Vivienne’s Diary: January Part 2

TRANSLATIONS:   JAPANESE  ●  TRADITIONAL CHINESE  ●  SIMPLIFIED CHINESE

Thursday, 30 January: Colleagues from our group of NGO’s and fighters against fracking, Jamie and Tisha, come to give us a briefing so that we are truly armed with the facts. We will demolish the government’s misinformation and win the fight.

How clean is fracking? The one thing I keep hearing is that fracking is somehow clean/cleaner, that it will cause less pollution than other fuels. This Lord Browne, former CEO of BP, chairman of Cuadrilla and who advises the government, is promoting an assumption that it is clean. He makes it feel like it’s our duty to consume it, telling us on the news that it’s a “national imperative”. If you assume things often enough people will start to believe it. Tisha says we still don’t know which is worse coal or fracking. The University of Minnesota is working on this, comparing it  to coal (coal combustion being the worst polluter on earth) and they have yet to come to a decision; it’s difficult to choose between them.

I find it interesting that fracking is now not an option in Germany. There has been such an improvement in insulating homes and businesses that gas consumption has gone down to the extent that companies cannot make a profit. In some cases of new houses built with passive insulation and air-sealing, energy bills are really small – the home is kept warm by body heat and normal cooking and baking.

I also think it’s good to know the real story of America’s energy boom from shale gas, giving them domestic energy security so that they don’t need their coal but are exporting it at a cheap price. The story is that it is short-term economy. Anything short term is bad for the planet.

The US is a country with vast areas of low population – but with over 80,000 fracking wells operated by different companies, competing and selling cheap. The reports are that the useful life of a well is 3-5 years. So, new drilling is unlimited in a frenzy of make money while you can. Now the peak is probably past and the damage has not been accounted for.

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Friday, 31 January: I am happy to know Jamie and Tisha, such fine people – she having changed her career to focus on what she considers most important. Jamie is passionately supportive of his friends, in the climate camp at Barton Moss. His friend Kris O’Donnell – the police know him as an activist and they came for him; he was live streaming on his camera which showed this and then as they forced him to the ground the film went black and all you heard was screams. link

They broke the bone around his eye socket and the picture of his muddy, bleeding face went all over the internet. I don’t know yet what happened to Kris’ eye but a year ago my dear friend had a fall which damaged these bones which are eggshell thin, they damaged the muscles and her eye is still rolled up so that it can’t see. There are other incidents of police aggression at Barton Moss and Jamie told how one night the police raided the camp under the pretext that someone had seen a flare go up and they were looking for flares; they turfed everyone out of the tents and into the rain and trampled their bedding and possessions into the sludge. These people are so important to our campaign to save the planet. There are about 15 of them camping; it’s enough to hold the fort. It’s wonderful that over 800 people from around the country all came together for “Solidarity Sunday” on the 26^th to show their support. Anti-fracking groups organized coaches to help get them there. Watch this space to see when the next one is organized and turn up if you can!

I’m sorry that the police were so aggressive. I thought things had got better since the 60’s and 70’s when we went on demos. People then called the police “pigs” and we glared at them with enmity. Since then the attitude of the public has changed, neither police nor people are so respectful of governments. So, I don’t think the police are as anti-people as they were, especially now that jobs are harder to get. I think of the police in general as having a job to do and that means keeping the peace and they should be protecting people’s right to peaceful demonstration.

Evening – I met Lily Cole and Lorna Tucker at Selfridges for an event organized by the Environmental Justice Foundation. Steve Trent is the founder and the current task of this NGO is to send “Postcards from the Frontline” to Ban Ki Moon asking for UN recognition of the plight of climate refugees.  We show the “Red Shoes” film and then we three women answer questions. Steve is the moderator. Lily is a very affectionate woman; she is always pleased to see me. We have our photo taken for the press.