Sometime ago six members of Greenpeace invaded kingsnorth power station. Apparently they shut it down.
If they did so they not only incurred Eon one hell of a lot of costs, but they probably also increased UK CO2 emissions as other power stations were run beyond their efficient design point to compensate for the loss of Kingsnorth.
Of course they claim to have saved UK emissions.
This was the central plank of their defence at their trial.
They successfully defended themselves based upon the fact that they genuinely believed they were protecting property by their actions.
Of course they were not - most of the emissions from Kingsnorth (which I think only accounts for 0.03% of global emissions anyway) ends up dissolved in the sea / absorbed into plants which has no effect upon property.
The government is now planning on taking away this legal defence - and they badly need to.
We need Kingsnorth if we are to stop global warming (the Eon face off explains why).
The camp for climate change have just set asside the neccersary money to rent a property for 6 months very near the kingsnorth site - they say for direct action (interestingly they apologised to members recently when one of their lawyers described them as a peaceful organisation - they want to make it clear they are not).
If we want to stop climate change we need to keep these people out. The law must be changed.
Showing posts with label climate camp. Show all posts
Showing posts with label climate camp. Show all posts
Monday, December 22, 2008
Friday, November 7, 2008
Protest
Protest is a democratic right, one which must be protected if this country isn't going to go to the dogs. Whilst there is always the scope for the protesters to turn against democracy we have to assume that it is a remote possability.
We also have to assume that the government will do little more than take note of the protests - if government policy was just dictated by protesters we'd live in a very poor society indeed, with no planning beyond the immediate term.
So here's the thing - how do you police protests at power stations?
Power stations, by their nature are strategic assets of national importance. Turn them off and large swathes of the country can easily be blacked out with the local economy shutting down for a few hours. Continue the theme with regular blackouts and people will start loosing their jobs. Not pretty.
It's little surprise, therefore, that the police have been accussed of being heavy handed - after all they need to protect millions of people against the posibility that there are a few nutters in the croud who are there just to cause disruption.
Yes, people are entitled to peaceful protest - but you have to realise that with so many people seemingly willing to cross the moral line the police do have little choice but to assume that everyone out to cause as much trouble as possible - even if the demonstration is billed as peaceful.
Sadly, that includes kids.
We also have to assume that the government will do little more than take note of the protests - if government policy was just dictated by protesters we'd live in a very poor society indeed, with no planning beyond the immediate term.
So here's the thing - how do you police protests at power stations?
Power stations, by their nature are strategic assets of national importance. Turn them off and large swathes of the country can easily be blacked out with the local economy shutting down for a few hours. Continue the theme with regular blackouts and people will start loosing their jobs. Not pretty.
It's little surprise, therefore, that the police have been accussed of being heavy handed - after all they need to protect millions of people against the posibility that there are a few nutters in the croud who are there just to cause disruption.
Yes, people are entitled to peaceful protest - but you have to realise that with so many people seemingly willing to cross the moral line the police do have little choice but to assume that everyone out to cause as much trouble as possible - even if the demonstration is billed as peaceful.
Sadly, that includes kids.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
As expected
It sounds like the kingsnorth climate camp is going to turn into a climate village - the protesters are talking about not leaving.
I think that's harsh on the farmer who's land they've taken.
They'll laugh at me and say "bigger issues exist" and wheel out their scientists to say that they're right.
Here's the thing - I've just noticed that their scientists say that their wrong.
Takes James Hansen - NASA guy who knows about global warming.
He's been advocating biomass and CCS as a method of generating power and taking carbon out of the atmosphere.
He knows that you need to big source of carbon to make the CCS (and hence carbon negative electricity) efficient - i.e. a coal fired power station co-firing biomass, right?
Provided (e.g.) 11% of the carbon going into the boiler is from the biomass whilst (e.g.) 90% of the carbon dioxide is captured from the boiler you generate carbon negative electricity.
I think that's harsh on the farmer who's land they've taken.
They'll laugh at me and say "bigger issues exist" and wheel out their scientists to say that they're right.
Here's the thing - I've just noticed that their scientists say that their wrong.
Takes James Hansen - NASA guy who knows about global warming.
He's been advocating biomass and CCS as a method of generating power and taking carbon out of the atmosphere.
He knows that you need to big source of carbon to make the CCS (and hence carbon negative electricity) efficient - i.e. a coal fired power station co-firing biomass, right?
Provided (e.g.) 11% of the carbon going into the boiler is from the biomass whilst (e.g.) 90% of the carbon dioxide is captured from the boiler you generate carbon negative electricity.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Kingsnorth Climate Camp
As must be obvious the climate camp has just opened for business, pitched upon the site of the proposed power station.
They say that (unlike last year) they will be there for weeks - although I suspect that they will still be there when construction starts, employing Swapy style tactics to make the build project as expensive as possible.
Protest is a good thing, it keeps people on their toes.
Protests can go too far though, and judging by the Eon press releases this could go that way.
I hope, much like the organisers must, this does not happen.
They say that (unlike last year) they will be there for weeks - although I suspect that they will still be there when construction starts, employing Swapy style tactics to make the build project as expensive as possible.
Protest is a good thing, it keeps people on their toes.
Protests can go too far though, and judging by the Eon press releases this could go that way.
I hope, much like the organisers must, this does not happen.
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