The Film Series – lessons for organising – ‘How ordinary people take on the State for environmental justice’. Completed early 2012

You may remember the recent Climate9 trial that took place at Aberdeen Sheriff Court and was the first climate change jury trial in Scotland and the biggest in the UK since the failure of Copenhagen. It brought global public attention on the need for action to prevent runaway climate change.

The actions of the Climate9 drew attention to the damage which would have been prevented had they not stopped at least 107 tonnes of carbon from being emitted (enough to heat 200 Scottish homes for a month) during the 5 hour occupation. Aviation is the fastest growing source of global CO2 emissions and 60% of flights from Scottish airports are internal. So we still have work to do!

How ordinary people take on the State for environmental justice. A creative and powerful online video series.

6 short film documenting the process of how ordinary people can challenge the legal system for environmental justice. The film will be used as a learning tool for activists, individuals, groups and to help spread the message about the need for action. This will be promoted on the website with all the supporting statements generated throughout the trial showing the connections between the environmental issues and wild law – from fuel poverty to public health to climate change;

Members of the Climate9 defence committee have been, and will continue to, hold popular education workshops to build on lessons learnt from organising political trials for social change. At these events and in the media we connect themes such as police oppression, climate change, social, ecological and intergenerational justice and fuel poverty to support people to get to the root causes of social and environmental injustice.

If you think that we are screwed, that climate chaos is inevitable and nothing can be done. Think again.

This is the story of Climate 9. 9 everyday people sick of the aviation industries ignoring communities affected by their pollution who took action, to make a difference, and to challenge the law.

We targeted the aviation industry and industries pushing for unhealthy expansion. We occupied the Aberdeen airport taxiway for 5 hours, were arrested which led to the first jury led climate change trial in Scotland.

When systems fail you, don’t fail yourself.

Taking the fight from the court of the public to the court of the law was always part of the plan to show how your action can make a big difference.

So who are the real climate criminals?

• Take an inside look at our archive at footage collected over 2 and half years from the action to the appeal.
• See the footage Plane Stupid filmed whilst the action was happening,
• hear about our story from those involved,
• The lawyers, all 27 of them (legal strategy),
• The media circus (playing the game),
• The scientists,
• The supporters and even our mums (campaign and emotional support).
• At the root of Plane Stupid and Climate activism are real problems of social injustice, a war without bullets, that we can no longer ignore. Don’t struggle alone. Here are our experiences we hope it helps you, your community and your struggle. Watch the videos, share your stories, get in touch.

Here is one of the chapters which will be included on the website in association with the launch of the film series:

Why Wild Law UK supports Climate 9 – for more of Wild law UK’s great work see http://www.wildlawuk.org/

Wild Law UK is made up of more than 100 UK-based lawyers and non-lawyers from the private and public sectors, as well as students and academics. Membership is open to anyone willing to engage in creative thinking about how we can move from anthropocentric law to “Earth-centred” law.

It is abhorrent to us now that anyone be a slave, a mere chattel, or that a woman could be the property of her husband, but it was not always so. The abolition of slavery and universal enfranchisement was unthinkable without great struggle and without fundamental changes to the law. The struggle now is to maintain viable conditions for life on Earth. We see nature as a resource to exploit, usually only restrained by property law. Such anthropocentrism is out of date, out of step with science and leads to an unbalanced relationship between humans and other beings and habitats. The response of our governments to this injustice has been about as effective as rearranging deck chairs on the Titantic.

Wild Law UK supports Climate 9 – like us, they are challenging a destructive and out of date system, a system that legitimises and facilitates the destruction of our planet, our only home. We support them in that goal. Like us, Climate 9 recognises the inherent value of life. We support them in their mission to make clear to those in power how urgent it is that we act effectively and swiftly to prevent dangerous climate change. The Climate 9 activists are leading the way, setting an example for others and demonstrating that it is possible to resist -in all sorts of ways.

We support the incredibly brave people in Climate 9 who put the planet before themselves and are willing to stand up for what they believe in. In common with Climate 9, wild lawyers believe that the planet must dictate how much carbon can be absorbed, and humans and human law must adapt accordingly, not the other way around. Wild law is also about widening our democracy. Here too we find common ground with Climate 9. Wild lawyers support local communities being able to protect their land and interests – to the benefit of all inhabitants of an area (including non human inhabitants).

Wild Law UK also supports Climate 9 in their work to bring together the justice movement in order to create a new narrative –not based on competition and economic growth, but based on co-operation and mutually enhancing relationships. It is possible to build this world, if we unite and speak with a unified voice. We look forward to progressing this global environmental justice movement together.