Late Saturday night, a field close to Heathrow airport
site was occupied by about 100 people, the first wave
of setting up the 2007 Camp For Climate Action. Twin
double decker tripods were quickly erected and despite
being just 800 metres from BAA's head office, it took
the police two hours to find the site. There have been
reports of two arrests and police copying data from
mobile phones during searches.
There are now several hundred people on site and the
camp taking shape. Police have been searching people
and preventing access to the site on and off but in
the last few hours this seems to have solidified into
a state of siege with police refusing to let water or
toilet facilities onto the site.



Eight days of low-impact living, debates, learning
skills, and high-impact direct action tackling the
root causes of climate change. Why?

The science is clear: global emissions of carbon
dioxide must go into rapid decline within the next
decade. If they don't, humanity faces a bleak future.

To achieve this in a way that respects global justice
means 90% cuts in developed countries like the UK. How
will we cut emissions and end inequality? How will we
achieve this in the face of an economic system intent
on expanding at any cost, with corporations stealing
the language of change to disguise business as usual?
Ordinary people will have to join together to create
real solutions and take direct action against the root
causes of the problem.

This year the Camp for Climate Action will be at
Heathrow, the world's busiest airport and a bigger
source of CO2 emissions than most countries. It's
sheer lunacy in this time of ecological crisis, but
the aviation industry are pushing to almost double the
airport's capacity by increasing flights and building
a third runway. The battle to stop them will be one of
the most important environmental battles in Western
Europe.

What we do now decides what the future holds. Those
who came before us didn't know the problem, those who
come after us will have severely limited options. We
have both the power and the responsibility to make a
radically better world.

By uniting in collective action this summer we can
begin to make it happen.

Camp for Climate Action comes to Heathrow this summer
Aviation is the fastest growing source of greenhouse
gas emissions in the UK, and all our efforts to tackle
climate change in other sectors are undone by the
massive growth in air travel. Holding the camp at
Heathrow aims to highlight the lunacy of the
government's airport expansion plans, target industry
giants profiteering from the climate crisis, and raise
awareness of the need to fly less. The camp will also
support local residents in their long-term struggle
against the building of a third runway and the
destruction of their communities.
There will be a day of mass direct action aiming to
disrupt the activities of the airport and the aviation
industry, but in the interests of public safety there
will be no attempt to blockade runways.
Although the location is different, the philosophy of
the camp remains the same: to be a place for the
burgeoning network of people taking radical action on
climate change around the country to come together for
a week of low-impact living, education, debate,
networking, strategising, celebration, and direct
action. The camp will feature over 100 workshops
covering topics such as climate change impacts, carbon
offsetting, biofuels, peak oil, permaculture,
practical renewables, campaign strategy, skills for
direct action, and much more. Run without leaders by
everyone who comes along, it will be a working
ecological village using renewable energy, composting
waste and sourcing food locally.
It all comes down to us, now. We are the last
generation that can do anything about climate change.
In 20 or 30 years' time, should we not change our
ways, we'll be committed to emissions increases that
will see forests burn, soils decay, oceans rise, and
millions of people die. If we don't get this issue
right, so much else is lost too.
We still have time, but not for long. Make it count.

Why target aviation?
* It is the fastest growing source of CO2 emissions.
* It has been left out of the first faltering
frameworks to control emissions, eg. the Kyoto
Protocol and the Climate Bill.
* It is the most damaging form of transport.
* Unlike the other high emitting sectors (e.g. energy
and food production), there is no alternative
sustainable technology. The only way to reduce
emissions from aviation is to reduce the number of
flights.
* And unlike those other sectors, aviation is not a
necessity.
* There is a major airport expansion programme planned
at 21 airports, with increases in capacity equivalent
to a new Heathrow every 5 years. This expansion
programme locks us into increased emissions, and
undoes all our other efforts elsewhere to reduce
emissions.
Why target Heathrow?
* Nowhere in the UK is there a larger source of CO2
emissions. Most countries emit less greenhouse gases
than Heathrow's planes.
* Heathrow is the world's busiest international
airport. It is an iconic global symbol of aviation.
* Heathrow is the heart of the UK's aviation industry.
* Heathrow is the central plank of the government's
airport expansion plans. Heathrow has a planned third
runway that can be stopped.
* The third runway would bulldoze entire villages and
destroy communities. There is a big, established,
long-term local campaign against Heathrow and BAA that
we can join forces with.
* There is an opportunity to highlight bias in the
corrupt planning process in favour of big business and
development.
The presence of Harmondsworth detention centre
nearby highlights the plight of environmental refugees
and the fact that climate change is fundamentally an
issue of social and global injustice.

article on renewable energies and the need for convergence
between renewable energy struggles and anti-capitalist
struggles, available at  http://www.wcre.org