Jan 15th marked the one year anniversary since then transport secretary Geoff Hoon announced Labour’s intentions to forge ahead with a third runaway at Heathrow. This announcement was made regardless of the environmental impact of flattening the two villages Sipson and Harmondsworth along with 700 homes. Noise and air pollution, which already fall below European standards will increase dramatically and an expected increase in passenger numbers from 67 million to 82 million a year, will mean that the third runway at Heathrow, will make the airport the UK’s single biggest source of carbon emissions.
Building on their already incredible Airplot campaign, Greenpeace has now launched a national competition to design an impenetrable fortress on the land currently identified as the site for the new runway. Greenpeace bought the land last year in a bid to complicate legality issues surrounding the expansion. The site currently has over 60,000 beneficial owners worldwide with more signing up every day. Greenpeace propose to raise the funds to construct the winning design once it’s been chosen which will be used to support all peaceful campaigners against the expansion.
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A great article posted in The Independent recently debated the best way to make progress on environmental issues and it seems that times are changing. The 1970’s saw a surge in the success of the Environmental Protests and Rallies; however there is an argument that ever since these successes, the achievement of protests and mass demonstrations has been in steady decline.
Given last December’s COP 15 debacle, there has never been more proof that our glorious leaders are not listening to us; that they cannot be trusted to act in our best environmental interests when they keep getting distracted by pretty shinning things like money and popularity and that they are no longer taking much notice of physical protests.
There is of course always the lobbying aspect, where campaign groups converge in the paperwork, littering MP’s desks with letters of concern, petitions for action and cluttering up their hard drives with online petitions and e-mails threatening not to vote…
The 1990’s saw a raise in more dramatic feats to get heard, with handfuls of the more adventurers, steadfast protestors scaling huge buildings, tying themselves to things often in fancy dress or taking up residency in trees or on sites of environmental interest.
Although I am being flippant in my descriptions, all of the above represent large swaths of people, action groups and protesters who feel incredibly strongly and are desperately trying to make a difference.
It seems that in 2010, with the rapidly gaining prevalence of groups such as Transition Towns, Transition Heathrow and 10:10, a new form of action is being put in motion. Not surprisingly given the disillusionment of environmentalists following Copenhagen, this new style of making change happen operates on an individual, grassroots level, cutting out government and attempts to change legislation and instead focusing on the reality of modern day living and the price we will all have to pay for it.
The Transition Towns movement is a superb example of this; having lost all hope that local government will lead the way, and acknowledging the fact that fossil fuels are a limited resource, the movement prepares communities for a low carbon future, gradually yet effectively weaning towns off of fossil fuel dependency through a united and conscientious approach.
So are the days of protest marches well and truly over? Certainly not, any positive action will always have its place, however since we can’t trust the government to make the difficult decisions for us, we will simply have to start making changes to our own lives, doing what little we can to make a difference and leading by example – who knows one day they might just catch on.
Set 35 yrs into the future, time is the predominant theme. From the minute the opening credits start to roll there’s no escaping it, or more specifically, the lack of it. The impressive opening sets an ominous tone, but the cut to supposedly ‘special’ effects representing the impact of climate change on society, although believable as concepts, sadly are not believable as effects.
Things only get worse once the Archive is introduced; a computer generated ‘Matrix’ like structure so foreboding it has to be accompanied by the mandatory clap of thunder every time it’s in shot – it’s more evil villain’s lair than last vestige of civilization. Unfortunately the Archivist Pete Postlethwaite goes on to utterly ruin this film and I can’t stress this strongly enough. The whole idea of the archivist is an appallingly week structure on which to hang such an important narrative, turning a series of fascinating documentaries, into nothing more than Government Warning Footage for schools. It’s not Pete Postlethwaite’s fault, but this character belittles the audience to such a degree you cringe every time he comes onto screen.
Of course there is a seriously powerful message; the film is engineered to make you want to pass the word around. In a perfect world everybody must watch this film and act upon it immediately before it’s too late. Naturally, nobody will really enjoy it, but everyone should see it – seriously.
Together with the educational message there is a liberal dishing out of shame and guilt along side healthy measures of blame, particularly if you live in the developed world. Quite rightly so – the depth and scale of unashamed and revolting corporate corruption is truly shocking. Facts and statistics are brilliantly illustrated, e.g. the immoral and irresponsible actions of Shell Oil in Nigeria and the utter and indiscriminate rape of Africa throughout the ages. The price other people are having to pay for the west’s extravagance and thoughtlessness is really driven home.
All of the above are forgivable, in fact pretty much unavoidable in a film with this subject matter. However, there is very little hope and I think that is a failing. The futility of mankind’s situation corrodes any faith in humanity you may previously have held. Designed to rally people into positive action before it’s too late, it succeeds in casting serious doubt as to whether humanity can even be saved from itself or whether reducing, halting or reversing our carbon emissions is just beyond us.
… Still want to see it? Well you should.
Starring: Pete Postlethwaite. Director: Franny Armstrong
Seven easy steps to living a greener life, all wrapped up in a very cool and accessible package.
This site really is terrific and crucially it keeps things REAL.
The seven things are simple to follow and integrate into your own life without having to completely abandon all the benefits of 21st century living.
Walk the Walk
Stay Grounded
All Consuming
Easy on the Meat
Human Heat
Plug Out
Stick With What You Got
The Green Thing can introduce himself far better than I can so please watch and enjoy!
Check out the highly interactive website for some great tips on living a greener life and some fantastically inventive videos: Website
After chaining themselves to the entrance of Southampton airport in February, 6 of the 7 anti-aviation expansion protesters have admitted to aggravated trespass and fined a total of £2,000.
The demonstration was designed to focus attention on the human impact of climate change – it is estimated that rising sea levels will create approximately 2 million refugees by the year 2050. Given than Southampton is a coastal conurbation, this has particular resonance and adds another dimension to the arguments surrounding the plans to expand the airport.
BAA hopes to increase passenger traffic for Southampton Airport from 1.5 million passengers a year to 3 million by 2015. The planned expansion of Southampton airport, together with the 34 other regional airports in the UK, will do enough damage to the climate to force an estimated 1.3 million people in impoverished parts of the world to flee raising sea levels, flooding, drought and famine.
Pete Barker of Plane Stupid said “It’s crazy to imagine that we can tackle the serious threat posed by runaway climate change whilst still allowing airports to expand.”
To find out more about this and other anti-aviation campaigns visit: www.planestupid.com
1. Increased flying is one of the main culprits of climate change.
2. The government commitment to the reduction of UK CO2 emissions by 80% by 2050, cannot hope to be achieved if the aviation industry continues to expand at the proposed rate.
3. If the 3rd runway goes ahead, Heathrow will become the UK’s single greatest producer of CO2
4. An independent study of the proposed 3rd runway suggests that the true cost of a third runway would lead to a £5 billion loss.
5. Included in the destinations industry is most keen to expand from Heathrow, are Manchester, Paris & Edinburgh, clearly destinations reachable by the train or bus alternatives which are over ten times less polluting.
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