This is how you stop a fossil fuel project
By the people who do it best.
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The newsletter is late again.
I’m on a coach (again), sleep-deprived (again). I’ve been busy, I think. Like every good Gen-Zer faced with finding a stable job, a life that looks good on Instagram, and a solution to the climate crisis - I decided I urgently needed to ‘find myself’ instead. Which involved a holiday, of course.
Seemed it would be easier. Isn’t that what you’re meant to do at this age anyway?
So I took a train to a spare bed in Elephant & Castle. Took a trip down memory lane as if by retracing my steps, I could find my plan for the next steps, dropped somewhere along the way.
But I went to all the places I had once called home and they didn’t exist anymore. Rose-tinted memories were replaced with hipster coffee places and an inexplicable number of Tesco Expresses. The people that were here, they moved away and founded start-ups and go to the doctor for their mental health. They might visit me in July - if work allows. They’ll have to see.
What did I expect? We’re advocates for change, but perhaps the most human thing about us is our continual ability to be surprised when change happens. Did we demand it for so long that we forgot the meaning of the words?
Of course my town is not the same. My boring static hometown doesn’t have zero waste shops. It doesn’t set up bike repair-social enterprise cafes. Except it does. Like every other part of our social and economic web, it is finding a new way to fit into an uncertain future. Just like me. Just like us.
In 2022, is that what they mean by finding yourself? Not some self-absorbed zero-carbon flight of fancy, but finding a way forward in a world that hasn’t finished forming.
How can I agonise about my CV when the Amazon burns? How can I worry about the Amazon burning when I need to improve my CV? How do we make the leap from one moment to the next when the industries that taught us what we need and want and do, are the same industries we must overhaul?
A fair and green future is in its painful adolescence, battered left and right by competing influences. All this work is a maturation process. Searching for linear structure in a world that must now be circular is a human flaw.
I went looking for some direction and all I found were flowers and change blooming, everywhere.
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What’s Going On?
The EU unveils energy plan with increase in green energy to end reliance on Russian fuel.
Useful: Deep-dive into what the plan actually says.Met Office predicts a 50-50 chance of limiting global heating to 1.5 degrees. Useful: What will happen at 1.5 degrees of warming?
London mayor commissions group of experts to rewild the city.
Useful: What is rewilding?Australia votes in a government that promises to end decades of climate inaction.
Related: Australia was voted the worst country in responding to the climate crisis.Overturning Roe vs Wade has a climate impact too.
Related: Fossil fuels cause health problems in pregnant women and unborn babies.New study identifies air pollution as greatest threat to human and planetary health.
Related: 10 ways to reduce air pollution as an individual.
Focus On… #StopJackdaw
Cass speaks to climate activist Emma de Saram, part of the team fighting a new fossil fuel project in the UK. The transcript of the full Q&A can be read here.
I’m Emma de Saram, I use she/her pronouns. I’m a climate justice activist in the south-west of the UK and part of youth-led climate justice movement Green New Deal Rising.
My work is also locally-focused: I run a repair cafe in my hometown, and I’m a campaign officer for the Animal Welfare Society and Be the Change society at my university. I’m also part of the #StopCambo campaign which is now running #StopJackdaw.
What is the #StopJackdaw campaign?
Jackdaw is a gas field that Shell is trying to get UK government approval for.
Jackdaw would only meet 1-2% of the UK gas demand over its lifetime, yet the emissions from the gas would be the equivalent of half of Scotland’s emissions.
Our campaign is to stop government approval of the project because we know from the IPCC report that we cannot have new fossil fuel projects.
The UK hosted COP26 and promised net zero by 2050! Why are they investing in new oil and gas fields?
They’re saying one thing, doing another - it’s greenwashing. This isn’t the first time: Cambo was another UK oil project, and they’re approving another in Cumbria. They’re citing the Ukraine-Russia war but we know that these gas projects are morally, environmentally and socially catastrophic.
It’s not a just transition, it’s using geopolitical situations as a way to greenwash these investments.
Kwasi Kwarteng, the UK Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is even trying to rebrand gas as a ‘natural’ source of energy.
The UK can’t support everyone with renewable energy right away - don’t we need to rely on fossil fuels for a little while longer for a just transition?
Unfortunately the Jackdaw gas field wouldn’t produce much gas until 2025 and even then it’s only a tiny fraction of UK gas demand and then the production would drop in 2026. We could spend those years investing in renewables.
We can’t stop all fossil fuel projects right now, but we cannot be actively investing in new projects.
How is the campaign going?
Last week we had a digital day of action: calling and tweeting the energy and business ministers and sending letters to MPs.
Campaign groups Green New Deal Rising (GNDR) and Fossil Free London have also run quite a few actions. GNDR do ‘MP challenges’ where we go up to MPs and challenge their political promises and a group did it to Kwasi Kwarteng.
I’m not from the UK. Why should I care about this campaign?
The climate crisis doesn’t recognise borders. Climate change is an international struggle and all our struggles are interlinked. Any fossil fuel projects anywhere have international significance.
We can also learn from other countries from their successful campaigns. The more that everyone puts pressure on the UK to hold them accountable to their COP26 commitments, the better.
What happens next?
We have key allies in the House of Lords and MPs so we’re going to keep pushing through those channels. The government decision is supposed to be imminent so we need to be reactive and decide the most effective course of action.
How can I support it?
Just talk about it! We underestimate the power of talking about these things to our friends and family. This might not be the last fossil fuel project the UK tries to approve - so keep conversation around the campaign live.
The other day, one of Shell’s CEOs stepped down, publicly denouncing Shell’s environmental impact. So we know that raising awareness of their greenwashing does have an impact.
You can follow StopCambo, the coalition that run the #StopJackdaw campaign, on their website and Twitter and Instagram @StopCambo and @GNDRising. There’s a communications pack with tweets and graphics you can use.
So Now What Do I Do?
LEARN MORE
Join in with EU Green Week through the series of online events 30th - 31st May.
Tune into this Nesta debate on how to speed up a transition to net zero. 31 May @ 13 CEST.
Apply by the 5th June for this free interactive online UN course on putting the SDGs into action.
TRY SOMETHING NEW
Become a bioeconomy youth ambassador for the EU! Deadline 13 June.
Submit your video on diversity and positive social change to this UN competition for the change to win prizes. Deadline 17 June.
Extinction Rebellion Global is looking for volunteers to help with web design, social media, fundraising and press. Express interest here.
CHANGE THE SYSTEM
The Stockholm+50 conference on where the UN should go next after 50 years of environmental action is here. Here’s how you can shape the conversation.
The youth branch of the UN climate secretariat are accepting applications to host local youth conferences. Apply by the 31st May to host one!
Uni students! Apply by the 15th June for a chance to be an SDG Coordinator as part of the UN for 2022-23.
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