London Indymedia

Campers Glue on to DfT

mini mouse | 17.08.2007 11:19 | Climate Camp 2007 | Climate Chaos | London

9 became 10 today as a passing pedestrian joined Climate Camp supporters in a Department for Transport lock on.

Smartly dressed campers arrived at the DfT just after 8am as workaholic transport fans were scurrying to their desks.

Five superglued themselves to he doors and two to each other, jamming the revolving doors shut whilst two more occupied the roof of the doorway with a sign reading "No Airport Expansion".

*am - climate camper superglues herself to the door
*am - climate camper superglues herself to the door

Main entrance to DfT fully blocked
Main entrance to DfT fully blocked

Glued together in the corner entrance
Glued together in the corner entrance

Medics free camper from the door (1)
Medics free camper from the door (1)

Medics free camper from the door (2)
Medics free camper from the door (2)

Calling the story in whilst being unglued
Calling the story in whilst being unglued


The passing pedestrian, who declined to give his name and requested no photos asked for a bike chain and locked himself to a glass side door.

Community police showed up shortly and called in the real police who arrived in dribs and drabs over the next half hour. Ambulances showed up and just to complete the triangle, police called in the Fire Brigade for good measure.

Full marks to the medics who did a sensitive job with the soapy water keeping up and encouraging banter throughout.

There were 10 arrests including, of course, our passing hero.

mini mouse
- e-mail: mini_mouse@riseup.net

Comments

Hide the following 9 comments

Congratulation

17.08.2007 13:32

Great action you guys, and deservedly targets one of the main climate criminals, whilst the goverment goes on about leading the world on Climate change in reality it is really planning for mass expansion of airports and motorways.

JC


Well Done Guys

17.08.2007 21:14

Full marks, and my best wishes to you all. So nice to see direct action all over the place, just wish I could make it this year, but I've posted an article on  http://www.reduce3.com and am doing my best to solve the problems from a different angle.

Keep it up.

Keith

Keith
- Homepage: http://www.theearthblog.org


lol...great day

17.08.2007 21:19

bought a great smile..well done to everyone...what did anyone get chraged with..tresspass.agg tresspass or criminal damage.

stevexx

stephenc
mail e-mail: stephenc@libero.it
- Homepage: http://realfathersforjustice.org


doh.....

17.08.2007 21:44

This building is mostly used to plan the UK public transport; largely the aviation division is in the building on Victoria Street.

While all movement of people and goods generates CO2, and I have some sympathy with your ideals it's better to change things positively, by offering the public informed choices in how they travel and what they buy, rather than coming across as being anti-progress, lefty nutters. Anyway, transport generate a small minority of emissions, why not go after reductions from industry, power stations, construction and housing first.

chaz


A Waste of Time

17.08.2007 22:47

What a waste of time that all was...... I suspect the Department of Transport ran normally all day with no impact on daily workload - and anyway its mid august when most Government Departments are very quiet.

And anyway havent you got the wrong target. Given where the majority of emissions come from in the UK - the home (inc power stations and gas boliers) and cars and lorries, shouldnt you be targetting manufacturers of high power comsumption gadgets - plasma screen TVs, dishwashers - or households with old boliers - or Vauxhall and Ford for their cars - get your priorities right.....

I think the Police should have left you lot stuck there till the NHS had some free time !! Think those paramedics could have been treating someone really ill and in trouble !!!! Just plain selfish!!!!

Mark London


bravo

18.08.2007 09:48

well done - takes some guts to do what you did.

They have a lot more guts than the armchair detractors on this site - some how they always think the target or the action should be somewhere else. How about >you< going to industry or where ever you thinhk it should be done and doing similar. These people have done their bit to highlight the issue, now its your turn.

The issue is serious and we don't have time to waste - we have to turn the titantic around that is the old way of thinking that believes that consuming fossil energy has no impact and that resources are infinite.

Wake up guys - time for change

ch ch ch changes


Mark from London is wrong the protest was just right

18.08.2007 09:54

Mark from London could not have got this more wrong, he says there are more emissions from domestic utilitlies and use at home, what should we do cut down the provision of heat for elderly people, the young and other vulnerable elements of society? Every other industry cars, tv, lighting, power generation etc has leaped at climate change and made quantifiable huge reductions in annual emission counts, the aviation industry is forecast to treble their emissions of CO2. Does mark from London cherish aviation so much (is he defending his own indulgances or profession ) the vast majority of flying is just frivilous binge flying, low cost flying is now the heroin of the masses and is so disproportionately bad for the environment compared to all other emission sources, given the delicate and fragile nature of our upper atmosphere.
The camp was right to target the DfT try DTi as well as the other has more economical influence on aviation policy.

steve from Leicester


Response to Steve from Leicester

20.08.2007 18:09

In response to Steve from Leicester:

My point is this your facts dont stack up:-

Take a look at the stats:
Transport accounts for c22% of total UK C02 emissions
Residential accounts for c15%
Energy Industry c40%

Of the 22% that is Transport - around 80% is Car Vans and HGVs whilst civil aviation is around 3% (of the 22% or less than 1% of UK total) - rail shipping buses etc makes up the rest....

Given this my point is that even if aviation trebles the impact on overall CO2 emissions (although important and unwanted) and even if the numbers are wrong by a factor of 3 it isnt going to fundamentally change CO2 emissions. Every house moving to Plasma Screen TVs (that are more power hungry) and digital TV with 25+million households will impact on such emissions due to the sheer volume of use.

My point is that to reduce CO2 emissions the MOST effective thing to do is to reduce emissions from the home, cars and vans and energy production. Aviation is [FACT] a minor player in TOTAL CO2 emissions, even if it increases significantly. The real target should be other areas of our lives but whuilst accepting that ALL areas shouldf try and make impacts...

My suspicion is that aviation is being targetted as a soft target linked to expansion/ And the protests ignore FACT and REALITY of where impacts could be greatest (but which are more difficult and unpalatable to Joe Public)

Mark - London


mark from london

29.08.2007 18:28


actually aviation contributes more than you think- from defra's own figures, it is responsible for 7% of total uk emissions- although they only count flights OUT of the uk and not returning domestic flights.

it also says in the small print underneath that "climate impact of aviation about 3 times greater than CO2 emissions alone". this is due to radiative forcing. so even if you don't count the emissions from returning flights, the figure should be nearer 20% CO2e(quivalent). domestic transport is down as 25.2% and residential 25.8%. this is even before the disasterous expansion plans of big business and the government.

of course, business, industry, agriculture and the public sector together account for 42%, but if you familiarise yourself with the climate camps' aims stated on their website, you'll see that business is firmly in their sights. no aspect of the climate change problem will remain unaddressed, everything has to be discussed and solutions sought, by us, the people.

katy


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