For those who like to enjoy their tasty treats without having an unsavoury impact on those involved in the production of their sweeties, Burnt Sugar is set to become a firm favourite. Lauded by all and sundry (the Telegraph had said that they 'may be set to do for the sweet market what Green & Blacks have done for chocolate') the FairTrade certified brand, set up by Justine Cather in 2001, seems to be going from strength to strength. This should be no surprise really as, for starters, their ethical stance is exemplary. Sourcing their unrefined sugar (no nasty chemicals used this way!) from West Kenyan sugar farming co-operative WEKO, the company supports small local businesses and provides premiums so that communities can enrich their villages with water pipelines and electricity. Burnt Sugar has also become 'Carbon Zero' by offsetting their carbon dioxide emissions through energy efficiency projects, such as providing Solar Stoves and energy efficient light bulbs to communities in Africa. Even their West Kenyan sugar mill is energy self sufficient, since the sugar cane (once crushed and squeezed of it's sugary juice) can be burnt to provide heat for the evaporation process.
Now, this is all well and good and fine and dandy, but a sweet company will never get far if it's goodies aren't so good. This is why I insisted on a few taste tests before bigging up Burnt Sugar (it's a perk of the job, what can I say?). I'm not usually one for fudge but The Observer Food Monthly deemed Burnt Sugar's 'Original Crumbly Fudge' to be the world's best fudge, so I put aside my preconceptions and popped a piece in my mouth. The verdict? I'm a fudge convert! This grown up fudge has a surprisingly malty smell, like snuffling at a slice of Soreen or a particularly dense Christmas cake. It's juicy as well, something I wasn't expecting, with treacly, syrupy juice lending each chunk a really dark copper tone. It's crumbly and melt in the mouth; like eating home-made biccies but with all of the sugar and none of the substance.
We were also given a packet of 'Original Chocolate Honeycomb' which Amelia sampled and deemed 'lovely'. A little research on the Burnt Sugar site reveals that their confectionary collection is almost as big as Willy Wonker's; There's chocolate crumbly fudge, dark chocolate covered caramel crunch, strawberry and white chocolate crumbly fudge, coconut ice... I could go on, but I'd start dribbling on my keyboard. Burnt Sugar have packaged their products in larger pouches and tubs for sharing (yeah, right!), smaller trinket sized boxes for giving (what!?) and little bars to indulge in all alone (that's more like it!).
I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for Burnt Sugar when I'm next grocery shopping. I may even take Burnt Sugar's advice and indulge in their not-so-guilty pleasures whilst I'm curled up with a good book, a past-time the company love so much that they even created their own online book club! But, wouldn't you know it, this is yet another initiative to make the world a better place; they simultaneously use the book group to draw attention to Book Aid International (who support literacy, education and training in the developing world). Burnt Sugar founder, Justine Cather, says; "I love the idea that our book club is a fun thing for our consumers to join and at the same time it helps promote the great work that Book Aid International are doing in the Sub-Saharan African communities, especially as this is where our Fairtrade sugar is grown".
Burnt Sugar look to be a confectionary company with delicious products and a wholesome work ethic. Could it get any sweeter?
I must confess that it has taken me awhile to sit down and attempt to tackle the greatness that was Climate Camp, partly because it totally knackered me out and partly because I don't want to misreport anything and there is so much to say that I am not sure where to start... so I guess I will start at the beginning, and maybe I will end at the point where I got arrested. But you'll have to read on to find out all about that! And apologies if it may take you awhile! I've discovered so many photos that I want to put out there that this is going to be a mammoth affair...
the site at dusk
Just to recap, Climate Camp this year was on the Hoo Peninsula, within sighting distance of the vast chimneys of Kingsnorth coal-fired power station, the site where megalith energy company E.On are planning to build a whacking great new power station starting next year. If this power station is built it will be one of seven or eight new coal-fired power stations that our great government is planning to roll out across the UK. If this is allowed to happen there is no way on earth that we will ever meet our CO2 emissions targets as agreed internationally, and we will never be able to continue berating the likes of China and India for continuing to build coal-fired power stations. It would be a severe case of pot calling the kettle black - so, for the future of life as we know it, we can't allow a new Kingsnorth to happen.
I've obviously been heavily involved in the set up of at least one small part of the camp this year, namely the London Neighbourhood. With the help of the fabulous Leona Clarke (I can't big her up enough - every art director loves to work with an illustrator who just so gets what they want, and delivers with such amazing accuracy, speed and good will) I produced the posters and flyers that soon appeared all over much of London inviting people to come join our little community at Climate Camp, and then I also put together a songbook so that the peeps on camp could sing and have fun together.
Leona Clarke's amazing poster intended to invite Londoners to visit Climate Camp
checking out the songbooks!
This was done at the very last minute before I left for camp and the 300 books that I persuaded my lovely printers Principal Colour to print for free (sample comment to me "have you heard of the phrase 'more front than Brighton Beach Amelia?'" - what, me?!) were delivered by a bemused courier to the roundabout above camp as we were under siege from several dozen obnoxious riot police (are there any other kind?) It had been noted that a brother of one of the guys who works at Principal Colour works for the Kent Police so maybe he could have given me the books but we decided that was probably a baaaaad idea. My lovely intern Emma Hamshare also made four beautiful yellow aprons that were inspired by the concept of an escaped coalmine canary and were worn through the week by a variety of motley London cooks.
