Action: Greenwash

"Same Old Not New Not Zero Nuclear" (or, most of what you need to know about Nuclear Power in the UK but weren't nerdy enough to ask):

Submitted by lrt2 on Mon, 12/20/2021 - 18:34

We'll endeavour to keep this updated here:- https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KI_2HfexzDUjmn-RiX9e3xLb5mjHN2khSo7…

A Requested Briefing Paper for COP26Coalition from RisingTideUK

With no Nuclear Power campaigners at any major UK NGO there's a danger of the reappearance of Nuclear ambivalence, maybe particularly with 2020’s high profile defection of the Extinction Rebellion (XR) newspaper "Hour Glass" editor to pro-nuclear power propagandist lobbying.

These briefing notes aim to prevent that scenario developing and was requested in response to PM outlines his Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution for 250,000 jobs - GOV.UK and £40 million to kick start next-gen nuclear technology - GOV.UK by the Coalition’s Political Strategy Working Group.

Nuclear (National Grid average as at year ending Mar'21), accounts for 16.1% of the UK electricity supply mix, with Renewables at 40.3%, Natural Gas at 38.2%, Coal 2.7% (& "Other" also 2.7%).

So apart from:-

taking more than a decade to build;

no current safe or adequate waste storage solutions, even after 70 years of operation; 

a major accident every decade - Windscale (UK), 3 Mile Island (USA), Chernobyl (Soviet Union), Fukushima (Japan), Forsmark (Sweden) and in the Netherlands, France etc. etc;

rising sea levels at all coastal sites;

exorbitant guaranteed "strike prices" for electricity generated and prioritised over Renewables;

continued weapons proliferation via requisite grade plutonium created in civil reactors;

radioactive and radiation health threats causing cancers and other fatal diseases;

potential terrorism targets;

huge coolant water usage and warm water discharge;

the mind-blowing monumental cost compared to the Renewables displaced:-
​​​​​​​

Nuclear Power is not low carbon.

26 COPs and still climate breakdown not arrested! - COP26 Update#8 : Rising Tide 21 years old

Submitted by lrt2 on Fri, 12/17/2021 - 19:35

So, the mouldy green dust of the "climate Davos" has settled on another COP "negotiation". 27 years on and the story is still: can; kick; road. Rather than consigning coal, oil and gas to the past, the first mention in text ever for "fossil fuels" was in a weak reference to removing ‘inefficient subsidies for fossil fuels’ with a ‘phase down’ of coal that doesn’t even mention gas or oil!  COP26, more impotent than important.

Largest UK anti-airport protest in history - 18 events for 12 UK airports during Stay Grounded Global Days of Action - "Stop Greenwashing – Reduce Air Traffic Now!"

Submitted by lrt2 on Sun, 11/28/2021 - 17:16

On the 5th and 6th of November 2021, aviation protest actions across the globe coordinated by Stay Grounded, called for an end to aviation’s greenwashing and an effective reduction of air traffic. The diverse protests were part of a Global Day of Action called by the https://cop26coalition.org/gda/  a UK-based civil society grouping, mobilising around climate justice during COP26, the UN Climate Conference in Glasgow. In addition to the 18 events for 12 UK expanding airports, protests also took place in Mexico, Nepal, Germany and France.

Aviation is the most climate-damaging form of transport and one of the worst examples of climate injustice, so nobody should be fooled by attempts to greenwash aviation. New technologies and so-called ‘sustainable’ fuels will take decades to be used on commercial, long haul flights – and it is these flights that cause the vast majority of aviation’s climate wrecking emissions. (Check out 5 Greenwashing Factsheets here:- https://stay-grounded.org/greenwashing ). Research shows that relying on techno-fixes will not decarbonise the aviation sector rapidly enough to stay below the globally agreed 1.5 degrees C limit; and the UK government’s advisory body, the Climate Change Committee, recommends NO net expansion of UK airports and has repeatedly warned the government that technological solutions alone will be insufficient to make the aviation sector even net zero by 2050. Yet, every UK airport has plans to expand. 

In this context we took to the fields and streets to counter greenwashing and aviation expansion. In what rapidly became a full Week of Action, Rising Tide UK co-ordinated the Stay Grounded activities in the UK for airports at:  Bristol, Doncaster-Sheffield, Gatwick, Glasgow, Heathrow, Leeds-Bradford, London-City, Luton, Liverpool, Manchester, Southampton and Stanstead. Our press spokesperson Ray Stewart said:-
  "We warn that trusting yet-to-be-developed technology to reduce climate-wrecking emissions is an extreme risk we cannot afford to take. Instead, we demand immediate action be taken to prevent aviation growth to cut associated emissions, for us to stand any chance of remaining within 1.5C.”

18 events for 12 UK airports showed what happens when we get together and co-ordinate united action around common themes under the Stay Grounded UK Chapter umbrella. So well done to those groups that took part and thanks to those who acted as group spokespeople, took photo's and did techy stuff. Lets have more groups covering more airports next time! We encourage those groups to visit https://stay-grounded.org/how-to-become-a-member/ .

Here's a round-up of what happened and where, with media links of which we're aware.

