SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Why I'm Joining Greenpeace's Fracking Protest Outside Westminster Today
As you read this, I'm stood outside Westminster Palace in London - the home of Parliament and the birthplace of democracy in the UK. In the early hours of this morning, I arrived with a team of Greenpeace volunteers. And as the sun slowly appeared on this grey February day, we turned a corner of Parliament Square into a small but life-like industrial site.
Feb 09, 2016
As you read this, I'm stood outside Westminster Palace in London - the home of Parliament and the birthplace of democracy in the UK. In the early hours of this morning, I arrived with a team of Greenpeace volunteers. And as the sun slowly appeared on this grey February day, we turned a corner of Parliament Square into a small but life-like industrial site.
We're planning to stay here all day in protest at government plans to force fracking on communities across the country. Today we want to show David Cameron's government - this is what it feels like to have the shale gas industry pushed on you against your own will.
I've travelled 300 miles to be here from Blackpool - a town that, even after having lived in Hong Kong, Australia, and a host of other places in between, I am proud to now call my home.
If you've had the chance to visit Blackpool before, you'll know that a 158 metre tall tower stretches high into the skyline. Take a ride to the top of it and on a clear day and you'll be guaranteed breath-taking views over Blackpool's beach. Turn around to face the other direction and you'll get a glimpse of the stunning Forest of Bowland too.
But soon there could be a deeply unwelcome sight sprawling out across the same view.
That's because Lancashire has been opened up to the shale gas industry. And despite huge local opposition, the fracking firm Cuadrilla is determined to set up its rigs and drill.
Together with other concerned residents, I've all given the past four years of my life to resisting this destructive industry. We've spent evenings and weekends travelling to Yorkshire, Sussex and so many places in between, meeting with others who are equally concerned about the threat the industry poses to our health and to the environment.
Time and time again it's been a familiar story: grandparents concerned about the risks their children's children will face if we keep burning fossil fuels; mothers and fathers who are worried about how turning their town into an industrial zone will impact their families.
In Lancashire, we breathed a sigh of relief last year when - after so many local people spoke out against the fracking industry - our local council voted against Cuadrilla's plan to drill.
But this victory was short lived. Because just a few months later it was revealed that Greg Clark, the government's so-called 'minister for communities', can now overrule local councils, paving the way for Cuadrilla and its rigs.
Since then we've not be able to stop asking ourselves: how can our government on one hand claim to champion local democracy, yet on the other render our councils powerless to stop fracking?
The fracking rig we've built outside of Westminster today isn't real. By the end of the day our protest will be over and our point will have been made. But in Lancashire, and in so many other towns, the threat remains a reality we're forced to live with every single day.
I know that while I'm here in London, a crowd of wonderful, determined residents and campaigners are gathered in Blackpool too. These people, many of whom I feel honoured to call my friends, will be bearing witness to the start of Cuadrilla's appeal. They'll be protesting for the same reason that I am - because surely this is not a democracy when the government is making towns like mine powerless to oppose fracking.
What we want is clean, safe energy for us, for our children, and for generations to come. We want our voices to be heard and for our right to refuse the fossil fuel industry to be respected.
Is that really too much to ask?
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
© 2023 Greenpeace
Tina Rothery
Tina Rothery, a member of Frack Free Lancashire and Greenpeace campaigner, is a climate activist in the UK. Follow her on Twitter: @tinalouiseUK
As you read this, I'm stood outside Westminster Palace in London - the home of Parliament and the birthplace of democracy in the UK. In the early hours of this morning, I arrived with a team of Greenpeace volunteers. And as the sun slowly appeared on this grey February day, we turned a corner of Parliament Square into a small but life-like industrial site.
We're planning to stay here all day in protest at government plans to force fracking on communities across the country. Today we want to show David Cameron's government - this is what it feels like to have the shale gas industry pushed on you against your own will.
I've travelled 300 miles to be here from Blackpool - a town that, even after having lived in Hong Kong, Australia, and a host of other places in between, I am proud to now call my home.
If you've had the chance to visit Blackpool before, you'll know that a 158 metre tall tower stretches high into the skyline. Take a ride to the top of it and on a clear day and you'll be guaranteed breath-taking views over Blackpool's beach. Turn around to face the other direction and you'll get a glimpse of the stunning Forest of Bowland too.
But soon there could be a deeply unwelcome sight sprawling out across the same view.
That's because Lancashire has been opened up to the shale gas industry. And despite huge local opposition, the fracking firm Cuadrilla is determined to set up its rigs and drill.
