Manchester Plane Stupid disrupt aviation industry conference
Campaigners disrupted an airport industry conference today using rape alarms tied to helium balloons . The protesters from the group Manchester Plane Stupid entered the Manchester Central conference venue (formerly GMEX) and sent five bunches of helium balloons reading ‘Happy Retirement’ to the top of the ceiling where they remained with the alarms ringing. This occurred at exactly the time when the industry delegates were posing for a photo shoot for the launch of a new carbon reduction scheme at European airports which will not include emissions from aircraft.
Tuesday 16th June 2009
Outside, protesters held a banner outside the entrance reading,
“Aviation Industry Conference – Climate Criminals Inside”.
The group were protesting against the aviation’s growing contribution to climate change. Aviation currently accounts for around 13% of the UK’s greenhouse gas contribution.
Megan Sims from Manchester Plane Stupid said, “The airport industry is recklessly pushing ahead with expansion plans across the UK and Europe despite all the warnings about climate change. We cannot pursue this growth agenda if we are serious about tackling global warming.”
“Their latest back-patting exercise is yet more greenwash from the airport industry. They provide the growth of the facilities for aircraft to operate and encourage more flights, more emissions and more climate change.”
The three day conference was being hosted by Airports Council International.[1] The conference was suspended whilst house staff struggled to remove the floating alarms from the ceiling.
[1] http://www.aci-europe.org/
[2] http://www.planestupid.com/
[3] http://www.stopmanchesterairport.blogspot.com/
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Manchester Plane Stupid disrupt aviation industry Gala Dinner
On Tuesday 16th June 2009 campaigners from the group Manchester Plane Stupid targeted the aviation industry’s gala dinner being held at the town hall tonight. Protestors scaled two lamposts and erected a 15m banner reading, “Aviation Industry Conference – Climate Criminals Inside”.
The banner drop created a lot of attention from the public and continued the pressure on the aviation industry who are attempting to greenwash the climate issue. The Aviation conference included the launch of a new initiative to make airports carbon neutral. However, this does not include the emissions from flights which currently account for around 13% of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions.
“It’s time for the aviation industry to wake up and to start a just transition to replace aviation jobs with emerging sustainable industries such as wind turbines.’ Vanessa Hall, former city councillor and Green parlimentary candidate for Manchester Central.
“There is no such thing as a ‘carbon neutral’ airport, ‘carbon neutral’ is a term used for offsetting projects that rarely result in any real reduction in emissions. This project is even more deceptive as it won’t include the massive emissions from planes.” James Alden, Green parlimentary candidate.
This was in conjuction with a climate action at the GMEX earlier in the day where protestors released rape alarms attached to helium baloons, distrupting the aviation industry conference.
[1] For pictures of climate action at the GMEX:
(see above)
http://stopmanchesterairport.blogspot.com/
http://www.planestupid.com/
[2] Information about the ACI conference:
http://www.aci-europe-events.com/annual-general-assembly/
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http://www.stopmanchesterairport.org.uk
manchester@planestupid.com
http://www.planestupid.com/