In a pre-emptive attack on the US, the Campaign Against Climate Change organised a march in London on 12 February to draw attention to the Kyoto protocol - which came into force on the 16th.
The US, Australia, Monaco and Liechtenstein are the only developed nations that have failed to ratify the treaty. We decided to give Monaco and Liechtenstein a little leeway, and marched past the Australian High Commission (Ozzies are the biggest producers of greenhouse gases per capita) on the way to the US Embassy. We also passed the Esso HQ at Aldwych. There were more than 1,000 marchers, 141 of whom were carrying flags of the signatories, making us even more colourful than usual and possibly contributing to the wide media coverage we received (particularly in Australia).
As well as the usual environmentalists and anti-war campaigners we were also joined by people who had never taken part in a demo before, and a few infiltrators from the oil industry (we know who you are), but we need these marches to grow, and quickly. The next major focus will be the “MOP” Climate Talks, on 7-18 November. We are hoping to get a raft of organisations from around the world to synchronise internationally coordinated demos coinciding with these talks. We have much longer to arrange this, and so, if you come, the size of the marches should start to approach the scale of the problem.