London neighbourhood cooks in Emma's coalmine canary design aprons
But as usual I digress... on the Sunday I couldn't wait to get away from dirty old London to the utopian pastures of the Hoo peninsula, and with backpack aloft I met my ex boyfriend Dave on the train out to Strood. Already I was meeting familiar faces at the station and by the time we disembarked the place was positively thronging with happy looking people, some of whom I knew already from my many Climate Camp related missions. Catching the bus with two adventurous school girls and Guy Shrubsole, we found our way to the police check point for the first of many searches and pink slips.
waiting to be searched in the police pen
To say that this felt incredibly uncalled for is to totally underemphasize the amount of pressure this constant ill-treatment put us though.
Dave surrounded by friendly cops
Luckily I winged my way through the searches with belongings fully intact - not so many others. One great video made by VisionOn TV on camp showed a multitude of not so lucky folk detailing the ridiculous things that they had confiscated... kid's crayons, tent poles, bolts to complete the compost loos, a brolley. The list went on and on. And as we stood there we watched helplessly as they impounded a large truck bearing one of our much needed wind turbines. Oh the insanity.
And oh the joy on entering the Climate Camp site - much bigger and more sloping than last year, it was still in a state of preparation so our compatriots were mightily pleased by the sudden influx of bodies for the official start of camp. Needless to say that everything was behind due to the police antics that had taken place in the days previous to our arrival. Thanks, again.
the welcome flags
My first evening was spent watching Team America in the peddle powered cinema in the Scotland neighbourhood - I hadn't seen it before, and whilst certainly a one trick pony it suddenly dawned on me where my friends were getting "i'm so ronry" catchphrases from, and I enjoyed the crack. All seemed so lovely and pleasant; we even had a beautiful full rainbow appear over the whole camp that framed Kingsnorth a treat - but I had a niggling feeling that this was the calm before the storm, and boy was I right.
the rainbow over happy campers
5am, Monday morning, and what was to become the first of many dawn wake up calls. Psychological warfare had commenced - we'll fuck their minds up with lack of sleep if nothing else. Let me remind you that we pitched up in Kent as PEACEFUL protestors, with no plan to use violence of any kind. Awoken by the frantic alarm calls of those who had been on duty at the topmost gate and were now racing through the fields to rally the troops, I hopped out of my pyjamas (not so many other people), grabbed my camera and ran to help out. It's quite something to be confronted with so many hostile men whilst still half asleep in your bedclothes, but this is exactly what happened.
a nice way to wake up NOT
Many aggressive policemen and a clearly scared-out-of-her-wits police woman, all wielding batons and grimaces in the beautiful morning half light.
cold and still in pyjamas and half asleep
police at dawn
it all seems so polite
Much has been made of police brutality so I won't go into it in too much detail again - all I will mention is that we sang, and we put our hands in the air when they charged us with pepper spray and chanted "there is no riot, this is a peaceful protest" and we engaged some of the more genuine cops.
sitting politely and singing
but we apparently need full shield riot police
coming in strong for no reason
and we had our hands in the air as they pepper sprayed us
hands in the air, peaceful people
atop the van that was apparently "abandoned" and the reason police came on site
And here are some videos to show you what happened.
you can probably hear that I wasn't very impressed by this whole episode. I should probably not get so annoyed when I am taking a video and don't know how to edit it so apologies for the voiceover. still, you've got to admit I had a point. and you've got to remember we had done NOTHING wrong.
so we sang action songs with the riot cops, and they loved it
Most of Monday got sidelined with the whole ordeal. Fortunately it was a beautiful day, thoughtful protesters made vats of tea and porridge and hand delivered them to the people protecting our site, continuing to do so at mealtime intervals throughout the week, and we managed to hold a few of the planned workshops alongside the police lines so as not to completely lose sight of the reason we were all assembled in the Hoo, to listen and talk and inspire each other towards a better future.
delivering porridge to protesters on the front line
We even held an impromptu session where anyone could stand up and talk about why they felt it was so important to be at Climate Camp, which was incredibly moving, conducted as it was in front of the riot police lines.
one particularly passionate individual explains why he has come to Climate Camp, but the lady riot cop just wants to dance
a Scandinavian friend tells us why he has travelled by boat and train to join us
protesters sit peacefully in front of the police line in the sun
Then by afternoon the police had decided to try and raid the camp from the bottom gate and it quickly became apparent that our site was almost too big to try and control.
the wall of riot police advancing onto site from below
As I passed the riot police who were standing awkward and out of place on our great grassy main parade whilst protesters tried to reason with them "we don't need you, there is no riot!" I found my friends Kat and Plane Stupid founder Joss lain out on the ground shrugging their shoulders, as if to say, what the hell can we do now?!
Kat and Joss take a break during the police raid - clearly a major riot going on here!
During this stand off I not only had to pinch (or briefly borrow) a bike and trailer from Bicycology to get the songbooks from way off site, passing bike and trailer over the barracaded main gate, but a number of news journalists made it onto the site, thereby ensuring that most of the photos used for the remainder of the week were of well, whatever it was you most probably saw: protesters lined against police. And so the story goes on, onesided as ever.
Fortunately things never got as heated again, at least not on our site during the week leading up to the main day of direct action. But for most of the week we had to trundle up to the roundabout half a mile away to fetch all the camp food, which was often late as were the ensuing meals.
delivering mounds of veg by hand to the main gate
We managed to survive without onsite police presence for the rest of my time on Climate Camp - that despite their daily pleas to allow multiple police units on permanent patrol. I think this was a significant victory - Kent police may have argued that we needed police patrols for our own safety, but the only thing that people needed protection from was the police themselves - absolutely the only aggressive force to be found in the vicinity.
And so we remained a harmonious autonomous community. I am sure my friend Jamie won't mind me quoting him at this point, because I think he summed it up really well in an email he sent around our mailing list last week. "I've never seen a group of people use consensus in such an efficient way. It was like an ant colony. Nor a group of people stand up to police with such non-violent conviction. They were getting full on battered by shield and stick and they just stood / sat there with hands in the air. It was like Gandhi."
my gorgeous girlfriends bask in the sunshine. jeez I know some hotties!
