Ctrl.Alt.Shift @ Heathrow Climate Rush

At 7.00pm on January 12, 2009, activist group Climate Rush [1] organised a "Peaceful Edwardian Picnic" in the departures lounge of Terminal 1 in Heathrow Airport, all in protest of the planned expansion of the airport.

Now, peaceful Edwardian picnics don't happen every day, well in this day and age anyway, and when we probed the reasons for this particular theme we couldn't get a straight answer - all we know is that there were lots of girls rocking Mary Poppins-esque outfits and the guys on the whole were dressed in suits and top hats, all delightfully spread out in the middle of the airport.

On the whole it was a peaceful event, emphasised by the fact that out of the crowd of upwards of 1000, there were zero arrests, despite the heavy police presence which was understandable given the fact that the last protest that was carried out in Stanstead on December 8, 2008, resulted in 50 Plane Crazy protesters storming the runway, creating a big stir in the press, in some instance even being called 'terrorists' on radio phone-ins.

We caught up with one of the protesters who stormed the Stanstead runway -
Joe, 18 was literally fresh out of court the day before but still showed face to support the cause:

"I was involved in the previous protest in Stanstead because it's something I really believe in. Climate change is the biggest problems known to man; it affects the whole world and it just doesn't make sense that the government are committing to becoming carbon neutral while still planning to expand Heathrow. I got a conditional discharge when I went to court for my part at Stanstead, however that won't stop me fighting the cause that I believe in."

What struck us about Joe was that at the time of the Stanstead protest he was only 17, yet to reach the legal age for a proper booze-up, but still so politically aware and willing to sacrifice his own freedom for a cause that he believed in. And he wasn't the only one, as Joe was joined by a host of fellow young troopers refusing to be ignored, standing (and at times sitting) in defiance.

We also caught up Plane Stupid's Dan the man. The 25 year old said:

"We are here today because we need to do everything we can to take action on climate change [2], not just for our country but for the whole world.  Places like Bangladesh are being affected much worse than we are at the moment, all as a result of the western world being irresponsible. If we allow the airport expansion we will have no chance of meeting the carbon neutral guidelines set out. We have 92 months to turn around our world or there will be irreversibly damage done. Not only will this damage affect us, but it will affect our children and grandchildren after that."

This topic is not just being tackled by pressure groups, but even Mayor Boris Johnson [3] has commissioned a report to find out if the Heathrow expansion [4]will be damaging to the people of London, while also committing £15,000 of legal costs to fight the government if they decide to go ahead with the expansion.

If Boris Johnson is fighting for this, people are going to have to take note, the argument of Britain remaining competitive on a European and world level by having this expansion is not one that has specific benefits to the people of Britain, but the businesses and corporate divisions. When compared to the argument of detrimental environmental implications that it would bring in terms of the carbon neutral targets, along with the social implications of everyone who lives within the Heathrow expansion area being turfed out to make way for it - it seems like a no-brainer to us.

Get behind this movement, ask yourself, do they really need to do this? Are the motives for our benefit? Will this be a positive move for Britain and the world? The answer to all three of those questions you may find is no. So why do it?

Words: Ben Anderson
Photos: Climate Rush Logo