This is my personal call to arms! Come to Climate Camp! I will be there for the entire week, helping to run the kitchens in the London neighbourhood, and hopefully penning day by day blogs of the week's events. There will also be visits from various Amelia's Magazine interns throughout my time there, and Katie, who is manning the earth section of the blog, intends to be there for the whole week.

Cooking in the London neighbourhood 2007

Climate Camp 2007

But what is this Climate Camp I hear you cry?! Well, Climate Camp began life in the summer of 2006, when a bunch of people decided to squat the land near Drax power station with the aim of bringing attention to the climate catastrophe that we fast find ourselves approaching. Even though I went to the G8 camp in Stirling in 2005. I did not attend this inaugural Climate Camp because I was loved up - most of my mates went but I was probably shagging. Oh well, that is far in the past and last year and this year I have been progressively more involved with Climate Camp, which has turned into an enthusiastic worldwide movement. This year I have been attending weekly London neighbourhood meetings for a few months, helping to put together our little encampment, and generally rallying the troops.. we've been flyering festivals large and small and last weekend we got together to make Rocket Stoves from old veg oil tins; great little stoves that are the most efficient way to boil water on site.

Lots of glue (made from flour, water and sugar) later

Collecting this years rocket stoves

Rocket stoves in use Climate Camp 2007

Climate Camp aims to address the dilemmas facing humankind as oil and other energy sources such as coal diminish in a proactive and inspiring way; collectively we aim to make living sustainably a feasible possibility. This is done by actually living in the manner which we think is the way forward, on a sustainable camping ground as a community; cooking and eating together, making decisions by consensus and learning from our peers. The toilets are all compostable of course and the power is all renewable. There is also a shedload of workshops on during the week - the best of which will be highlighted a little later on in this blog. Like me you may feel a bit confused and worried about climate change but because you don't know enough about it you feel unable to do anything - well, that's a pretty standard reaction - humans like to bury their heads in the sand when they are stuck for what else to do. But by attending Climate Camp you will not only be showing your support for positive change (in the light of rubbish government policies like building new coal-fired power stations instead of spending money on renewable options) you will also be empowering yourself towards leading a more positive future.

Climate Camp 2007 compostable toilets

Last year the Climate Camp was held directly next to Heathrow in protest of the proposed third runway which would exterminate the village of Sipson and increase our carbon emissions way beyond anything that is sustainable. There was so much coverage in the press we didn't know where to look! My photogenic friends took to competing with each other for who could glean the most column inches and biggest photos, such was their coverage of their direct actions.

Flyering at Rise festival

This year Kingsnorth power station in Kent has been chosen as the site of the camp - itself a direct action - from whence a mass direct action can be orchestrated on the weekend of the 9-10 August. This is the site of the first of eight new coal fired power stations that are being mooted to roll out across the UK in the next couple of years - much has been made of the carbon capture facilities that might be implemented at the site at some unspecified point in the future, but the fact is that these are not serious proposals yet - a large scale facility has yet to be designed and built anywhere in the world, it has been labelled another "great green scam" by George Monbiot , and the feeling with Climate Campers is that we should not be supporting the regrowth of a coal industry, mostly feeding off low grade coal imported from china, neither the easy fix of nuclear. Instead we should be looking at ways to lower our energy needs - by living in more sustainable manners. If any of these ideas interest you (and they should - climate change will affect all of us, and sooner rather than later) then you must come visit us! Last year I learnt so much I dubbed the event Climate Change University. There were visiting climate change luminaries aplenty, and the wonderful George Monbiot was so keen to keep talking after his official debate was over that he came over to the London neighbourhood (we are all split into neighbourhoods, with de-centralised kitchens and meeting spaces) and insisted on talking into the small hours.

London neighbourhood 2007

But not only that, Climate Camp is fun!!! If you like engaging company with likeminded types then this is a great place to be. Of course there was the odd drugged out drongo, but hey what do you expect?! it is a totally free gathering after all and is bound to attract some dodgy uns. This year I took it upon myself to design (with the fab illustrator Leona Clarke, who is featured in issue 09) a London neighbourhood-specific poster and flyer, and also a songbook designed to get everyone singing along together. My "anarchist punk choir" will be attending on the tuesday night (august 5th), as will my band Cutashine - the barndance that we put on last year was amongst the highlights of my year - it's quite something to watch 500 people completely let loose! Entertainments in the evening are definitely a highlight, but simple things such as cooking with others are just as inspiring.