By Tuesday the workshops were all running smoothly, and I was running around in my usual impression of a headless chicken, attending neighbourhood meetings, site meetings and the like. Workshops will each be addressed in blogs of their own, but suffice to say that as usual I learnt so much, and felt immensely inspired and priveleged to be in the company of so many amazing people. The afforementioned Jamie had put together a fantastic roster of evening entertainment with Mark, and on Tuesday night, following some typically fraught issues with the manager of my band, Cutashine put on a rollicking good celidh for about 600 people. Climate Camp celidhs are amongst my most memorable, probably because everyone is just so damn up for it! and I love an up for it audience, it makes my job (as caller) so much more fun.
Christina, our lovely scottish fiddler
a wobbly shot of everyone dancing, taken from the stage!
my interns enjoy the celidh
I got a bit drunk that night, and posthumously discovered that although vegan food is very tasty when cooked by someone knowledgeable, and also great for losing weight, it is also rubbish for drinking on.... never mind. Before bedtime I discovered, to my joy, that there were people spontaneously dancing at the police lines at the top gate. It's what I dreamed would happen! I had time for a bit of sleep before getting up to attend the neighbourhood meeting at 8.30am as usual.
singing in the London neighbourhood tent in the wee hours
with friends, unwinding at the end of a long day
singing in the queue for food in the London tent
I ventured out of camp on Wedsnesday to try and buy some papers for the media-starved over-worked media peeps, (the brilliant news that some activists had targeted the E.On sponsored model Kingsnorth at Legoland was about the most we knew of the outside world), but went the wrong way and having disappeared for literally thirty seconds around a corner out of site of the cops I was subjected to a particularly nasty pink slip search.
the over-stretched media team
my pile of pink slips - note my estimated age, 45!!!! are they having a laugh, or possibly just trying to piss me off because I wouldn't give them my details? (this was written by the officers who went onto arrest me for nothing at all)
intern Mel on a borrowed Bicycology bike
tripods erected to prevent the police from gaining easy access to the site
It was probably around this point that I realised that for my stress levels and sanity I should just stay put on the site and not subject myself to such treatment if it wasn't absolutely necessary. That evening the brilliant poet and activist Ben Mellor did an impromptu session at the Bicycology stand as we watched the most incredible thunder and lightening storm roll in from the horizon. Check him out if you get a chance, it was really very special.
Ben Mellor powered by Bicycology. he's hot!
Then we had a fabulous Latin American evening with full on dancing courtesy of London stalwart Sam, and then after a session of out of tune singing in the London tent it was early to bed.
learning to dance with some amazing outfits
Bolivian dancers in the main tent later on - lovin those neon costumes!
By Thursday it felt as though the atmosphere on camp was starting to change, as people started to work on their various Saturday actions. The feeling of excitement was palpable, and a full week of very little contact with the cops had made people relaxed and happy.
my interns. I'm so happy they came down to camp too!
planning an action...
relaxing in the London neighbourhood
the London neighbourhood
my mate Matt chopping wood for the rocket stoves to heat water for a constant supply of tea and coffee
the wonderful Lily manning the rocket stoves
Activism is the raison d'etre of sprawling collective Seize the Day, so of course they came down to play at Climate Camp. After a somewhat muted start, not helped by the children and sedate types that hogged the floor in front of the stage and prevented most people from getting down to dance, the evening finally took off, and I went a bit mental - sorry to those kids whose view I blocked but it had to be done. Afterwards we attempted some singing around the fire near the London neighbourhood but I had to retire quickly as yet again I realised that I was pissed after one and half cans of Strongbow!
singing around the fire
checking in the handbook for the next workshop
By Friday I had decided to do the honourable thing and volunteer for the strawbale toilet changing run, which was as smelly as promised, and particularly unpleasant when dealing with the strawbales that people had pooped on or dropped their bogroll on (both no-nos. Poos go into wheelie bins with sawdust, and henceforth to a very happy farmer who grows amazing potatoes from the rich compost) But boy did I feel righteous for volunteering!
Rose on the strawbale toilet duty!
a lovely CLEAN strawbale toilet. aren't we clever?!
I also did some time on the front gate, singing with Jess Gold, and making up songs to welcome new campers just arriving for the main action and wishing a fond goodbye to happy campers heading off for individual actions across the peninsula. This was to come back to haunt me, alas.
singing on the front gate
okay, so I won't be bothering the charts anytime soon but I hardly think it is arrestable, do you?
Dave helps to ferry things back and forth over the front gate
I was also wondering where the hell I would join the direct action, but was feeling extremely wary of doing anything fun like going out on the rafts with the GRRR, even though that sounded the most fun. Frankly, I knew it was illegal to head out onto the Medway and I didn't want to risk arrest. For awhile I toyed with the idea of going out on a bike action with a borrowed Bicycology bike (I didn't bring mine after hearing all the tales of confiscated bikes and hacksawed locks) but was put off by the decidedly non-consensus male dominated way that the block seemed to be operating, not to mention the shaky bike that would have been my vehicle across all terrain. I was also worried about being arrested for conspiracy, as I had just heard some of my friends were. Sounds glamourous, not so glamourous in court.
a girl hangs origami peace birds in the tree next to the police line
the bike powered sound system that gave us some great sounds into the night
So in the end I had a very early night (the lack of sleep finally catching up with me) and was persuaded in the very early morning to join my friend on the "orange" or fluffy march. So called because it was kid friendly and entirely safe (haha) to tag along with. It also looked like it was going to be alot of fun. The sun was shining, the dragon looked fabulous, everyone was singing and it seemed like a good option. Double haha.
the march leaves the campsite to the flash of many photographers
the clown leads the dragon procession
And it was alot of fun, to begin with. Despite being held up for a ridiculous amount of time in the little green lane leading out of the campsite because we were ahead of schedule (as agreed by the police) we rattled along in a game old fashion, with beautiful banners held high and newly invented lyrics falling fast from our lips, accompanied by tambourine, sax and guitar.
facepainting and music
dancing along to the tunes
Guy gives me a grin. love his placard!
foxy girl with Coal on her stomach
We marched along the dual carriage way, having been banished from going through the village of Hoo (why?! villagers we met along the way wanted to know!) and all the locals waved and cheered us on.
locals along the route look happy to see us!
