Court fined activists… who pledged to shut down coal and stop climate chaos
On the last week of Winter exams, I donned a media badge and reporter’s notebook to observe the trial of eleven normal people as they faced Nottingham Bridewell Magistrates Court.
Some say it is beautiful. Just across the M1 from Sutton-Bonnington research farm
lies the 40-year-old power station. The coal plant is the worst source of carbon dioxide pollution in the East Midlands. To me, its cooling towers are a symbol of waste.
Did you know that the wasted steam released from Ratcliffe could be piped to provide free hot water for the entire borough of Rushcliffe?
I agree with those determined to down that machine. Whilst the so-called “Ratcliffe 11” admitted they went into the power station, they lodged a special defence of necessity. One of the activists said “I believe this (attempted) action was a reasonable and proportionate response to the threat of catastrophic climate change and that this action was to prevent a greater crime occurring.” – According to an anonymous report online.
Dating back to the Luddite movement, so-called “non-violent direct action” (NVDA) is a slightly anarchist set of solutions, clashing with the politics of public order. Inspired by an international convergence of thousands of people to the first climate camp in Gigawatt Valley, the Nottingham neighbourhood continued to cook hot curries, skill-share and develop practical solutions. An educational “Spring into Action” week culminated on 10th April 2007, with a crammed mini-bus to the power station.
The power company are responsible for the safety of those on site, who stopped an estimated 5,000 tonnes of coal from getting to the bunkers. From there, the coal is burned to boil water from the river Trent to turn turbines to generate electricity for the National Grid. Of the 12, one escaped, one remained silent and used only body-language, and the remaining ten were found guilty of trespass.
Meet the climate criminals.
The eleven activists used their grandparents to illustrate “duties of care, as they give care to you.” One stopped working in offices, a cog in the capitalist system, felt so much better after taking action.
“I realised I was living in denial.” Testified Sam, an ecology graduate. “Drastic action needs to be taken, yesterday! In the next ten years… Otherwise it’s too late.”
Tim, 23, testified that their action was directly aimed at disrupting coal-burning, but nervously expressed thanks to other more public protesters. At the gates more people covered the corporate sign with “STOP! DON’T BE A FOSSIL FOOL”. To the make the “reclaim power” agenda clear, props included a giant thermometer and gas-masks. Beware of government-controlled TV News rushing into millions of homes! Defending economic growth may lead to media statements being economical with the truth. For the entire day of action, the power company inaccurately claimed that police were on site keeping things “fully operational”. “Head of Security” Nicholas was on holiday when 12 people walked inside. Using ordinary household equipment, they locked on to a range of railings, fire protection pipes, and “trash screens”. Christopher, shift-team-leader, went down to help explain the dangers of coal falling on to the latter position, so they produced the keys and moved to a safer location, from which they were arrested. One then ran up the coal chute and stayed a while in the rafters, covered in coal dust.
We suspect there are corporate sensitivities around energy traders and carbon emissions. The Plant Manager Roy “forgot to bring” any data. The contingency plan for “keeping the lights on” has not been published. The E.ON employee refused to confirm future plans for nuclear.
Guilty?
It was ruled that the defence of necessity may be used on a case by case basis. District Judge Cooper decided that catastrophic climate change should be tackled by democratic government, not autonomous individuals. The defence lawyer Mr Thomlinson researched case law and explained that if Anne Frank had escaped the holocaust on a stolen bicycle, she wouldn’t have to wait for the Gestapo to knock at her door, under English law. But is climate change comparable? Alan Simpson MP explains that you have to get a lot of people to break bad laws in order to repeal them. A spokesperson from e.on said the ten … had acted irresponsibly by breaking the law.
“This is not justice!” I declared. I read the judgment fully. The legal and historical importance of this trial in terms of environmental issues highlights what is a step too far. I’m not saying the guilty verdict was wrong, but if I were the judge, I would have found the activists innocent.
Science was central to their case.
Scarier than “Gore’s Law” as I call it, that CO2 warms the planet, is what I like to call “Climate Chaos”. Previously regarded as a stable atmosphere, the biosphere modeled by the “Gaia theory” could be thrown into a state of catastrophic climate change.
The defendants called an expert witness, Dr Simon Lewis, Royal Society Research Fellow at the Earth & Biosphere Institute of the University of Leeds. He is the author of many peer-reviewed technical papers in the world’s leading journals, several of which are cited by the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He is a member of the Royal Society’s Climate Change Advisory Network and the United Nations ad hoc Expert Working Group on Biodiversity and Climate Change. He advised the Government of the United Kingdom during preparations for the G8 and UN meetings discussing climate change.
“I solemnly, sincerely, and truly swear and affirm that the evidence I shall give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth”.
Dr Lewis used the term nonlinearities: points at which global warming feeds back to generate more global warming. Actually ecosystems like the Amazon or oceans could have separate thresholds. Every climate scientist with an academic position agreed that the government’s 2-degree target is already 50% likely to tip the system over the edge.
In other words, it is not like gradually polluting a lake and it gets gradually muddier and muddier, it is more like pushing a car over the top of a hill.
A grimly funny question about the environmental problems of palm plantations, certainly raised a few laughs amongst the audience. “Why are you asking me about illegal logging in Indonesia? Of course by definition, loss of trees…”
How many deaths can be attributed to climate change? The court heard Dr Lewis state in a low tone that in 2005, in Mumbai a record-breaking 1 metre of rain fell on a single day. 1000 people died. There are extensive studies on every continent, which can be compared with climate models. Climate change threatens to affect us all. And the UK? “We live in an increasingly globalised world.” An article in the Guardian called for more research attributing deaths to climate change “It’s time for a body-count”.
A defendant from Nottingham has degrees in biology and epidemiology. Her calculations, not peer-reviewed but based on George Marshall of coinet.org, estimate the amount to kill a person is in the region of 200,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions. (nice science reviews the current eco-situation on page 49)
Did you know that the University of Nottingham’s growing rate of carbon emissions could fill three hot-air balloons for every student?!
Ideas for Eco-worriers
– Dig up the dirt on energy and carbon markets.
– D.I.Y offsetting by providing consumers with contraception, solving the population problem too.
– End the bloodshed for oil.
– Take “direct action” to fix your bike!
– Choose your own career path.
– Fancy dress as an endangered polar bear.
– Do you know anyone who died from climate change? Report it to the Environment Agency.
– Get the facts
– Reprint this article!
http://sen.blog-city.com/finally_the_judgement.htm