Kingsnorth 6

The following embedded video (which is about 20 minutes long) is about the "Kingsnorth 6" who scaled a coal power station chimney for Greenpeace to draw attention to the CO2 emissions it caused and the plans by the Government to commission 20 more like it. They intended to point out the mysterious disconnect between the fine words of the UK government in saying that they have big plans to cut CO2 emissions a lot whilst simultaneously planning to go ahead with a power station technology that would create lots more CO2!

They painted a slogan on the chimney (they intended to write "Gordon - bin it" but an injunction was taken out by the time they wrote Gordon)and got arrested and charged with £30,000 of damage which shows how ridiculous some of the people who enforce their view of the law can be.

What made the case special is that the 6 called expert witnesses, including James Hansen of NASA, to testify about the extreme risks we face from climate change and claimed that what they did was justified direct action that caused a minimal amount of damage (paint on a chimney) to help point out the vastly greater damage that could be caused to our planet. What was amazing and heartwarming was that the jury agreed and the 6 got off. Watch the video and see the sincerity and niceness, the heroism, the noble motives, the braveness of these campaigners. Contrast them with slippery politicians and the mindless conformist appliers of the "letter of the law". If you were given a choice between the Greenpeace activists and the others, who would you want the world to have more of in it?

A Time Comes - the story of the Kingsnorth Six from Greenpeace UK on Vimeo.