South Wales police over eight hours to remove the protesters. Eighteen people from Bristol and Bath were charged under the Malicious Damages…
Hello everyone! This article here is supposed to be about how Peace News is getting on as a member of the 10:10 initiative to cut carbon emissions by 10% in 2010. For us, that mainly means using less electricity, switching off appliances and so on.
Anyhow, this month we respond to a criticism we’ve received of the 10:10 organisation. We’ve had a letter criticising 10:10 for accepting the carbon-cutting pledge of MBDA Missile Systems.
MBDA produces more than 3,000…
In March, the Heathrow Transition Towns group started its “Grow Heathrow” project, squatting a derelict market garden in Sipson, the town threatened by demolition to make way for the projected third runway at Heathrow.
“Grow Heathrow” has had instant, widespread and enthusiastic community support. To arrange a “Grow Heathrow” work day: 07890 751 568; www.transitionheathrow.com
Meanwhile, on 27 March, the high court dealt a hefty…
The Labour government says it is still committed to the third Heathrow runway, but on 12 April gave up on the idea of a second Stansted runway!
I enjoyed David MacKay’s book unpicking energy issues and exploring the realities of the tough choices we face.
It’s had favourable reviews from influential quarters, including those in political power here in the UK. MacKay, a Cambridge physicist, has essentially made a book out of lots of back-of-an-envelope calculations, pulling them together to see, for example, whether potential UK renewable energy sources stack up against our energy consumption.
He’s done almost…
Vandana Shiva has a knack of bringing together issues we often see as separate, and linking our awareness to these connections.
In Soil Not Oil she argues that the triple crisis of the title is actually a triple opportunity – in relation to industrial farming, petroleum-based fertilisers and oil-based transportation on- and off-farm.
What better and more immediate way to reduce our CO2 emissions than to change our food habits? Shiva encourages us to power down our consumption…
