The Rising Tide UK Climate Action News Sheet with news, future
events and ideas for taking action on Climate Change is a short (two pages max)
email sent out only when there is something useful to say and never more than
once a week. To
sign up, click here...
RISING
TIDE
UK CLIMATE ACTION NEWS SHEET 37
24th February 2004
NEWS - L.A. Activists
with Giant Banner Protest Ford "Holding America Hostage to
Oil"
COMING EVENT -
Oil, War, Climate Change & Capitalism: making the links globally
and locally
COMING EVENT -
New book on Climate Change Impacts: Talk in Reading
COMING EVENT
- Theatre Training for Climate Activists
COMING EVENT
- Introduction to Renewable Energy Weekend Course
A note for newcomers - These
news sheets are short (2 ish pages) and we won't "flood" you (ho
ho) - we will issue them only when we have something to say and
even then no more than one update per week (and maybe even less
often). YOUR DETAILS WILL NEVER BE GIVEN TO ANYONE.
1. ACTION - Ancient Woodland Under Threat
Groups of activists are camping in an ancient
woodland north of Cardiff, Wales to protect its destruction to make
way for a new road. The blackwood site is home to dormice and bat
habitats supposedly protected under European law, but despite hopes
of the illegality of the project preventing work, the destruction
is going ahead full steam on unprotected parts of the site. Numbers
on site are low, but local support is strong, and two camps are
now well established. Activists on site are adamant that with enough
support the destruction can be stopped.
What you can do:
Numbers are low: anyone
can help protect the blackwood site. See below for contact details.
Training: experienced activists are needed to help train
people in climbing techniques, putting up walkways and tree houses.
Legal / environmental experts:
hastle Constain (construction firm), Caerphilly council and the
Welsh Assembly nature conservation section re. the bat / dormice
habitats.
Days of Action: you
don't have to come and camp - Small groups taking direct action
can be really effective by coming and stopping work for a day,
helping to hold up work long enough for the legal challenge to
proceed.
Contact: 07952 774525 / 07708 420446.
More details: Indymedia
Report
2.
ACTION - Stop the Oil-driven Corporate Invasion of Iraq!
Day of Action: Tuesday February
24th
United for Peace are calling for an
international day of protest to end the corporate invasion of Iraq
that has essentially put Iraq up for sale and support Iraqi workers'
rights. Protests can be in your city, at the offices of Halliburton,
Bechtel, or another war profiteering company. Protest Halliburton,
Bechtel, and the other corporations that are making millions in
Iraq, and speak out for Iraqi workers' rights and self-determination.
The protests don’t have to be big - even a few people holding
up signs in front of a Halliburton local office would be great!
For more info on the Day of Action
including ideas for protests see:United
for Peace
For more info on Halliburton see: Corporate
Watch (includes office locations in the UK)
3.
ACTION - Protest:
Night flights - we won’t take it lying down!
Friday 27th February, 8.45
- 9.30am, the green opposite the Thistle Hotel, Victoria Station
(Junction Victoria St / Grosvenor Gardens and Buckingham Palace
Road)
The aviation industry is aiming for
all night long flying. The Department for Transport will be holding
yet another sham “consultation” exercise about night
flights. The list of speakers says it all – 8 industry speakers,
but not one resident directly affected by their plans. AirportWatch
will be demonstrating by holding a “sleep-in” outside
the venue to show how this issue affects peoples lives... a great
photo-opportunity for the press and television. Anyone can join
in, including you! Please phone 0208 241 0527 if you're coming.
What to bring: something to lie on
(ground sheet, mat, camp bed) blankets or sleeping bag, nightwear,
night-caps etc.
4.
ACTION - Barclays pull out of Baku funding: urge others to follow
Barclays Bank has refused to provide
a loan for the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline following campaigning over the
last month – the first major private bank to say no to the project.
The largest portion of the pipeline's funding will come from private
banks like HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland (which owns NatWest),
despite the fact that it should be excluded by environmental rules
they have signed up to, called the Equator Principles.
