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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. SPECIAL OFFER - Free Ecologist Climate Issue

The Ecologist in conjunction with Rising Tide is offering to send a free copy of their January 2004 Climate Change Special Issue to the first 800 people who contact them. For your free copy, send your name and mailing address to climatechange@theecologist.org and please pass this offer on to your friends and colleagues.

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2. ACTION - Demand Renewable Energy Alternatives to New German Lignite Mine

Jeffrey Michel writes from Germany: The German village of Heuersdorf is threatened to be devastated by the US-owned MIBRAG mining corporation. The 22 million tons of lignite directly underneath the town would be extracted using surface mining techniques after destroying dozens of buildings registered as historic monuments. The electricity to be generated from the lignite could be substituted by erecting approximately 100 wind generators of 3 MW each. Local community campaigners in Heuersdorf are working to prevent the historic and environmental destruction by promoting real, sustainable alternatives.

What you can do:

• Call or visit the German Embassy and ask why it's still necessary to trash villages and the environment for lignite mining.
• Contact Ralph Kapler of Halo Energy, whose office in London has already submitted proposals to Vattenfall Europe (the operator of the lignite power plants in eastern Germany) for using renewable energies to replace lignite.
• Anyone interested in investing in the wind farm we are proposing as a substitute for the Heuersdorf lignite could get in touch with the Umweltkontor company that intends to do the planning.

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3. ACTION - Phone and Hastle Climate Deniers

The Association of British Drivers is a pressure group of self-promoting car fanatics campaigning for the 'rights' of drivers against such totalitarian measures as speed cameras and speed limits. They are also very active climate change deniers, claiming variously that climate change is the invention of extremist environmentalists, that it doesn't exist and that it is all due to sun spots. This is a depressingly active and effective organisation and is worth calling to express your views - and they have a freephone number :) so you can do it at their expense. Call 0800 358 9955 whenever the mood takes you, and tell your friends.

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4. NEWS - London Rising Tide picket BP Baku pipeline greenwash

Radisson Edwardian Hotel, London, 24.02.04

BP's recent elite funding conference on the highly controversial Baku Ceyhan oil pipeline had the intention of celebrating its securing of public funding for the project. A small, hardy and creative bunch of London Rising Tiders had other plans, and performed their first street theatre - a symbolic wedding ceremony of BP and a compliant, co-opted international NGO.

"We could really have done with a fossil fuel-free brazier on the picket line, especially when it started snowing," said Mark from London Rising Tide, "but we kept ourselves toasty with the white heat of improvisation, the gentle hum of adrenalin and the warm glow of knowing that the threat of our presence had probably kept many participants away."

Then, partly to draw some parallels between oil, war and climate chaos, the wedding party headed off with a half-hearted police escort to Bechtel in Pilgrim Street, which was being targeted by Voices in the Wilderness as part of a day of action to Stop the Corporate Invasion of Iraq.

BP are running a similar greenwash event on its Tangguh project in the Smeaton Room at 1 Great George Street, Westminster, London, SW1P 3AA on Wednesday 10th March from 09.30

Full report on Indymedia: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/london/2004/02/285978.html
London Rising Tide: london@risingtide.org.uk, www.burningplanet.net

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5. NEWS - New Study Reveals ExxonMobil's Contribution to Global Warming

ExxonMobil (Esso in the UK), the world’s biggest oil company, has caused some five per cent of global, man-made, climate changing carbon dioxide emissions over the last 120 years, new research by Friends of the Earth reveals. The study, which is the first time that the historic contribution of one company to global climate change has been calculated, could prove vital in paving the way for compensation claims against companies by victims of climate change resulting from man-made pollution.

More information: www.exxonclimatefootprint.com | www.climatelawsuit.org | www.foe.co.uk

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6. NEWS - Climate change a greater threat than al-Qaeda

Britain's chief scientist, Sir David King, thinks that climate change is one of the biggest dangers facing the world today - perhaps greater than the threat from al-Qaeda. A recent newsnight focused on the phenomenon of abrupt climate change. The Pentagon has begun to take very seriously the notion that the Gulf Stream might suddenly shut down, causing violent storms, mega droughts, dust storms, soil loss and oil shortages. With the prospect of huge migrations of people in search of food and water leading to the US becoming a fortress, guarding its walls against a parched South America, will President Bush look anew at Kyoto?

More details: Newsnight

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7. NEWS - Activist Found Not Guilty in BP Court Case, Next Trial 16th March

3rd March: An activist who was arrested at the BP AGM demonstrations on April 24th last year was found not guilty today at Inner London Crown Court. The 'action' involved pouring a smelly liquid on the floor of the foyer to the AGM (gardener's favourite - comfrey and nettle soup). Over the year the charges have been trumpted up to include administering a poison, affray, aggravated bodily harm and assault. The judge presiding over the case described the defendant as a 'conscientious protestor' after he told the court about the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline being one of his motivations for disrupting the AGM. Thanks to all support received!

