Earth First! Victory in North Carolina! (plus more from around the world)

Environmentalists Strike a Blow Against Timber Interests
Blowing Rock, NC – –

After a year of Earth First! campaigning to end the proposed timber sale in the Globe Forest, part of the Pisgah National Forest, the Forest Service has announced that they plan to remove the 40 acre old-growth section of the Globe Forest Timber sale, forcing them to change the project to a stewardship sale. This old-growth section comprises the largest stand of timber within the sale and one of the most valuable; and though the entire sale has not been canceled, it is a significant loss for timber interests.

For a number of years, the Forest Service planned to sell the trees within this endangered habitat to timber companies. Old growth is extremely rare in the United States and comprises less than 5% of all of the forests in North Carolina. It has been proven to be an important ecosystem that
fosters diverse types of plants and fungus’ in complex, symbiotic interactions which only develop after hundreds of years. An array of threatened species such as migratory songbirds and woodpeckers also rely on these areas to nest and brood their young.

While we believe the Forest Service should end all commercial logging of our national forests, the protection of this area is a success and does set a precedent: old-growth is off limits for timber companies, especially in the Southeastern United States. Earth First! will continue to defend any old-growth forest that is threatened.

Earth First UK! Celebrates Climate Action Day
RBS Operations Closed for the Day as Activists Target Sites around Edinburgh

Activists at the Camp for Climate Action are celebrating a successful day targeting various climate criminals- holding direct actions, demonstrations and street theatre confronting the role of financial institutions like RBS in bankrolling climate change.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATJwdb4b2Tc&fs=1&hl=en_US]

A group of protestors occupied the head offices of Forth Energy, a company planning to build four new biomass power stations in Scotland. Three protestors chained themselves to the front of the building, two occupied the inside of the office, and two more dropped a banner from the roof of the office. Five arrests were made.

Simultaneously, seven protestors blockaded the RBS executive carpark at the Gyle Industrial Estate by super-gluing themselves together.

A group of demonstrators dropped a two metre long piggy bank branded with the RBS logo filled with 60 litres of oil-like substance (molasses) outside the headquarters of Cairn Energy, a company which is coming under fire for its Arctic oil drilling operations. The Greenpeace ship Esperanza is currently engaged in a situation with the Danish Navy off the coast of Greenland with regards to Cairn Energy’s drilling operations (see below for more details).

A group of protestors, including Fringe performers, shut down the Nicolson Street RBS branch. Three individuals super-glued themselves across the front doorway, while another group played music and danced while handing out leaflets. There were three arrests.

After the previous group of protestors was removed by police, a group of “tar-covered” protestors shut down the Nicolson St. RBS branch a second time, as several activists locked themselves onto the building.

Activists lay siege to RBS HQ with a six metre tall mock siege tower on wheels with a life-size papier mache rhinoceros head mounted on the front.

A banner was dropped from a building reading “oil tar sands = environmental chaos”, there were two arrests.

Another banner was dropped over the A8 which read “RBS: using our money to fuck the planet”

Above a tent protest by North Bridge, demonstrators scaled two storeys of scaffolding to drop a banner which read “RBS funds and profits from climate chaos”

Actions in previous days have included:

* Hundreds of activists in boilers suits stormed the RBS headquarters, catapulting oil-like substance (molasses) onto the building and attempting to get inside the building. There were two arrests.

* A group of activists caused the closure of RBS bank branches in town by performing a spoof song-and-dance version of Lady Gaga’s number one hit “Pokerface”, rewriting the lyrics to talk about RBS’ funding of fossil fuels. They invaded an RBS-sponsored stage on the Royal Mile and performed the routing for passers by.

* A group of 40-50 street theatre activists exposed how RBS’ PR masks the reality of its investments by performing “Greenwash Guerrilla” street theatre at Gogarburn and the Royal Mile.

* On Saturday, several hundred activists launched an incursion into the RBS HQ complex and held a dance party in the foyer as one activist gained access to the reception area and superglued herself to the front desk.

So far, there have been 14 arrests throughout the duration of the camp (from Wednesday evening through Monday afternoon).

The Climate Camp have expressed bewilderment as to police claims of oil being spilled on a main road, and have no knowledge who was responsible for it if the incident did take place.

Harry Reynolds who took part in the actions said:

“No one came to work today at the RBS Gogarburn headquarters. Since we had already effectively shut that down, we decided to concentrate our energies targeting RBS and its fossil fuel affiliates in the Edinburgh city centre. We’ve done a lot to disrupt RBS dirty energy operations today, but we are committed to keeping up the pressure until we manage to cut off the flow of capital from the banks to the fossil fuel industry.”

Natalie Swift, a spokesperson for Climate Camp, commented on the day of action:

“Today we have seen people tackling RBS’ responsibility for the billions of pounds it provides to environmentally destructive and dangerous fossil fuel projects. We are being failed by the government and financial institutions, and we are creating a vibrant social movement that takes direct action against the causes of climate change when politicians and bankers fail to do so.”

Photos of the camp and actions are available at climatecamp

Another Video:The Making of the Trojan Pig

Twitter stream

Press Releases

Greenpeace Protests Offshore Drilling on the High Seas
A Greenpeace boat attempting to protest oil exploration drilling being conducted in the Arctic was stopped yesterday by a Danish warship. The Esperanza, Greenpeace’s boat, was held up at the fringe of the 1,500 feet exclusion zone. Leila Deen, an activist aboard the Esperanza, was quoted as saying, “To see a huge drilling rig in this beautiful and fragile environment is deeply shocking. The tragic oil disaster in the Gulf (of Mexico) clearly illustrates the need to go beyond oil. Companies like Cairn need to leave the Arctic alone and start developing the clean tools that will actually help us get off fossil fuels for good.” Cairn, the Edinburgh-based corporation drilling in the Arctic confirmed today that they have indeed struck oil, and intend to drill via offshore platform.
A statement from Greenpeace states, “We are in the Arctic today to put Cairn and the global oil industry on notice: the world needs to move beyond oil in order for us to develop sustainable, resilient economies, protect our environment and create a clean and safe future for our children. This confrontation in the Arctic is only the beginning.”