Trash, trash, trash the station But then someone broke a small bit of police tape, and with characteristic understatement the police waded in with batons and horses. See my video here. the police, being violent and intimidating for no apparent reason, again Fortunately sanity prevailed and we carried on peacefully for several miles to the gates of Kingsnorth, where everyone sat down and had a picnic whilst the police helicopter flew overhead broadcasting a tape that warned us that "weapons will be deployed." After several speeches of varying quality (the good folks of the local Kingsnorth action group in Medway gave the best and most thoughtful speeches) and a bit of music we samba-ed our way back towards home. As permission had been given to leave the march at any point (so long as we did not rejoin) a group veered off into the town of Hoo as we passed it on our return. Families gathered on their doorsteps rushed to grab their wellies to join us but our impromptu breakaway march quickly dissipated as we neared the town centre and the allure of the Co-op, where junk-food starved campers dispatched to purchase beers and crisps under the watchful and totally necessary eye of the ubiquitous FIT team. On leaving to go back towards home I discovered that a bus was being prevented from turning towards our site - on asking why I was told it was too dangerous as the road was full of protesters - I suggest you make up your own mind from these photos. I suspect that yet again the cops were attempting to drive a wedge between protesters and locals.
We are the activist generation
We don't want no power station
We just want some Climate Action!
a police horse looms over me
another cute chick says no to new coal. time to get rid of the crusty image of protesters. we're a good looking crowd!
eating a tasty picnic at the Kingsnorth gates after the long walk
singing at the gates of Kingsnorth
a triumphant member of the GRRR meets us on his return!
locals in Hoo give us a wave
stocking up on crisps and beer in the local Co-op
the FIT team are giving me that look. Do I look like a thief?!
where the bus would like to turn
clearly a road completely blocked with protesters, wouldn't you say?
Climate camp has progressively expanded in numbers from 600 people in 2006 to over 2,000 people in 2007 and this year saw even more supporters. An array of people from all walks of life gathered at Kingsnorth to oppose E.ON and the government’s plans to build the UK’s first coal-fired power station in 30 years, and seven more after that. Along with the Amelia’s team, I rocked up to Climate Camp eager to learn more about a movement that is going from strength to strength.
Monday 4th August
On arrival, what surprised me was the welcoming atmosphere of the camp with fellow campers hailing me a friendly ‘hello! And how are you?’ (well this was a novel concept-after all I am from London where no one even holds eye contact on the tube!)
With the camp split into different neighbourhoods, I made my way to the London area which was still being put together, with people carrying planks of wood. ‘We need to put up the kitchen!’ I heard an errant voice call. Although eager to help out I thought it best to leave it to those more technically minded. After all I didn’t want to cause any fatalities on my first day!
Before long we heard calls that the police were inside the camp! People were hollering to come and support a mass action protest. Curious at what all the commotion was about I ran down to see a line of taciturn police staunchly holding shields and batons. I was confused as to why they were there. One campaigner told me that there were already previous police intrusions, with the police even secretly coming in the camp at night. This all seemed a bit like child’s play.
Having taken part in the peaceful protest, we decided to put our tent up (which was surprisingly easy seeing as I was in the company of two professional tent setters!)
derv and kate
kate embracing nature
umm...
After having a yummy vegan dinner at the London neighbourhood and satisfying some rumbling bellies, we mostly hung out. But not for long as there was another protest going on where yet more police were set on making their presence known. It’s here I met up with afew friendly faces, namely my friends Sam and Nathan who tried to make me sing whilst I played them a tune on guitar (sorry guys I’m just too shy!)
Tuesday 5th August
On the second day we were all booked up and ready to hit some talks and workshops. We decided to go to the media talk which was in a tiny tent. From photographers, ex-journalists, media students to those just generally interested in the media, the crowd was definitely varied.
What emerged were concerns about how best to present the movement when it is made from so many different people. Did we have to have a representative leader to present to the media? And wouldn’t that undermine the concept of community and the sense that all voices were equal and valid within the camp? We discussed the representation of campaigners and climate camp and the need to promote them both fairly after all the negative coverage. We also decided that fair coverage would be more achievable through smaller independent journals who were not aiming to sensationalize for profits. Yet despite this being more reliable, this would only foster a small readership. And wasn’t our aim to be widespread and inclusive?
Sitting on the grass and discussing these points felt like having a slightly intellectual conversation with a friend over a coffee session. Although the arguments tended to be cyclical where a clear solution was never in sight, it was refreshing to hear so many young people engaged in debate. These questions needed to be aired and although a conclusion was never reached, by triggering them they were given a headway into a public arena.
some camps
charles lookin' pretty :p
The second workshop I went to was the ‘Sustainable Networks’ where organizing community based networks was on the cards. Included were success stories where communities arranged activities and green sharing programmes. There were projects that ranged from individuals campaigning in their areas for climate change through leafleting, shared gardens, park projects, art groups, political letter making, art and music events. Transition Towns was even mentioned once or twice. T.T aims to create a way of living that’s significantly more connected and in touch with the environment through community building-much of what the workshop and Climate Camp was about!