16th March: Two activists will appear in Manchester Crown court charged with criminal damage to the tune of £5,500 after spraying the BP stall with red paint at the Confederation of British Industries conference in Manchester in November 2002. For further info and/or support please contact 01865 241097 and we'll pass your info on to them.

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8. NEWS - Veg Oil powered car en route to Senegal

Kaye writes from Southern Spain: The Oil Matters team are well on their way to Africa. We are recycling veg oil as fast as we can to make sure we have enough to get to Dakar in Senegal. We are all well and we have taken lots of good footage of the trip so far. For updates on our progress, please see the web site: www.oilmatters.co.uk

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9. NEWS - Freak Weather Update

Nebraska Freak Weather: Following our report of the severe droughts in Nebraska last year, Bruce Johansen emailed with more details of freak weather occuring in the region: "A stagnant super-cell dumped 12 to 15 inches of rain (half the area’s annual average) south and east of Grand Island, Nebraska, an area also suffering drought at the time. The same storm spawned several tornadoes, killing one person and injuring several. This storm, which flattened large parts of Aurora, Nebraska, produced bowling-ball sized hail, among the largest as ever reported in the United States, and a tornado that stood virtually in one place for half an hour, devastating the town of Deshler."

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10. COMING EVENT - The Tide is Rising: Benefit Gig for Rising Tide and Corporate Watch

Tuesday 16th March, Northgate Hall, St Michaels St, Oxford
Doors 7:30pm, performance starts at 8pm, £5/£3

Including stormy music, a flood of poetry, a drizzle of slapstick and some rays of street theatre... come along.
Further info call 01865 241 097

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11. COMING EVENT - REMINDER: Oil, War, Climate Change & Capitalism

This Weekend: Saturday 13th March, Cardiff

Workshops, talks, films and an evening gig.
Contact: 07949 284368 or email cardiff@risingtide.org.uk

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12. COMING EVENT - Oil on the Warpath

Saturday 27 March 2004, Quaker Meeting House, Sheffield

At the beginning of the new millennium, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are a reminder that the rich world's ever growing appetite for fossil fuel energy is set to bring more death and destruction, from extraction through to the havoc wreaked by climate change. But do things have to be this way? Are there no alternatives to our Petro Addiction? What exactly are the facts of energy supply and demand? How are these facts corrupted by power and politics? And what can we do about it?

This day event follows from the 3 October 2003 No New Oil day at London School of Economics, organised by Rising Tide and LSE People & Planet. Plenary sessions will look at the facts, examine the issue of climate change, and workshops will look at the issues in more detail.

For further information contact Jan Burgess: 0114 268 6216, editor@roape.org or Jo Hamilton: 01865 241097, jo@risingtide.org.uk

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13. COMING EVENT - GROW Grassroots Anti-War Activists Conference

12-14 March, SUMAC Centre, Nottingham

The second GROW Anti-War Activists Conference will bring together members of groups opposing the US-led “war on terror” to share information and skills, develop strategies, plan campaigns and co-ordinate actions. The highly interactive programme will include a discussion of "How can we stop the war on terror?", and workshops on the links between Oil, War and Climate Change.

For further information and to book: 0845 458 3116, info@grow.org.uk, www.grow.org.uk

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14. COMING EVENT - Orgy of Climate Destruction (CCC benefit party)

Saturday April 3rd, Limehouse Old Town Hall, 646 Commercial Road, E14, 8pm - late

Campaign against Climate Change are holding a benefit party to raise money - and also the profile of the upcoming Kyoto march. Entry is by suggested donation, £10 or what you can afford, but booking in advance is essential. They need helpers before and during the event, and suggesions for performers are welcome.

For more information: info@campaigncc.org, www.campaigncc.org

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15. INFORMATION - New Report: Climate Change & Women

A new report by Fatma Denton highlights the negative social and economic effects climate change can be expected to have on women. Gendered Impacts of Climate Change, published in ENERGIA News goes beyond the scientific analysis of climate change, presented in terms of greenhouse gases and emissions:

"Climate change is a much graver example of the complexity of environmental stress and how it could affect women, who have a multi-dimensional role as mothers, providers, carers and often natural resource managers."

Full report: http://www.sms.utwente.nl/energia/pdf/issue3_v3/enews33_13-24.pdf or here
Contact: ENDA - Energy Programme, energy2@enda.sn

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Please send anything you’d like put up on our website or included in this news sheet to Matthew Carroll:
The news sheet is a tight short format so if your info is too long we might put it up on the web page and just refer to it in the news sheet.

To view previous editions of the Rising Tide News Sheet, or if you have problems reading this html format on email, visit the News Sheet Archive at http://www.risingtide.org.uk/pages/news/newssheet/

This News Sheet was brought to you by Rising Tide, a grassroots network of groups and individuals committed to taking action and building a movement against climate change.
For more information...
email:
Phone: +44 (0)1865 241097
Address: 16b Cherwell Street, Oxford, OX4 1BG, UK
Web site: www.risingtide.org.uk

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