I went to the camp after work on Friday evening, to find around 1,000 people, organised into smaller ‘neighbourhoods’ discussing what they’ve learnt over the week, debating the various solutions, and planning the different marches and demonstrations that were unfolding over the weekend.

The Oxford neighbourhood alone included teachers, local council workers, researchers, scientists, community development workers, students, families, a Buddhist group..and many more. For some this was the first time they’d come to a climate change event, let alone anything like a camp. The variety of workshops, including everything from Domestic Tradeable Carbon Quotas to decentralised energy, from Climate Science Controversies to Tango and Salsa (just to relieve the pressure of talking!) had given plenty of food for thought and action – not only at the camp, but also to refuel people to be able to raise awareness and take action locally.

As I helped on the welcome desk on Saturday morning, a local resident visiting the camp asked me ‘But where are the activists?’. I’m not sure what she expected an ‘activist’ to look like, but as I explained that everyone here was involved in some way in taking some action on climate change, the penny began slowly to drop. Being a climate activist is not an exclusive category - everyone raising awareness and taking action on climate change is an activist, and however much some media might like to portray it as such, there’s no dividing line.

One march on Saturday morning went between the camp and nearby Sipson village, which is threatened by the expansion of Heathrow airport. Today Sipson is a typical small village bordering Heathrow, the incessant noise from the planes taking off and landing being a background to daily life. In one possible future, this village will be demolished and paved over to make way for Heathrow’s third runway. Another possible future is the village standing as a symbol of our turning point in policy: the time our policy makers woke up to the changes they needed to make to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

I pondered these future options as I stood on the proposed route of the Heathrow’s third runway. Both of these futures are currently in our hands. All of our hands. Meanwhile Hurricane Dean threatens the Caribbean. Meanwhile people plan their next climate change outreach event.

** For more info on aviation and climate change, see the report 'Predict and Decide: Aviation, climate change and UK policy' : http://www.eci.ox.ac.uk/research/energy/predictanddecide.php **

Comments

Posted by jo_hamilton on 23rd Aug 2007 15:17 (4 years, 9 months ago):

ah yes, my mistake - getting me runways and terminals muddled up! Now corrected, thanks!

Posted by timjones on 21st Aug 2007 16:20 (4 years, 9 months ago):

'...as I stood on the proposed route of the Heathrow’s sixth runway'. Goodness there are further reasons to be fearful. And we thought they would stop at three!

 t

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