Whether or not you’re going to Glasgow, here are some actions you can take for climate justice this year.
- You can join or set up a COP26 Coalition local hub (see p1) and take action on 6 November: cop26coalition.org
- There are #DefundClimateChaos protests on 29 October, mostly in London at the time of going to press: defundclimatechaos.uk
- You – and your group – can sign this petition asking COP26 to stop excluding military greenhouse gas emissions from emission reduction standards. US peace groups World BEYOND War and CODEPINK are asking the conference ‘to set strict greenhouse gas emissions limits that make no exception for militarism’. Among other things, they want greenhouse gas emissions from a country’s overseas military bases to be charged to that country, not to the country where the base is located. Sign up here: www.cop26.info
Cambo
As you may know, the British government is set to approve a huge new oil field called ‘Cambo’ in the North Atlantic, 75 miles west of Shetland. Shell and Siccar Point Energy want to extract 170 million barrels of oil from Cambo just in the first stage of operation. They want to keep Cambo going till 2050 and extract another 630 million barrels in later stages.
For the full background, see this report (published in September) from Oil Change International and Friends of the Earth Scotland: www.tinyurl.com/peacenews3666
If you’re in Scotland, you can ask your MSP to add their names to the motions opposing Cambo (Monica Lennon’s motion, number S6M-00722 and Mark Ruskell’s motion, number S6M-00720). You can also sign this FoE Scotland petition: www.tinyurl.com/peacenews3667
FoE Scotland have produced a handy #StopCambo MP Action Toolkit for writing a letter to your MP and doing social media: www.tinyurl.com/peacenews3668
Friends of the Earth UK have an Open Letter you can sign: www.tinyurl.com/peacenews3669
There is a new #StopCambo site (from Tipping Point UK) with its own MP letter-writing system, #StopCambo stickers, Cambo-related news and events listings (no events had yet been listed when we checked): www.stopcambo.org.uk
Banks
Another big focus of recent climate action is the financing of the fossil fuel industries. If you want to read up on why this is a problem, check out this Greenpeace/WWF report from May, The Big Smoke: The Global Emissions of the UK Financial Sector: www.tinyurl.com/peacenews3670
Bank On Our Future has two-minute and 10-minute online actions you can take to challenge banks funding fossil fuels. Their website also has printable signs and banners, social media images and more: www.bankonourfuture.org
If you’re up for direct action on this issue, Extinction Rebellion are organising all kinds of arrestable actions under the heading ‘Money Rebellion’ (including ‘Debt Disobedience’, ‘Tax Disobedience’ and ‘Disputing Debt’): www.tinyurl.com/peacenews3671
If you’re on Twitter, you can tweet the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, to #CleanUpBanks with a new climate finance law: www.clicktotweet.com/Gif90
You can switch your bank and tell them why you’re leaving. This ‘Market Forces’ site will tell you how to check if they’re funding fossil fuels, and walk you through the process: www.tinyurl.com/peacenews3672
Divestment
There are campaigns all over the country pressuring institutions to stop investing in fossil fuel companies. There is an online Fossil Free Gathering, 4 – 10 October, with lots of online workshops: bit.ly/fossilfree21
Here are two upcoming local divestment demos:
- Lewes on 12 October: www.tinyurl.com/peacenews3673
- Chichester on 22 October: www.tinyurl.com/peacenews3674