What I took from the workshop is that campaigning; building links and raising awareness for a more sustainable way of living need not be drab. Instead, a lot of these successful projects were implemented by creativity and spoonfuls of ingenuity. Why not have fun whilst getting informed?
All these workshops were making me peckish so I decided to help cut out some cabbages in the kitchen for dinner.
The moon came out and peeps sat around their neighbourhoods in groups. We were feeling inspired by our day of talks and workshops so many interesting discussions ensued. However after many plastic cupfuls of wine later we felt like a jigg so bee-lined it to Amelia’s Celilidh band. What better way to spend a night being directed by the lovely Amelia into synchronized dance (nb: this is not meant to sound sexual!)? At first I remembered why I was always skipping barn dance practice at primary school. But a few moments later we were all getting into the spirit. Even Charles got in on the act!
amelia's band
dearbhaile busting some groovy moves (girl with pink bow!)
charles is either camera shy or has drunk a wee too much!
kate and dearbhaile peeping over the loos to say 'hello'
walking back to our tent-all that excitement made us tired.
Bedtime beckoned and sleep looked v good (we were only hoping we could all get in without collapsing into the tent).
Wednesday 6th August
Time to leave.
waiting for the train to london
But what exactly had I learnt from my stay? Three points that rang out clear as a bell were-
The media’s depiction of activists/campaigners was far from representative. Here was a combination of passionate and informed people who came from all different backgrounds. You name it, lawyers, lecturers, students, families, the generally interested-they were all there to support the cause through peaceful means. The fundamental activist, the drugged up hippy, the lay-about dreg locked raver-none were to be seen.
Also the term Capitalism is always used as a buzzword for evil companies taking over the world. To be against this in the short term is easy but doesn’t that mean blockading economic progress? And doesn’t capitalism breed forth nice shiny stuff that makes us happy? No! First, is capitalism really a synonym for progress?! Abstract labour is the only result of capitalism whereby constant pursuit of profit through labour can never satisfy in the long run. Secondly, understanding a world in terms of profit is a sad way to live, where things makes up our appreciation of ourselves and others too. Of course this is superficial. The only antidote is sustainable living.
Food, climate, oil and financial crisis’. They are all linked and feed off each other. By aiming to make one manageable this will pathe the way for the others to be constant.
Climate Camp definitely opened my eyes to what is happening now. There are concerns that exist and it is sometimes tempting to bury your head under the sand. Ignorance is bliss right? Well maybe to you but who suffers? And it is this unnerving question that continues to permeate. It is great to hear a voice that is unafraid to stand against a government that supports companies like E.ON who perpetuate and aggrevate climate change. The future doesn’t necessarily have to be bleak. By highlighting climate change and taking direct action, we can most definitely cause positive change. We can create sustainable lifestyles and beliefs that strive for thriving environments. Just the belief that we can cause change is as powerful as the concept of change itself.
My climate camp adventure started with the realisation that I’d have to spend a night in camp alone after a little mis-communication with my fellow interns. While the prospect of sleeping in a tent, alone, for the first time in my life scared the hell out of me, I’m glad I didn’t bottle out, as I would have missed out on a once in a lifetime experience.
Wednesday evening at camp started off with a surprisingly filling slap-up vegan meal supplied by the hardworking volunteers in the London tent.
Volunteer making food and wearing one of the aprons made by Emma
Me chumping down on my food
After bidding a brief farewell to fellow intern, Emma, I gathered with the rest of the campers under the stars to listen to the captivating words of performance poet Ben Mellor. As we sat absorbing his witty words on society and the mind numbing nature of television, whilst watching the sky light up with flashes of lightening, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride at the strong feeling of community and goodwill shared by all the campers.Wednesday evening was Latin American night at Climate camp, so after Ben’s words of wisdom, we all made our way to the main tent to dance the rest of the night away with the help of a brilliant Bolivian band.
The brilliant band which kept us on our feet all night
A Bolivian dance group
Emma and a couple other campers practiced a Bolivian dance routine earlier on in the day
I was up bright an early on the Thursday morning after a bit of rough night alone in the tent. Thankfully Kate had left her sleeping bag behind as quite stupidly I’d completely forgotten to bring any bedding of my own. Unfortunately after warning shouts of a police raid at 5:30 in the morning (which turned out to be a false alarm), I found it a little hard to get back to sleep.
There were absolutely loads of workshops that I liked the sound of, each of them employing different angles to tackle the issue of climate change. I went along to one organised by the Student Climate Project called Guerilla Art, which promised to illustrate how we could use creative means, such as art, to fight against climate change. Unfortunately in order to protect the SCP I can’t go into exact details on everything that we discussed. What I will say, however, is that I went in there expecting a discussion on producing traditional artwork that incorporates messages of environmental dangers, but was delighted at the more contemporary, dare I say radical, approaches that we examined. The coordinators started off by discussing artists such as Banksy who have used more direct means to raise public awareness of social issues, before instructing us to get into groups and produce some artwork of our own. I loved the proactive nature of this workshop, particularly because passive attempts to change public opinion can often feel a little futile in my opinion.
Myself, and the remaining members of Team Amelia said our goodbyes and made tracks to leave late Thursday afternoon. I couldn’t help, but feel a funny sense of nostalgia - in a strange way, it almost felt like I was leaving home. I have to admit the whole experience of being at protest was pretty new to me – but I loved being a part of it.
Myself, Kate and Sarah packing up the tent - it felt like we were leaving home!
Having survived over a week of sleeping rough, limited washing, not to mention an arrest, why not join Amelia along with other London based campers for the Climate Camp debrief and an evening of short films with an exclusive premiere of never seen before footage from this years action and other camps across the globe.