London neighbourhood cooks having fun

Flyering at Rise festival watching a video on how to take down fences

So, onto the highlights of this year's workshops... for a fuller programme go here. (it may be subject to change so always check up) To get here just catch a train to Strood then hop on our pre-arranged minibus. Come visit us for a day, or better still bring your tent and sleeping bag and come shack up with us for a few days or the whole week - you won't regret it.

Workshop Highlights:
Kicking off the week with a whole bucketload of positive thinking is Matt Carmichael at 10.30am, who will focus on what we are fighting for... and reasons not to give up..He'll be back to discuss the "great global warming swindle" at 2.30pm too.
I am a sometimes lapsed veggie - I stopped eating meat at the age of 13 because I hated the fatty bits that my mum would force me to eat even though they made me gag. I had quite a fiery relationship with my mum at that time and when I announced (somewhat gleefully) my decision I remember her throwing a chicken drumstick at me in exasperation. I was pretty strict for many years but by my late 20s I started to miss bits of meat, and have eaten small amounts of mainly organic and free range white meat ever since. But I think I will attend the talk given by Guardian journalist Guy Shrubsole at 12 midday on the environmental impacts of eating meat. I know its bad, and I should know more.
The programme is so packed that every day I am likely to miss a workshop that I really want to attend which is going to wind me up. Never mind! I can comfort myself by returning to our kitchen and donning one of the "Coalmine Canary" yellow aprons that my intern Emma is currently making up for us kitchen bods to wear.

On Tuesday my fellow kitchen bitch Kat Forrester will be running a workshop on women and direct action. She's a veteran of direct action these days, having d-locked herself to a metal gate at a private airbase at Biggin Hill during last years camp. These days she spends much of her time sorting out press for Plane Stupid if she is not organizing our London kitchen.
One definite highlight of the week will be Jay Griffiths speaking at 12 on her amazing book Wild. It is the most inspiring piece of literature I have read in a long time and I will definitely be front row for that.
At 4.30pm Greenpeace activists will be discussing why nuclear power is not a viable alternative to coal - I already know my gut feelings on this subject but would like to crib up a bit more at the feet of those more knowledgeable.

Planning this years camp

On Wednesday there are two very interesting talks on at 10.30am - the first will be given by PIRC - a very interesting centre dedicated to research into climate change - which will no doubt be given by my mate Richard Hawkins, who helped me out with some lectures at LCC last year when the college decided to focus on sustainability in design. He's a great talker, so should be very engaging.
However I would also like to attend Rising Tide's talk on Art Not Oil: Using Our Creativity To Resist Oil Industry Sponsorship Of The Arts. It's not something I've personally had to deal with (noone is exactly throwing money at me...) but I can see it could have useful applications in other areas - I am very keen to avoid working with advertisers whose products or services I don't believe in, but I totally understand how it can be very hard when you are totally skint and need to fund your work somehow.
Then at 4.30pm James Marriott from Platform will be speaking about the role of the big oil companies in today's world of peak oil. Platform is an arts and ecology based foundation and I was so desperate to meet James that I went to study at the Schumacher College in Devon so I could work with him. (I didn't because they cancelled him without telling me, but that's another story)

There will be more from Platform on Thursday, with Kevin Smith talking about the cash behind new coal, and Mel Evans on what some of our big banks are up to. Both lovely people who have been out there flyering with me.
I will also want to attend the talk on Ecofeminism at 12 - it's a subject close to my heart and the inspiration behind one of the photoshoots in my new issue.

Flyering on watermargins

By Friday there will be lots of space in the diary for the whole camp to get involved in planning a mass action - a process which will be done by Consensus. If you are unfamiliar with this process you will soon discover how it works at Climate Camp, but suffice to say that if everyone around you starts doing jazz hands you have stumbled into a Consensus meeting. But don't be scared by the tic-like hand movements - Consensus decision making is merely a completely fair (if sometimes frustratingly longwinded) way of reaching the best possible decision for everyone involved.
At 10.30am though, I will definitely be trying to listen in to two very interesting sounding discussions - Guy Shrubsole on China and Coal Power and Kriptik on the consequences of mineral exploitation around the world.
I hope that reading through some of this will have inspired you to come down and visit - we'd love to see you - everyone is welcome.

Flyering at Rise festival