15th Jun 2008
Climate Camp 2008
The Climate Camp is coming to Kingsnorth. Last year they did an excellent job of highlighting the case against the expansion of airports when they camped on the land for the third runway at Heathrow. Now they are coming to Medway because the new power station represents an even more massive danger.
Not only would Kingsnorth emit twice as much climate changing gases as Heathrows third runway but if we let this happen then there are at least seven more coal fired power stations waiting to apply for planning consent. We must show the government that; reducing demand is not only possible but easy and saves us all money and that investing in truly renewable energy production is the only sensible way forward.
The protest will begin with a one-day event at Heathrow, the site of the previous year's camp, before marching across London to Kingsnorth.
Kingsnorth power station is where owners E.ON plan to build the UK's first coal fired power station in 30 years. Thursday 7th August Green Party MEP Caroline Lucas will be doing an evening workshop and Saturday 9th August has been named a 'day of mass protest and direct action' against Kingsnorth to highlight its impact on climate change.
Moving from Heathrow to Kingsnorth highlights government and corporate collusion to expand the fossil fuel economy when the scientific consensus demands the opposite. We Greens in Medway have been told that the technical and philosophical arguments that we have sent to John Hutton, in the form of a letter of objection, will only be seen as 'lobbying material' and answers given only AFTER a decision has been made. At the same time, it was widely reported how E.ON have been negotiating with DBERR, John Hutton's department, on content and delays of the planning application. For example having gained approval from Medway council E.ON want to remove the carbon capture and storage(CCS) requirement from the plan as it is not practical and could take 20 years or more to be available, and DBERR allowed this to happen without referring it back to Medway or any other democratic oversight. Now they are seeking to delay their application so as to apply for Government grants of tens of millions of pounds for a CCS trial. This money would be better spent on home insulation and feed-in tariffs for renewable energy.
The camp will bring together thousands of activists for several days of workshops and direct action. It will also challenge businesses set to profit from false solutions to climate change such as agrofuels, or Biofuels which are liquid fuels produced from agricultural crops. A day of action targeting the agrofuel industry will be an integral part of the week long camp.
Biofuels have been put forward as a solution to climate change and, typically, multi-nationals are investing heavily. But new studies confirm that they are just as dangerous as fossil fuels. They can emit as much, or even more CO2 and they create the illusion we can carry on as usual. In the end we can only stop climate change if we challenge the growth economy and start putting people and planet first.
Click on the links below to find out more.
