Activists disrupt speeches by Canadian Minister and Shell Chairman
Anti-tar sands campaigners claim Canada and Shell are ‘strangling climate action’ Today at a high-level conference on climate change at Chatham House, London, two activists interrupted first Peter Kent, Canada’s Environment Minister, then Shell’s UK Chairman Graham van’t Hoff, as they got up to make speeches. The conference attendees included EU Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard, UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres and Professor Thomas Stocker from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. There was laughter at the tongue-in-cheek speeches which referred to Kent as an “agent from a rogue petro-state” and Shell as “world-class greenwashers”, and the audience listened attentively for several minutes, before the activists were removed by security. Anti-tar sands campaigner removed from the stage while interrupting Shell Chairman [...]
Read More...Tell Nick Clegg to Keep Tar Sands Out of Europe
So Nick Clegg wants to know what you think about his environmental record. Frankly it’s not much! But in the next few months he has a chance to stand up to the Canadian lobbying offensive and support the Fuel Quality Directive. During that time we will be sending a clear message to Nick to adopt the Fuel Quality Directive. While we’re working on our plots and schemes, it would be great to make sure that he knows that we draw a line in the sand when it comes to relying on the world’s filthiest fuel for our energy future. Here’s some text that might help you out with the ins and outs of the directive. Feel free to add your [...]
Read More...Shell besieged by critics at Annual General Meeting
Many questions left unanswered for Indigenous representatives impacted by Arctic drilling and Alberta Tar Sands in The Hague, whilst ‘Grim Reapers’ stalked the satellite AGM in London. See this video and more at Indymedia London Today, Indigenous representatives affected by the Alberta Tar Sands and proposed Arctic drilling addressed Shell executives and shareholders at Shell’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) in The Hague, to highlight their concerns with Shell’s operations and lack of adequate consultation with their communities. Meanwhile at the London satellite AGM (connected to The Hague by live video), protesters dressed as ‘Grim Reapers’ in Shell death-masks stood silently during the proceedings. The four-hour meeting was dominated by criticism by shareholders over Shell’s social and environmental performance, particularly in [...]
Read More...Lobby-busting mission targets UK government over tar sands
A delegation of civil society representatives from Canada came to London to lobby UK decision-makers today (22nd March 2012), in an attempt to expose and counter the Canadian government’s multi-million dollar PR offensive to promote its oil exports. The delegation included First Nations Chief Bill Erasmus, Stuart Trew from Council of Canadians, and Hannah McKinnon from CAN Canada. They met with the Liberal Democrats, along with Jess Worth and Suzanne Dhaliwal from the UK Tar Sands Network, urging them to use their position in the UK’s Coalition government to support European legislation which would see Canada’s tar sands labelled as more polluting than conventional oil. The ‘lobby-busting’ tour, which has already taken in Paris and The Hague, and has now [...]
Read More...Vigil-turned-protest outside the Canadian High Commission
Last Wednesday, on the evening of March 7, we joined hundreds of people across the US and Europe who responded to the Sierra Club’s call to stand vigil in front of Canadian consulates, calling on Canadian leaders to take a deep look at the consequences of tar sands development on human health, global ecology and our future prosperity. The aim was to highlight the damage being done by Canada’s multi-million dollar lobbying initiative, which is aggressively promoting their filthy fuel to our governments, and – in our case – to expose the UK government for being Canada’s top cheerleader in this strategy. It ended up as something rather different than a vigil… We arrived with around 15 people, mainly from the Occupy London Energy, [...]
Read More...UK complicit in Canadian government’s Dirty Diplomacy
March, 8th 2012 Secret government documents reveal that the UK is implicated in a major, multimillion dollar push by the Canadian government to promote tar sands internationally, and undermine key EU and US climate legislation. The revelations come in a report released by Climate Action Network [1], the day after hundreds of people gathered outside more than 20 Canadian diplomatic missions across the world to voice concern about the Canadian government’s aggressive foreign policy to further the interests of the tar sands industry. The documents [2], acquired through freedom of information requests, reveal that the UK government is described by the Canadians as a ‘team leader’ in their Pan European Oil Sands Advocacy Strategy, aimed at stopping the EU from [...]
Read More...Give yourselves a pat on the back…
Dear grassroots lobbyists and graffiti artists, Here’s a big round of applause for everyone who has been tirelessly and creatively telling Norman Baker not to vote against the Fuel Quality Directive proposal… It worked! Although the battle isn’t over yet, and there will be plenty more action needed on the ongoing attempts to keep tar sands oil out of Europe in coming months. In the meantime some interesting things have been happening in London, with BP getting an earful from angry activists over its visually perturbing sponsorship of the Olympics. We are also very happy to announce that we have a new member on board – welcome to Ruthi who will be volunteering with us! 1. A small stalemate for [...]
Read More...Fuel Quality Directive Update, FAQ and actions!
Press Statement: Thursday February 23rd, 2012 UK Tar Sands Network response to Fuel Quality Directive vote Valentine’s oil orgy from Starfish on Vimeo. The European Union has reached a stalemate today in a vote to decide if tar sands oil is to be labeled as highly polluting. There were 89 votes for the proposal and 128 votes against. There were 128 abstentions including the UK, France, Germany and the Netherlands. “We welcome the decision of the UK government to abstain from voting against the Fuel Quality Directive after concerted public pressure. We would now like to see the UK government offer support for the directive in the upcoming months as the vote goes to the Environment Committee in June.” said Suzanne [...]
Read More...VALENTINES’ OIL ORGY ERUPTS IN CORNMARKET STREET
Valentine’s oil orgy from Starfish on Vimeo. Oxford shop calls for the UK to end its ‘love affair’ with Canadian Tar Sands oil On Tuesday 14th February, at 1.30pm, staff from Lush Oxford marked Valentines Day by leaving their tills to stage an ‘oil orgy’. Their high-street orgy highlighted the UK Government’s refusal to support legislation that would label tar sands oil as highly polluting [1]. James, Lush Oxford’s trainee manager, stripped down to Union Jack boxers and Hannah, a member of Lush Oxford’s staff wore maple leaf under-wear. They covered each other with oil while kissing and groping to provoke public interest and anger at the UK and Canadian governments’ oil orgy [2]. “Almost one year ago we launched a [...]
Read More...Just who gains from your plan, Mr Baker?
posted by Emily Coats On Tuesday Norman Baker MP attended the parliamentary launch of a report proposing radical constitutional reform to protect future generations from today’s decision-makers. The report, by Rupert Read from think tank Green House, suggested creating a legislature, or jury, that would sit above the upper house, comprising randomly selected ‘Guardians’ to stand up for the rights of future generations. Fitting, for a self-styled environmentalist concerned with climate change, to attend an event like this. For years Baker has immersed himself in the environmental movement, protested alongside Climate Campers, and built a green reputation in the Lib Dem party. But Baker’s most recent stubbornness is upsetting many former friends. Environmentalists are concerned that Baker’s position on the Fuel [...]
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