Together with other concerned residents, I've all given the past four years of my life to resisting this destructive industry. We've spent evenings and weekends travelling to Yorkshire, Sussex and so many places in between, meeting with others who are equally concerned about the threat the industry poses to our health and to the environment.
Time and time again it's been a familiar story: grandparents concerned about the risks their children's children will face if we keep burning fossil fuels; mothers and fathers who are worried about how turning their town into an industrial zone will impact their families.
In Lancashire, we breathed a sigh of relief last year when - after so many local people spoke out against the fracking industry - our local council voted against Cuadrilla's plan to drill.
But this victory was short lived. Because just a few months later it was revealed that Greg Clark, the government's so-called 'minister for communities', can now overrule local councils, paving the way for Cuadrilla and its rigs.
Since then we've not be able to stop asking ourselves: how can our government on one hand claim to champion local democracy, yet on the other render our councils powerless to stop fracking?
The fracking rig we've built outside of Westminster today isn't real. By the end of the day our protest will be over and our point will have been made. But in Lancashire, and in so many other towns, the threat remains a reality we're forced to live with every single day.
I know that while I'm here in London, a crowd of wonderful, determined residents and campaigners are gathered in Blackpool too. These people, many of whom I feel honoured to call my friends, will be bearing witness to the start of Cuadrilla's appeal. They'll be protesting for the same reason that I am - because surely this is not a democracy when the government is making towns like mine powerless to oppose fracking.
What we want is clean, safe energy for us, for our children, and for generations to come. We want our voices to be heard and for our right to refuse the fossil fuel industry to be respected.
Is that really too much to ask?
Tina Rothery
Tina Rothery, a member of Frack Free Lancashire and Greenpeace campaigner, is a climate activist in the UK. Follow her on Twitter: @tinalouiseUK
As you read this, I'm stood outside Westminster Palace in London - the home of Parliament and the birthplace of democracy in the UK. In the early hours of this morning, I arrived with a team of Greenpeace volunteers. And as the sun slowly appeared on this grey February day, we turned a corner of Parliament Square into a small but life-like industrial site.
We're planning to stay here all day in protest at government plans to force fracking on communities across the country. Today we want to show David Cameron's government - this is what it feels like to have the shale gas industry pushed on you against your own will.
I've travelled 300 miles to be here from Blackpool - a town that, even after having lived in Hong Kong, Australia, and a host of other places in between, I am proud to now call my home.
If you've had the chance to visit Blackpool before, you'll know that a 158 metre tall tower stretches high into the skyline. Take a ride to the top of it and on a clear day and you'll be guaranteed breath-taking views over Blackpool's beach. Turn around to face the other direction and you'll get a glimpse of the stunning Forest of Bowland too.
But soon there could be a deeply unwelcome sight sprawling out across the same view.
That's because Lancashire has been opened up to the shale gas industry. And despite huge local opposition, the fracking firm Cuadrilla is determined to set up its rigs and drill.
Together with other concerned residents, I've all given the past four years of my life to resisting this destructive industry. We've spent evenings and weekends travelling to Yorkshire, Sussex and so many places in between, meeting with others who are equally concerned about the threat the industry poses to our health and to the environment.
Time and time again it's been a familiar story: grandparents concerned about the risks their children's children will face if we keep burning fossil fuels; mothers and fathers who are worried about how turning their town into an industrial zone will impact their families.
In Lancashire, we breathed a sigh of relief last year when - after so many local people spoke out against the fracking industry - our local council voted against Cuadrilla's plan to drill.
But this victory was short lived. Because just a few months later it was revealed that Greg Clark, the government's so-called 'minister for communities', can now overrule local councils, paving the way for Cuadrilla and its rigs.
Since then we've not be able to stop asking ourselves: how can our government on one hand claim to champion local democracy, yet on the other render our councils powerless to stop fracking?
The fracking rig we've built outside of Westminster today isn't real. By the end of the day our protest will be over and our point will have been made. But in Lancashire, and in so many other towns, the threat remains a reality we're forced to live with every single day.
I know that while I'm here in London, a crowd of wonderful, determined residents and campaigners are gathered in Blackpool too. These people, many of whom I feel honoured to call my friends, will be bearing witness to the start of Cuadrilla's appeal. They'll be protesting for the same reason that I am - because surely this is not a democracy when the government is making towns like mine powerless to oppose fracking.
What we want is clean, safe energy for us, for our children, and for generations to come. We want our voices to be heard and for our right to refuse the fossil fuel industry to be respected.
Is that really too much to ask?
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.