Christian Aid stages power station 'trespass'

|PIC1|Images of Christian Aid supporters holding up climate justice messages directed at Prime Minister Gordon Brown were beamed onto a cooling tower at the E.ON power station in Ironbridge, Shropshire.

A series of Mass Visual Trespasses targeting similar landmarks across Britain will take place over the next four months to highlight Christian Aid’s demand that the UK government takes a global lead in the battle against climate change.

Members of the public are encouraged to join the trespass by adding photographs of themselves, and their climate messages, at www.christianaid.org.uk/trespass

‘Climate change endangers us all. Halting it is urgent – the highest priority any government should have,’ said one of the participants, the Reverend John Routh, from Sutton Coldfield.

Another participant, Natalie Williams, aged 26, from Stourbridge, West Midlands, said: ’I’m doing this to raise awareness. Copenhagen isn’t just a talk. Real decisions need to happen there for a sustainable future, not just for ourselves, but for our children as well.’

Christian Aid is calling on Gordon Brown to attend the UN summit in person in December and to press rich countries to commit to at least 40 per cent carbon emission reductions by 2020.

It also wants the UK government, along with other developed nations, to commit the necessary support and resources, including technology transfers, to enable developing countries to reduce emissions, develop in a low carbon way and adapt to climate change.

In addition, Christian Aid says no new coal fired power stations should be built in the UK without carbon capture and storage facilities, which should also be retro-fitted to all older power stations when the technology is proven.

Paul Brannen, head of campaigns at Christian Aid said: ‘Ironbridge was an appropriate target for our first Mass Visual Trespass because it is the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. It is rich industrialised countries like the UK that are historically responsible for causing climate change. They must now demonstrate a new kind of leadership in dealing with the consequences.

‘Climate change is already having a devastating effect on the people we work with in developing countries who have contributed very little to global warming. Vulnerable communities are bearing the brunt of unpredictable weather patterns, droughts, floods, tropical storms and higher incidences of disease. For these people, climate change is now a matter of life or death.

‘It’s time for a new revolution, a climate revolution. It’s vital that a fair and just climate deal is agreed in Copenhagen to come into force when the first phase of the Kyoto Protocol ends in 2012.’