As featured on the blogs and witnessed yesterday by all us interns with her hours of frustration (and a few yelps) while uploading her clips, Amelia's got quite a collection and will be bringing them along too. So head down to rampART tonight with any of your own footage and snaps too.
I will admit that upon arrival to climate camp I was scared. Amelia had warned us about the police being a pain, but I thought, Im certainly not here to cause any trouble, and Im perfectly happy to be searched, so I didn't forsee any problems. However at the train station we met a girl who said that there were some fights taking place between protesters and police, and she even had the bruises to prove it! After waiting at the station for half an hour we were eventually told by someone from the camp that the driver of the shuttle bus had been arrested. Wonderful!
So our little crew of people toddled our way down to the bus stop in Rochester and eventually made our way to the camp. We were searched on the way in but had no real trouble at all coming in to the camp. Once over the turnstile we were instantly welcomed and completely struck by the lovely community feel of the camp, there were even 'showers'. Everyone was pitching in and working together to create a community and it was evident from the second we walked in.
Walking around the tents I had literally no idea why there were even any police present! The camp was not in any way a place of violence, it was a place of discussion, of trying to work out how to actively make the world a better place. There were people in wind block showers, compost toilets, doing cooking, cycling, making their own media voice and mostly just relaxing and discussing things.
Check out www.nonewcoal.org.uk for a really good video and more info about the reasoning behind the camp.
We walked in to the cinema tent and watched a very in-depth independent film about the DFID (department for International development) A British Government organization who should be providing aid to the impoverished people of India, but instead seems to allow large companies to make cheap use of India's land and people. For example Indian people had been told to grow plants that could be used for biodiesel, but not given any information about whether the companies would actually buy them, as well as the crops making their animals ill and ruining land that would otherwise have been used for growing food. I left the amazing little cinema tent having learnt a great deal and had gained a sense that large companies, organisations and even the government will do all they can to be seen to be 'good' and 'green' without properly trying to solve problems and take into account indigenous people and their thoughts and ideas, let alone their basic human needs.
A little googlebased work enabled me to look past all the government websites about how great the DFID are at giving money to poor people and I found this government document containing these little gems of information "It is crucial that each of DFID’s spending decisions is linked to the eradication of poverty", and, "Early and robust assessments of the impact of any proposed course of action on poverty is an effective safeguard against bad spending decisions." 'We were therefore disappointed to learn that this matter had disappeared from DFID’s annual
publication on the World Bank as the result of an apparent oversight." Hmmmm. nice to know that millions of pounds of our money are being looked after!
Then we kicked our shoes of and joined in with a strange South American dance on a rug outside that mostly involved jumping a lot and following the moves of a lady with a massive colourful feathery headdress. Brilliant!
That night when I left the camp. I walked to the bus stop and found three other campers sat there, they were incredibly nice to me and began offering me chocolate and crisps. One guy said that his rants on the subject of climate change had become so lengthly and out of control that his friends had imposed a 9pm 'climate rant' watershed on him. Before I knew it half an hour had passed and we began to cotton on that the village of Hundred of Hoo (yes yes it is a village from a childrens storybook) does not have night buses. So we began to stroll further into town looking for other bus stops. On the way we met a local man who said that the villagers were all behind us campers and that they thoroughly appreciated our coming to their village, he told us that when the power station first came to the village, the pollution was so severe that it somehow removed the paint from everyones cars and that they eventually won some money to repaint them! Some local lads then helped us to find a functioning bus stop at which point we met a fantastic old pearly queen lady on the bus who said that when she first came to Hundred of Hoo she used to travel by horse and cart,( children's story book! ) and told us that soon everyone would probably have to do that again. I giggled then swiftly realised that she of course does have a point. When we've used all the oil perhaps we will all be clip clopping around on horses and carts.
This strange long journey home would normally have been quite frankly a pain in the arse, but meeting these people made it actually really lovely, I came across great folk who helped me so much to get home, were really friendly, talkative and completely full of the camps spirit about pulling together for a common good and helping each other out. I remember one guy talking about how if people who had worked in a car factory could learn to make aeroplanes then the rest of us could bloody well apply ourselves to creating and using renewable kinds of energy. Convert coal fired power stations to wind farms! I thought a lot about how all that needs to happen is for people to truly apply themselves and use their own simple personal resources in a different way.
I learnt a great deal from them and it just goes to show that the ethos of the camp and its ideals and companionships extend far beyond the camp's gate. Climate Camp to me was far more than a protest camp, It was a true learning experience about the power of what people can do.
Join in, Get Involved and sign up to the mailing list to find out about when we are going back to Kingsnorth.
Feeling ever so slightly like the prize winner of a dunce hat throughout my time at Climate Camp, for my under education in climate change matters. It was with some relief that I found myself actually understanding (even if I did get lost with all the acronyms) Matt Carmicheal’s workshop. Entitled Aid, Trade , Debt, Ecological Crisis-It’s All One Problem, Carmicheal included a rather complete history lesson of the last 50 years to bring in the greater context of how ecological crisis has been shaped by the past. For anyone who thinks Climate Camp is full of hippy wasters, an eavesdropping on one of the many work shops would blow away that viewpoint.
The concept of ‘free markets’ (a deregulated market with little or no trade restrictions) is by no means a new one but its effect on global ecological matters are only beginning to be truly realised. It is in 1944 were Carmicheal picks up his historical tale at Bretton Woods, here delegates from 44 Allied nations gathered for the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference. As the name suggests the overwhelming theme was economics. The seminal idea of Bretton Woods were those two words above: ‘free markets‘. It was agreed to link all currencies to a fixed value in terms of gold, the US promised to fix the price of gold to $35 an ounce. Thus other currencies were pegged to the US dollar and as the principle fixed currency the US dollar became extremely powerful.
