A day of action against Nottingham’s climate criminals has been called for Tuesday 10th April. It forms part of ‘Spring into Action,’ a week of climate change focused events taking place in venues across the city showcasing practical solutions to climate change.
On Tuesday, experienced climate change campaigners and people inspired by attending this week’s ‘Spring into Action’ events will be protesting at the site of Nottingham’s major climate criminals.
James Slater, organiser ‘Spring into Action’, says ‘Taking action on climate change is about more than just making changes in your own life. It is about confronting the major players in greenhouse gas production. Its about resisting those who are currently profiting from the pollution of our atmosphere and the destruction of life on earth.’
Major climate criminals based in Nottingham that could find themselves targeted include:
East Midlands Airport, which has plans to increase its number of passengers by three times by 2030, and its freight handling by even more than this (1). 2006 was already its busiest year on record (2). The governments current expansion programme for airports could wipe out all the good work it is putting in elsewhere to reduce carbon emissions (3).
The M1, which is currently being widened to four lanes in both directions along large sections of its route. Expanding our road network is incompatible with trying to reduce carbon emissions. Emissions from road transport are actually increasing and currently constitute 18% of all UK greenhouse gas emissions (4).
Ratcliffe on Soar Power Station. In a time where we should be be reducing our carbon dioxide emissions, we are getting more and more of our electricity from coal, the dirtiest form of power. Coal-fired power stations are the biggest C02 emitter per unit of electricity produced. Ratcliffe on Soar is the second largest coalfired powerstation in Britain (5).
Eastcroft Incinerator, which burns most of Nottingham’s waste, including recyclable materials. A recent local campaign successfully stopped the incinerator from expanding, although the owners of the incinerator have now lodged an appeal. Waste policy has important impacts on climate change, from, at one end, emissions savings from waste prevention and recycling, to production of CO2 during incineration. In a recycling rate league table released by the Government, Nottingham City Council came an embarrassing 339th out of 393 local authorities, with a combined recycling and composting rate of just 18.6 per cent for 2004-05 (6).
For more information on how to get involved come along to the central venue (JB Spray, Russel St, Radford), watch out for another announcement on Indymedia or call info phone 07765 217118 on Monday
Notes:
1) see http://www.eastmidlandsairport.com/cms/54/master-plan-2006.html
2) see http://www.eastmidlandsairport.com/cms/219/2006-airports-busiest-year-ever.html
3) see http://www.planestupid.com/index.php?location=reasons
4) see http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_environment/transport_report.pdf+transport+emissions
5) http://www.climatecalm.org/drupal/index.php?q=node/17
6) see http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2007/01/359240.html