Events

 
  Maryla Hart speaking for 'Food not Fuel'

Demonstration against renewable energy subsidies for Agrofuels

 Monday 12^th October, 6.30 pm
At DECC (Dept of Energy and Climate Change), 3 Whitehall Place, London

Photo-op at 12.30 – 1.30 pm

Called by Campaign against Climate Change, Biofuelwatch and Food not Fuel

This was a lively demonstration with a great atmosphere! Good speeches from  Kenneth Richter from Friends of the Earth, Rupert Read from the Green Party, Maryla Hart from ‘Food not Fuel’, Phil Thornhill from the ‘Campaign against Climate Change’, Amancay Colque from Coordinadora Latinoamericana. and also John Stewart from HACAN who chipped in with a few words about agrofuels as the 'long game' of the aviation industry. Also great music from, Pete, Mark et al!

Half way through there was a great moment when the Latin American contingent arrived on the last stop of their long day of actions in solidarity with indigenous people on this 'Day of Protecting Mother Earth'.

Photos from the evening are here. Earlier in the day there was a photo-op at the same place, the photos from the shoot are here. Videos are on a playlist on our YouTube channel.

So what was the demo about ? Well........

The government is using renewable energy subsidies (Renewable Obligations Certificates – or ROCs) to fund power stations that use agrofuels. 

The Great Climate Swoop, 17th-18th October

The climate swoop was a well-attended event, with approximately 1,000 people present on Saturday, many of which stayed the night in the woods.

Our bloc, called Footsteps to the Future was loud and lively (helped no end by the bike sound system) and we marched from East Midlands Parkway station to the gate of the station where we stayed for a bit, snacking and listening to speeches.

Then the march resumed, down the road (with the humongous coal pile on our left) onto the bridge where we could peacefully observe the fence which other blocs were trying desperately to pull down! There we stayed for a while, eating flapjacks, playing a giant version of paper-rock-scissors and dancing to the sound system (rather appreciated by a police officer who joined in from the pavement!) until it started getting dark and cold, at which point most people went back to the station to get transport home.

A camp complete with warming fire was set up in the woods nearby, where the majority of those that stayed slept for the night. Sunday was less eventful than Saturday, with a few people launching a half-baked and unsuccessful attempt at getting a fence down before everyone got escorted back to the station where minibuses and trains took demonstrators back home.

We've uploaded some photos here.

The Great Climate Swoop, 17th-18th October

The climate swoop was a well-attended event, with approximately 1,000 people present on Saturday, many of which stayed the night in the woods.

Our bloc, called Footsteps to the Future was loud and lively (helped no end by the bike sound system) and we marched from East Midlands Parkway station to the gate of the station where we stayed for a bit, snacking and listening to speeches.

Then the march resumed, down the road (with the humongous coal pile on our left) onto the bridge where we could peacefully observe the fence which other blocs were trying desperately to pull down! There we stayed for a while, eating flapjacks, playing a giant version of paper-rock-scissors and dancing to the sound system (rather appreciated by a police officer who joined in from the pavement!) until it started getting dark and cold, at which point most people went back to the station to get transport home.

A camp complete with warming fire was set up in the woods nearby, where the majority of those that stayed slept for the night. Sunday was less eventful than Saturday, with a few people launching a half-baked and unsuccessful attempt at getting a fence down before everyone got escorted back to the station where minibuses and trains took demonstrators back home.

We've uploaded some photos here.

The Big “5” for “350”

Aerial Photograph at the London Eye 2pm, Saturday 24^th October

The "Big 5" photograph went fantastically well, over 600 people gathered on London's South Bank to form the shape of a 5, to be put next to a 3 that was taken in Sydney, Australia and a 0 that was taken in Copenhagen, Denmark on the same day. The event was part of the 350 global day of action which saw over 4,000 events in over 180 countries all highlighting the number 350 - the safe level of CO₂ in the atmoshphere in parts per million that we need to achieve to avoid catastrophic climate change (the current level 390 ppm).

The event was part of the nef's Bigger Picture festival that was taking place in The Bargehouse nearby.

Clicking the image above gets you to the full size version, but be warned, it's nearly 7 megabytes!

Here is a great time-lapse YouTube video of the event.
 

while Leap Anywhere did a video of the day with interviews.

You can see all the other events from the 350 day of action on their website. The 350 day of action, founded by author Bill McKibben, is the major international action leading up to the UN Climate Talks in Copenhagen, these actions peak with the Global Day of Action on Climate Change midway through the talks on December 12th – see here.

London Public Forum

Saturday 7th November

12.00 noon – 6.00 pm,
at South Camden Community School, Charrington St.

The event saw a great afternoon of speeches by a range of diverse and passionate speakers.

The four round table plenaries were:

• 10% cuts by end 2010: the case for emergency action
• Green Jobs Now – a million climate jobs by end 2010?
• Decarbonising our transport fast – the way ahead
• Copenhagen, the deal we need and the deal we’re likely to get

Plus there were assorted workshops including ones from Biofuelwatch/Food not Fuel and the CCC trade union group.

For a full programme of events click here.

The speakers Aubrey Meyer (Global Commons Institute), Oliver Tickell (author Kyoto 2), John Stewart (HACAN), Johann Hari (journalist), Jean Lambert MEP (Green Party),  Damian Carrington (Head of Environment, the Guardian), Alexis Rowell (Camden Council), Daniel Scharf (Greenspeed), Chris Baugh (Public and Commercial Services Union), Dr Stuart Parkinson (Scientists for Global Responsibility).