If you bank at HSBC, RBS, or Natwest,
then phone your branch, and tell them about your concerns
For more information, and suggested text
you can use when emailing the banks: www.baku.org.uk
5.
NEWS - London Rising Tide disrupts Caspian oil & gas conference
Activists from London Rising Tide disrupted
a conference on 27th January dedicated in part to 'overcoming ecological
and environmental concerns' about the pipelines that are beginning
to criss-cross the Caucasus with Big Oil and US military backing.
‘Risks & Opportunities in
Caspian and Central Asian Oil & Gas’, held at the Paddington
Hilton, boasted the participation of many Caspian region energy
ministers, as well as oil representatives and investors. Just as
a session on BP's highly controversial BTC pipeline was due to begin,
activists entered the room and attached themselves to the furniture
using bicycle locks, explaining in some detail their opposition
to BTC as well as the oil industry in general.
Soaring air pollution in the UK during
last August's heat wave killed an estimated 800 people, the government
has revealed. Ozone levels reached record highs due to the hot weather.
Levels of fine particulates (PM10) also rose sharply. Deaths attributed
to air pollution in early August were nearly 80% higher than in
the same period in 2002. The finding suggests that air pollution
caused up to 40% of extra deaths during the heat wave.
7.
NEWS - L.A. Activists with Giant Banner Protest Ford "Holding
America Hostage to Oil"
On 8 January, human rights and environmental
activists with Global Exchange and Rainforest Action Network daringly
repelled
down a 32-story skyscraper near the Los Angeles Auto Show and unfurled
a giant banner reading "Ford: Holding America Hostage to Oil."
Set to coincide with the LA Auto Show just blocks away, the banner
was designed to raise public awareness about how Ford Motor Company
and other auto manufacturers are needlessly keeping the US dependent
on oil.
8. COMING EVENT - Oil, war, climate change &
capitalism: making the links globally and locally
Saturday 13th March, Cardiff
(venue tbc)
A day of workshops, talks, films and
an evening gig. Features include:
Blackwood
road protest - background talk by activists living at the
camp followed by action workshop on what to do to help
Rising
Tide - the global political background to oil, war and climate
change, workshop on specific issues e.g. the Baku-Ceyhan oil pipeline
Cardiff
Anarchist Network - workshops on taking effective direct action,
overview of a year’s campaigning, and top tactical tips
If you would like to come, give a talk
or workshop, or for more information, phone: 07949 284368 or email
cardiff@risingtide.org.uk
9. COMING EVENT - New book on Climate Change Impacts:
Talk in Reading
Wednesday 3rd March, 8pm, RISC,
London Street, Reading
From melting permafrost in Alaska to disappearing Pacific islands,
High Tide, News From A Warming World by Mark Lynas chronicles
how people around the world are being affected by present day climate
change. At the beginning of March, the same week it is published
by Flamingo, Mark will be in Reading talking about his book and
the amazing journey writing it has taken him on. For more details
phone John 0118 962 1210
10. COMING EVENT - Theatre Training for Climate
Activists
Reading Rising Tide are organising a
series of Theatre Workshops to put together short Street Theatre,
and other pieces, possibly leading to a summer tour of festivals.
If you would like to take part in climate based agit prop and live
near Reading contact John on 0118 962 1210
11. COMING EVENT - Introduction to Renewable Energy
Weekend Course
12 - 14 March 2004, Wales
An overview of the technology of renewable
energy and basic principles of solar electricity, solar water heating,
small-scale wind power, microhydro, biomass and their applications
for homes, businesses and farms. The emphasis will be on how things
work and what it is practicable to do. Participants will have the
opportunity to develop their own projects. At the end of the course
participants should be able to do basic designs for renewable energy
systems.
For information on the course contents
contact Green Dragon Energy: 01654 761570 / dragonrg@talk21.com
to register contact the Centre for
Continuing Education, University of Wales: 01970 622677 / bff@aber.ac.uk
