P&P at Parliament Square
Students from the People & Planet network descended on Parliament Square yesterday to demand that the Government holds a full public inquiry into the coal-fired power station at Kingsnorth.
Students tell Gordon Brown not to be a Fossil Fool
Mike Langridge
If Kingsnorth is built, the Climate Change Bill will go up in smoke
Mike Langridge
The Government is currently considering an application to build a new coal-fired power station at Kingsnorth in Kent. If succesful, there are seven more similar projects waiting in the wings. Should all eight be built, they will be responsible for 50 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year - the same as the entire nation of Ghana.
People & Planet wants this fossil foolishness to stop. As part of an international day of action on climate change, yesterday’s Fossil Fool’s Day saw actions all over the world.
People & Planet’s was the biggest in London. We erected three cooling towers on Parliament Square, directly opposite the Houses of Parliament, all of which bore the slogan, ‘No to New Coal’. A copy of the Climate Change Bill was set alight and went up in smoke, which is just what will happen to the UK’s carbon emissions targets should the power stations be built. The stunt attracted the attention of some of those inside, as Mark Lazarowicz MP (Edinburgh North & Leith) and Martin Salter MP (Reading West) came to talk to protesters.
Students from several P&P groups then took their message inside Parliament as they took part in a mass lobby of their MPs. They called for a full public inquiry into the Kingsnorth proposal so that the debate over a coal-powered future can be had out in the open. New coal power stations will tie the UK into the dirtiest of energy sources for a generation. The foolishness has to stop!
Help stop climate chaos.
You have to speak to your MP on this issue, either face-to-face or via email or letter, and get them to call for a public inquiry. Find out how. The need to act is pressing - the Business Minister John Hutton will be announcing his decision soon.