The agreements signed at Bretton Woods also led to the establishment of three organisations, playing a significant role in future developments between aid, trade, debt and ecological crisis. The International Bank for Reconstructive Development (IBRD) later becoming the World Bank which lends money to governments at a relatively low interest. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) was introduced to stabilise exchange rates and supervise reconstruction. Finally it was through the General Agreement on Trades and Tariffs (GATT) that the reduction of barriers to global trade was implanted (I told you there were lots of acronyms).
The IBRD began lending money to developing countries termed ‘soft loans‘. Problems arose with this lending of money with a short sighted view of both the IBRD and the developing country. Unstructured support for spending and corrupt regimes led to some highly dubious decisions. In Kenya 20 million dollars was loaned to build a huge super shiny high rise tower in Mombassa . But, technology hadn’t quite caught up with the lofty aspirations; the top floors would be without water as the water pressure in the area was not strong enough to reach them and there were not adequate electrics to sufficiently work the lifts. Money supposedly loaned to improve a countries development and help repay back that loan, was squandered away in ill-advised schemes and failed to reach those who needed it most.
In 1973, running a trade deficit and with the financial strain of the Vietnam war, Nixon pulled out of Bretton Woods agreement. De-linking the dollar from gold, resulted in the devaluation of the dollar (reducing US debt) and the hiking of interest rates (other countries debts rise). Developing countries with already hefty debts, all of a sudden had the debt hiked up despite not having borrowed any more money. Between 1973-82 there was a five fold debt increase for non-oil producing third world countries. So great was this gain in interest for Latin American countries, that the entire 1980’s is often referred to the ‘lost decade’, as new loans simply paid off old interest.
In order to help developing countries pay back these ever increasing loan, the IMF drew up yet another plan this time Structural Adjustment Plans (SAP). Within a SAP conditions are placed on how loan money can be spent, which the IMF believe promotes economic growth. The conditions must be met by the borrower even if not in their best interest, and subject to severe financial punishment for failing to meet this conditions. Carmicheal argues these financial threats amount to little more than blackmail.
These conditions typically implement the ‘free market’ idea, and with it the privatisation and deregulation of previously run government services. As a consequence spending on education and health is typically cut, and taxes are raised in order to meet this deficit in spending. Increasingly crops become the main currency for a developing nation in exportation, creating a drain on food resources of that given country which in turn leads to a previously sustainable country becoming unsustainable.
Despite this when GATT was replaced by the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the WTO still decided the concept of a laissez-faire free market was the number one solution for developing nations with no thought to ecological development. In India, Special Economic Zones were introduced in 2000 which were deemed to be foreign territory for the purposes of trade operations, duties and tariffs, leading to some rather negative consequencesp. Corporations are effectively allowed free range of a piece of land with no challenges to any unsavoury principles.
In recent years the anti-globalisation movement has been growing in direct opposition to global ‘free-markets’. Protests at the WTO Ministerial Conference of 1999, held in Seattle to usher in a new era of trade negotiations, overshadowed the actual conference, it was here that Starbucks literally took quite a bashing. Protestors made up NGO’s, student groups, labour unions and anarchists who were united in their concerns over labour issues, the environment and consumer protection.
The most recent trade round of WTO called the Doha Development Round commenced in 2001 and on the face of it looked like a step forward ensuring against exploitation of developing countries and ecological errors that have plagued former rounds. Again pushing the lowering of trade barriers around the world to increase trade globally, the Doha Rounds also sought to allow developing countries input into what they would like out of trade relationships. However, no mutual agreements have been agreed upon and talks have stalled on a number of issues, such as agriculture and industrial tariffs.
Talks of the Doha Rounds are due to resume in 2009 but I wonder will any agreements be reached. It seems highly unlikely developed nations will agree to the sanctions they impose on developing nations being used on themselves. But if nothing is done instigate change in global policies that will and do effect us all the future will not be so bright.
Workshops should be an integral part of all festivals. I mean, what's not to love? You get to discuss and learn more about subjects close to your heart whilst bonding with new people and maybe even making a few friends. Perhaps I'm showing my nerdy side, but having attended a few Ladyfests in my time I've come to realise that it is always the workshops that end up being the most enriching and rewarding experiences from these kinds of festivals. So why don't more festivals follow suit? Come on, who wouldn't love to learn to bake cakes in an anarchist bakery whilst rocking out at Reading festival? Hmmm...
Well, anyway, with it's fully working anarchist bakery (along with 15 other workshop spaces) Climate Camp was obviously going to be my cup of tea. Work commitments meant that I could only manage to make a day trip to the camp, so I chose my day carefully. Being a supposed fully fledged feminist myself, I was really keen to attend the Eco-Feminism workshop on Thursday and add some more patriarchy piercing arrows to my bow. I also thought it would be pretty savvy to learn a bit more about how my own political leanings could tie in nicely with (and therefore, make me more passionate about) the politics that were pulsing through the heart of climate camp.
I'd read up a little on Eco-Feminism in Issue 9 of Amelia's Magazine. Natalie McCall's piece 'Fleeting Sky' spoke about how, though Eco-Feminism as a movement is rather a modern phenomenom (the term itelf was coined in as late as 1974 by Françoise d'Eaubonne), it could be argued that the alignment of environmentalism and feminism is as old as the earth itself. Whilst 'Fleeting Sky' was a great mini history of an exciting movement full of admirable women, further Wiki research on the subject revealed that there is sometimes a more primitive, almost pagan side to the movement. My feminist spirituality stops just shy of Moon Cups, so I'm a bit cynical about all this 'Mother Earth' mysticism. With this in mind, I was a little apprehensive about the workshop. Instead of finding myself in a talk of 'being at one with nature' just because we possess ovaries, I was hoping instead to find out how feminism and ecological thinking could come together to give practical solutions for the situations we will find ourselves in in the future.
