Climate 9 trial begins in Aberdeen

The first major climate trial since the failure of the Copenhagen talks has begun in Aberdeen Sheriff’s court this morning.

Nine defendants from Plane Stupid Scotland will face charges charges of Breach of the Peace and Vandalism after closing down Aberdeen Airport in March 2009 (hyper link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/north_east/7924952.stm ). The group were highlighting the climate impacts of expanding the airport which they argue is mainly to support wealthy golfers at a proposed near by course owned by business tycoon Donald Trump.

Interest has been building around the case since Climate 9 public campaigns were launched in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and London, which have drawn global and local support for the group and helped forge alliances with social justice campaigners and racial justice movements.

The defendants are pleading not guilty on the grounds that their actions were to prevent the larger crime of runaway climate change and have assembled a witness list of world-renowned experts in climate related fields including public health consultant Jenny Griffiths and Geoff Meaden, who contributed to the successful Kingsnorth6 defence as a flooding and mapping expert. The defendants were joined outside court by around 50 friends, families and supporters.

For more information, statements of support and how you can help the Climate 9 see:

http://www.climate9.com/

or contact info@climate9.com or ring 077655 01687

Copenhagen

Its been almost 3 weeks since we all returned from Copenhagen, and we’re settling back into normality. With the Direct Action Workshop coming up this Sunday, we’re all getting quite excited that the ball is rolling with the project. I feel like we’re really getting somewhere and our meetings are becoming more productive. I’m really looking forward to having an open-space meeting to broaden my mind in terms of the possibilities of Transition Heathrow. Copenhagen was certainly an invaluable experience for me. We went with a group of about 40 activists; it was interesting to see how everyone within our affinity group coped in a foreign environment, without the comforts and fall backs of normal mobilisations. George Webster, a reporter for CNN who spent time with our affinity group, made this fantastic video about our time in Copenhagen. It outlines some of the things we got up to whilst out there and beautifully captures the essence of our group.  You can see the video here:

WATCH THE VIDEO

My next project is to create a video about Transition Heathrow. I’m quite excited to start this because media can be so powerful in winning people over and presenting a clear and concise image of what we are all about. Images and videos can create a more intimate insight into things than just a piece of text. So I’m going to get started with that, and see what happens!