Six people have been arrested after a campaign group targeted fuel terminals in a protest against oil.
The arrests were made at three sites in Thurrock, Essex Police said.
Oil company Exxon Mobil has temporarily suspended operations at three other terminals due to a series of co-ordinated “small protests”.
Campaign group Just Stop Oil said it had blocked 10 “critical” sites including in Birmingham, Hemel Hempstead and Hythe in Kent.
Operations from these locations had been halted, Exxon Mobil said.
…
Just Stop Oil said in a statement: “The Just Stop Oil coalition is demanding an end to the government’s genocidal policy of expanding UK oil and gas production and is calling on all those outraged at the prospect of climate collapse and suffering from the cost-of-living crisis to stand with us.
“Ordinary people can no longer afford oil and gas, it’s time to just stop oil.”
Climate group Insulate Britain has said 117 activists have been charged over road-blocking protests last year.
Activists brought major roads – mostly in southern England – to a standstill during protests between September and November, which were aimed at drawing attention to the UK’s poorly heated homes.
The Climate Book will include contributions from scientist Katharine Hayhoe, economist Thomas Piketty and novelist Margaret Atwood
Greta Thunberg is releasing a new book this autumn, which aims to offer a “global overview of how the planet’s many crises connect”.
“I have decided to use my platform to create a book based on the current best available science – a book that covers the climate, ecological and sustainability crises holistically”, Thunberg said in a statement. “Because the climate crisis is, of course, only a symptom of a much larger sustainability crisis. My hope is that this book might be some kind of go-to source for understanding these different, closely interconnected crises.”
In The Climate Book, which is due to be published by Penguin this autumn, Thunberg has assembled more than 100 contributors, from scientists Johan Rockström and Katharine Hayhoe to economist Thomas Piketty and novelist Margaret Atwood. The 19-year-old also shares what she has learned from her own experiences of climate activism. In particular, she discusses the prevalence of greenwashing, revealing the extent to which we have been kept in the dark about the issue. She names this as one of our biggest problems, but also our greatest source of hope – because, she believes, once we are all given the full picture, we will be able to act.
“Right now, we are in desperate need of hope”, Thunberg said. “But hope is not about pretending that everything will be fine.”
In a landmark ruling back in July 2021, France’s highest administrative court, the Council of State, condemned the government’s failure to comply with the 2015 accord and tackle climate change.
After a review, it concluded that the country was not doing enough to reach the agreement’s objective of reducing global greenhouse gases by 40% by 2030 compared to 1990.
The court gave the government nine months to “take all useful measures” to get the country back on track.
A climate activist who has been on hunger strike outside the UK Houses of Parliament for three weeks has said his protest was an “utter necessity” even though it was putting his life at risk.
Angus Rose, a 52-year-old software engineer, tells The Independent he would rather be doing something else – such as hanging out with friends – than sat outside Westminster refusing to eat any food.
Lismore in East Australia suffered extreme flooding at the end of February 2022. These 2 videos discuss that flooding. Further flood warnings have been issued in Lismore now – 29 March 2022 – a month later, warning people to evacuate.
Calls to break up the Home Office – and redistribute its functions across Whitehall – are about to grow even louder, following Friday’s ruling that the department broke the law by confiscating refugees’ phones.
There are some basic principles of English law that you ought to be able to rely on with absolute security when you deal with the state. One of these is that you cannot be searched by an officer of the state, or have your property seized, without a specific legal basis.
Though this has modern overlays in the form of the Human Rights Act and the Data Protection Act, it falls mostly into the legal specialism known as the bleeding obvious. Or, to use the politer words of the High Court when considering the spectacular failure of the Home Office: “None of the legal concepts involved is novel or recondite.”
The behaviour that generated this judicial reaction was the Home Office’s policy, during most of 2020, of greeting people arriving on small boats to claim refugee status with an immediate search for their mobile phones, seizing those phones, demanding the passwords for those phones (while falsely claiming that it was an offence not to give them), downloading all the data on those phones onto Home Office systems and, finally, refusing to return the phones.
or FFF, is a youth-led and -organised global climate strike movement that started in August 2018, when 15-year-old Greta Thunberg began a school strike for climate. In the three weeks leading up to the Swedish election, she sat outside Swedish Parliament every school day, demanding urgent action on the climate crisis. She was tired of society’s unwillingness to see the climate crisis for what it is: a crisis.
To begin with, she was alone, but she was soon joined by others. On the 8th of September, Greta and her fellow school strikers decided to continue their strike until the Swedish policies provided a safe pathway well under 2° C, i.e. in line with the Paris agreement. They created the hashtag #FridaysForFuture, and encouraged other young people all over the world to join them. This marked the beginning of the global school strike for climate.
Young people in Scotland are taking part in climate strikes from schools, colleges and universities for the first time since COP26.
They are calling for faster action on climate change as they believe little has been done since the global summit.
The demonstrations are part of more than 700 similar protests taking place around the world.
Hundreds gathered outside the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh before marching to the city chambers.
…
Australia has seen protests by Blockade Australia blockading infrastructure before Friday – Sydney’s Port Botany, roads and railways in Sydney – as well as climate strikers.
State government announces strike force and penalties, while two German nationals will be deported
Climate change protesters who have caused blockades at Sydney’s major port this week say tougher penalties and the deportation of two activists will not stop them from continuing their campaign.
The New South Wales government announced on Thursday that it would ramp up its response to protests by the climate group Blockade Australia, including the creation of a strike force aimed at disrupting activists, increased penalties and possible jail time.
The penalties, including fines of $22,000 and up to two years jail time for people who blockade tunnels and bridges, follow three days of protests around the port which have seen the arrests of five people including two German nationals.
A roll call of senior ex-Defence officers and security experts have put their names to an open letter naming climate change “the greatest threat to the future and security of Australians”.
The letter, published on the Australian Security Leaders Climate Group website, called on political leaders to make climate change a primary focus ahead of the 2022 Federal Election.
“The first duty of government is the safety and protection of the people, but Australia has failed when it comes to climate change threats,” the letter read.
Climate activist group Blockade Australia shut down operations at Port Botany three times on Friday, marking its fourth consecutive day of climate inaction protests in Sydney.
Around 2pm, a 26-year-old, identified by the activist group as Max, gained access to the port in less than 10 minutes and began scaling a 60-metre crane, tying himself to the main arm of its top while live-streaming the incident on Facebook.
…
Earlier on Friday, a grandmother aged in her 60s, who identified herself as Sharon, climbed on top of a cargo train in Sydney’s inner west as part of the same climate change protest. She was arrested and taken to Mascot police station where she is expected to be charged.
…
Another woman staged a protest in Tempe, identifying herself as Emma on her Facebook stream. She was arrested after she suspended herself from a bipod structure on a freight line.