4thOct18:-SOLIDARITY RALLY at #NoToHeathrow COURT HEARING- STAY GROUNDED LAUNCH Weeks of Action

Submitted by lrt2 on Mon, 10/01/2018 - 19:57

RisingTideUK will be joining others for a morning of music, speeches and solidarity outside the Royal Courts of Justice, The Strand, from 9am to show the government and Heathrow Airport Ltd what we think of their irresponsible and dangerous plans. The hearing will determine whether some or all of the 6 legal claims against Heathrow’s expansion will go to a full trial in 2019. For those of you who must dabble on the dark side there is a FB event. This Rally falls within the Stay Grounded fortnight of Aviation Actions. https://www.facebook.com/events/248337659159577/
“STAY GROUNDED” SUPPORTING STATEMENT
RisingTideUK are Founder Members of the Stay Grounded Network, launched today and have joined with more than 110 organisations worldwide to support a position paper from Stay Grounded, outlining 13 steps for a transition towards a transport system that is more socially just and ecologically sustainable. This growing global network is working to curb the unrestrained expansion of the aviation sector which is causing ever increasing damage to the climate, to biodiversity and local residents. The network is made up of local airport opposition groups and frontline communities, NGOs, trade unionists, academics, climate justice activists and groups supporting alternatives like night trains. From 1st-12th October 2018, Stay Grounded action weeks take place in more than 15 countries around the world. They will show that resistance against new airport infrastructure and aviation growth is rising. The network and these actions will send a message to policy makers and the industry, rejecting the greenwashed aviation pseudo-strategies being fostered right now, like CORSIA, carbon trading and tanked biofuels. Please join RisingTideUK to support Stay Grounded, and follow its facebook and twitter accounts: @staygrounded3

Bristol Rising Tide protest at Environment Agency, Bristol, 15/9/18

Submitted by lrt2 on Mon, 10/01/2018 - 17:46

Climate activists BristolRisingTide hung a nine-metre banner from the atrium of the Environment Agency in Bristol in a protest against fracking. The 50-strong group accused the regulator of facilitating fracking by granting environmental permits to shale gas companies. The Environment Agency’s offices had been open for the Bristol Open Doors Day, an event offering free tours of the city’s landmark buildings. Laurie Underwood, from the group, said:-
“On the one hand, the Environment Agency is preparing the country for adapting to the impacts of climate change but on the other, it is dishing out permits for onshore oil and gas drilling which will exacerbate the climate crisis....we call on the Environment Agency and its workers to take a tougher stance against a reckless fracking industry which threatens our air quality, our water quality and our climate.”.
The group pointed out that the Forestry Commission, another agency which comes under the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, decided recently not to renew the lease on an exploratory drilling site near Leith Hill in Surrey. The decision was based on the risk of damage to nearby ancient woodland. Laurie Underwood called on the Environment Agency to be:-
“more pro-active in speaking out against the environmental impacts of new, unwanted fossil fuel extraction.....they should follow the Forestry Commission’s lead and tell the government that licensing fracking isn’t compatible with its environmental mission. Stop the fracking permits. Stop approving climate change.”.

PLAN FOR TIME TO ACT CLIMATE MARCH SATURDAY 7th March & AFTER ACTION AT TATE BRITAIN

Submitted by lrt2 on Tue, 03/03/2015 - 20:09

Join us on the:- 1)ART NOT OIL BLOC will be part of BLOC 5:Red:Fossil Free Future.
                           Meet from 12noon till 12.30pm to move off at 1pm,    at Meeting Point 5:Red, NE or top right hand corner of Lincoln's Inn Fields, WC1, on the street, Newman's Row. Look for the Art Not Oil BP subvertised helios logo banner.
                          2)OIL SPILL ACTION AT TATE BRITAIN
                     Meet
at the human Viking Longship about 4pm or during the last speaker, scheduled to be Caroline Lucas MP. Moving off ASAP along Millbank to create an oil spill on the steps of Tate Britain. See you there, further info below and at http://www.timetoact2015.org/ :-



ART NOT OIL COALITION LAUNCHED AS BP TARGETED IN TATE CARBON DATE

Submitted by lrt2 on Thu, 01/02/2014 - 01:31

 The Art Not Oil Coalition got underway with several spectacular Actions. A large turnout of London Rising Tiders helped our friends of Liberate Tate with theirs, organised at Tate Britain.

 Fifty veiled figures dressed in black carried out a performance art installation entitled ‘Parts Per Million’ throughout a series of rooms in the so-called ‘BP Walk Through British Art’ at Tate Britain during the art gallery’s official re-opening (Saturday 23 November 2013). The piece critiqued the role that Tate is playing in exacerbating climate change by bolstering the public perception of BP through its long-standing sponsorship relationship.

ART NOT OIL COALITION LAUNCHES WITH NEW WEBSITE

Submitted by lrt2 on Thu, 01/02/2014 - 00:45

 As both a Rising Tide UK Campaign and a Rising Tide National Group, "Art Not Oil" has railed against Big Oil cultural sponsorship since 2004. We are pleased to announce it has now become a coalition of autonomous organisations united around the aim of ending oil sponsorship of the arts and sharing resources as the Art Not Oil Coalition.

The founding members of this new coalition alongside Rising Tide UK are:- Liberate Tate, Platform, the Reclaim Shakespeare Company, Shell Out Sounds and the UK Tar Sands Network; who have agreed to campaign together under the following :-

ART NOT OIL COALITION JOINT STATEMENT