With the workshop starting at 12, and Michelle and I having left sleepy eyed from London early that morning, I was sure that I'd be at Kingsnorth with time to spare. However, I hadn't factored in to this plan that our Climate Camp courtesy mini van would be stopped and questioned, or that we would each be searched. After all the waiting, fumbling about and getting felt up I arrived at Camp. Feeling rather put out by the police searches (I'm here to talk to Eco-Feminists, not D lock myself to them) I sprinted off to the workshop, 15 minutes late.
Arriving finally at the spacious tent I realised I had missed the all important welcoming speech that must have covered what Eco-Feminism actually is and why it's important! Faced with lot's of little groups deep in discussion I was glad to see fellow Amelia's intern Kate. Kate, Michelle and I, as well as a few other lost looking noobs, fractured off into a new ramshackle group and started to wonder about what we should be discussing. Thankfully the workshop coordinator, Elizabeth, welcomed us in and got us up to date.
At it's very core Eco-Feminism is "the belief that the social mentality that leads to the domination and oppression of women is directly connected to the social mentality that leads to the abuse of the environment" (thanks Wiki!), but Elizabeth went on to explain that feminism and environmental issues will become more and more intertwined as climate change becomes more drastic.
For example, we talked about natural disasters. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has reported that "women and children are particularly affected by disasters, accounting for more than seventy five percent of displaced persons." We talked about how this had been true of the Sichuan earthquake this year.
Talking about the effect natural disasters have on women, I was reminded of Marjoleine Boonstra's documentary 'Robert, Mary and Katrina'. This incredibly moving film, which I had seen at a Birds Eye View event, was basically a lengthy interview with a wonderfully natured (and very funny, given the circumstances) long time married couple in their 70's who took time to tell the film maker their experiences of the hurricane that devastated New Orleans. At one point the couple spoke tearfully of how their adult children had told them about their stay in a stadium (one of the only places deemed safe to house so many survivors) and the abominable things that were happening there. The WHO sums this up in it's report saying; "In addition to the general effects of natural disaster and lack of health care, women are vulnerable to reproductive and sexual health problems, and increased rates of sexual and domestic violence." Whilst hurricane Katrina highlighted racial and economic divisions, it's important to consider the warnings it also had for us concerning gender.
Sometimes the future can look bleak if we look to the past and focus on only the worst examples of human nature. But history exists to teach us a lesson and we hope to go on, as humans as a whole, not making the same mistakes again. With these things in mind, Elizabeth encouraged us to look to the future and imagine worst case scenarios and best case scenarios.
Each group presented their worst case scenarios in a post oil world plagued by natural disasters and populated by isolated colonies (it might sound extreme, but such realities are not too far away if we don't change our carbon guzzling ways). These ranged from "An extension of tribalism. People fear those different from themselves/what is considered normal" and "Gender norms exaggerated, return to 'traditional' roles" to "Women blamed for failing in their provider roles" and "Increased work for women: 'survival work' recovering from disasters". This last point is especially likely as we can see this has happened previously. As the WHO reported; "Moreover, gender roles dictate that women become the primary caretakers for those affected by disasters – including children, the injured and sick, and the elderly – substantially increasing their emotional and material work load. Women’s vulnerability is further increased by the loss of men and/or livelihoods, especially when a male head of household has died and the women must provide for their families."
Being more positive, however, all the groups could envisage a liberal utopia being born out of a post oil world. These included;
"Upsurge in feminism, we use our feminist voices to highlight other causes
"Wide variety of values, respect of differences"
"Sex becomes seen as good, natural and is presented realistically – decline in homophobia."
"Increase in breast feeding"
"Dismantle the military"
"No more gender binary - Debunking of Masculine/Feminine notions"
"Breakdown of capitalism, women can explore other roles - not just housewife/businesswoman"
"Men take on more domestic chores - sharing of work around the home"
"Rebirth of skills, cooking, crafting, DIY, moving towards sustainability."
There were many positive ideas coming out of this meeting, which was great as it showed women were ready to face the future with hope. "How will we make sure our best case scenario becomes a reality?" Elizabeth prompted us. One suggestion was that women should take steps to own land since the "central tenet in Eco Feminism states that male ownership of land has led to a dominator culture (patriarchy), manifesting itself in food export, over-grazing, the tragedy of the commons, exploitation of people, and an abusive land ethic, in which animals and land are valued only as economic resources." (Thanks again, Wiki!)
When it comes to natural disasters the WHO have some advice that should definitely be noted in order to lessen the harsh effects of disasters on women; “Engaging women as full and equal partners in community-based disaster mitigation and planning, and integrating women at the highest levels of planning and decision making in camp environments (particularly with respect to the health needs of women, including reproductive health services) and employing women as primary distributors of emergency rations and medical supplies.”
Finally, to help our dreams for a bright future come true, we all discussed how, ultimately, the earth and it's environmental state is our responsibility. We each need to dedicate ourselves to the Eco Feminist movement now in order to ensure that the next generations of women fare better than those who have been affected by climate change in the past.
While at Climate Camp we decided to get creative with some paint and our fingers to produce a large banner that read, 'No New Coal.' We hope it was helpful on the day of action.
Placing some wood boards down so nothing would blow away
Kate tracing the O
Sarah very enthused to get started
Time for finger painting
Mel and her pink fingers
Almost finished
Emma and her green hands
Looking good