Full feed4 million dollars of CO2 saved!
Update written last night from on top of chimney in Brindisi, by Julien.
I'm writing from the top of the chimney stack at Brindisi coal-fired power station, which we have been occupying for more than 41 hours now. We've been up here throughout the G8 meeting, which so far has shown the G8 to be little more than a bunch of politicians, certainly not the leaders we desperately need on climate change.
Rather that deliver that leadership, the G8 has continued to dance around the idea of real action and continued the blame game with developing countries as to who has to move first. Words are what we have been given, combined with targets so far into the future that they would provide no imperative whatsoever to act now.
While the politicians gathered at the G8 meeting deliver more hot air, we've been stopping it. The team of activists hanging under the conveyor belt, 70 metres above the ground, have prevented the feed of coal into the plant for 40 hours, before the police finally took them away. The power plant has operated at reduced capacity since we've been here, meaning we've stopped about 50,000 tonnes of greenhouse pollution. Lord Stern put the economic damage of a tonne of co2 at US$85, meaning we've saved close to $4million of climate damage since we've arrived!
And that's just at this one site.
Today, the number of coal-plant occupations rose to 5, as climbers painted "G8: STOP THIS" at the site of a proposed new coal-fired power plant on Civitavecchia. Here at Brindisi, we have our take on the idea of burning coal, old and new.
As our activists were taken away from the coal loader, painters put the finishing touches on the word "STUPID", which the chimney now bears as a message. We are teetering on the verge of triggering catastrophic climate change and they want to build more of these greenhouse goliaths? That' beyond stupid, it's reckless. Maybe if we had more paint...
As the painters finished off the message, one of them signed off by writing "for my children", (in French). As if there needed to be any more evidence that his heart was in this scion and this cause.
That was just one of many moments over the last few days where I have been in awe of the creativity, ingenuity and determination of these activists, here at Brindisi or anywhere else around Italy right now.
And so the occupations continue. The wind has died down from the gusts of yesterday. We're all looking forward to dinner and a good night's sleep. Tomorrow, we'll be back here calling from the rooftops (quite literally) for real climate action.
