Hundreds of climate change activists gathered near London’s Heathrow airport yesterday to protest against extension plans and greenhouse gas emissions. Demonstrators assembled just north of the airport for a week-long campaign aimed at highlighting both the double standards of the British government and the aviation industry’s damaging impact on the environment.

The British government has vowed to reduce green house gas emissions, but at the same time it supports plans to expand the country’s 21 airports. Heathrow already sports four terminals and two runways. A fifth terminal is scheduled to open in March 2008, and there is talk of adding a third runway in the near future.

According to the BBC, the traffic through Heathrow reaches around 470,000 flights carrying 67.7 million passengers a year. Although aviation currently accounts for only 7% of the UK’s carbon emissions, that figure is due to rise as Heathrow and other airports are enlarged.

Protestors congregated at the Camp for Climate Action, an eco-village which, starting today, will host a series of lectures and workshops throughout the week. The program includes sessions entitled "Zero Carbon Britain," "Faith and the Environment - an Islamic Perspective," and "Compositing Capitalism," as well as what sound like practical inductions, such as "Energy Recovery in Buildings", "Climate Change Speaker Training" and "Building an Effective Campaign".

There will be a build-up of activism leading to Sunday’s 24 hours of civil disobedience and "mass action against corporate climate criminals," as the Camp for Climate Action website puts it. However, a spokeswoman for the Camp ensured the BBC that airline passengers would not be the focus of the demonstrations. About 1,800 police officers have been called in to monitor the event.

During this week, which is one of the busiest of the year, some 1.5 million travelers are expected at Heathrow.

BBC News
Camp for Climate Action
Euronews