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NEWS August 20 2001
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| Campaigns – British Airports Authority occupied by climate protesters In an escalation of the developing campaign for action on climate change, activists from London Rising Tide occupied the offices of the British Airports Authority (BAA) on August 9th to protest against the continuing official enouragement of air travel, the fastest growing source of CO2 emissions. In their own words: ‘Despite a wee spot of bother getting into the lifts, the four of us got up and into the boardroom of the seventh floor, and asked the person in attendance if they would be so kind as to leave, before barricading the door with tables and chairs by 8.45 am. Police were not long on the scene, and negotiated with us throughout the morning, but we refused to open the doors until BAA had cancelled their plans for Terminal 5 at Heathrow. Unsuprisingly they didn't.... Inside the board room we tried to speak to the CEO, Mike Hodgkinson, but he was unavailable. We spoke with the press, as did the leafletters outside, and our banner was hung across the main door, which had been closed. At 1.30, we were surprised by BAA security who barged into the room, breaking a table in the process. As they were in no mood to negotiate, we were promptly dragged outside and released.’ International air traffic is excluded from the Kyoto Protocol, meaning continued promotion of air travel and increasing airport capacities by companies such as BAA will continue unchecked and will have a direct impact on promoting CO2 emissions. Air travelcurrently accounts for around 3% of CO2 emissions, set to increase to 15% by 2050. 3% is equivalent to the total emissions from the UK. Links: Corporate Watch Newsletter 4, August 2001 – Whats wrong with the Kyoto Protocol? http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/newsletter/issue4/nl4kyoto.html Rising Tide website: http://www.risingtide.org.uk |