The Camp for Climate Action 2007

By climatecamp.org.uk

We hope that the camp will be many things to many people, from exploring what the problems are, and the changes and challenges we face, to gain the skills we will need as we prepare for a future that burns less energy. We’ll also be joining forces with Heathrow residents fighting the third runway, linking a critical local battle to the need for systemic change. And finally we’ll be taking direct action to turn things round, and create lasting communities of resistance.

The camp is not just about pointing fingers – though we have to identify who and what is making the problem worse. It’s not just about rehearsing disaster scenarios – though we have to understand what ‘business as usual’ really means. It’s not just about creating a spectacle to entertain ourselves – though we have to be able to dance even as we resist and debate. What the camp is really about is doing what we need to do to tackle climate change.

Of course these days everyone agrees that reducing carbon dioxide emissions is necessary, but are they serious? If governments and corporations were serious about climate change they wouldn’t be threatening us with terrorism laws and Orwellian injunctions. And of course nobody really believes their idea that we can buy our way out of the climate crisis by all being green consumers. Imagine a planet of 6 billion Toyota Prius eco-cars. We simply can’t have an endlessly expanding economy on a planet that’s not getting any bigger!

The real battle is about change as its coming whether we like it or not. Capitalism loves a good crisis. The crisis of climate change provides an opportunity to change the world, to sweep away existing barriers to growth and to realise new profits. Markets for carbon and the farce of carbon-offsetting are ingenious new ways to make profits. It’s hard to see them delivering 90% cuts in carbon dioxide emissions before 2050. But easy to see them delivering bumper profits, insane inequality and a PR-disguised drift towards climatic catastrophes.

Mainstream solutions to climate change are no solution at all. Catastrophe beckons unless we get our act together. It’s up to us, the public acting together, to push solutions that fight against climate change and for social justice together, to develop attractive solutions, to adopt different measurements of value, to turn things around. The good news is that most of the changes needed are social, psychological and political. They aren’t about technology. They are questions to be answered by the public, not the expert.

Of course the camp won’t just be a single event, a week in a field – it’s come out of an ever growing movement of diverse people who are alive to the fact that radical changes are essential, and are making them happen. And its up to all of us to work out what happens next.

We hope that you’ll come to the camp. We can choose what the future holds. We have the power right here in our hands. If only we’ll use it.

– http://climatecamp.org.uk

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