JAIL THE MESSENGER?
Event Information
About this event
Join this webinar in conversation with Tim Crosland and guests in advance of Tim's hearing at the Supreme Court. With poetry, live music and audience conversation.
The discussion will be with a diverse range of international speakers concerned by and affected by the direct effects of the climate emergency.
Featuring Tim Crosland
"Tomorrow, 16 December, the Supreme Court will publish its judgement on Heathrow expansion. I have taken the decision to break the embargo on that decision as an act of civil disobedience. This will be treated as a “contempt of court” and I am ready to face the consequences. I have no choice but to protest the deep immorality of the Court’s ruling..."
PLUS A PANEL OF DIVERSE ACTIVISTS FROM A RANGE OF CAMPAIGNING METHODS
Margaret Angula (climate change adaptation researcher and activist - joining us from Windhoek, Namibia)
Margin Zheng (undergraduate composer and pianist, climate change activist with a focus on maginalised communities, queer, non-binary Chinese American active in Sunrise Movement, joining us from Haverford, USA)
Todd Smith (Airline pilot turned aviation activist - UK)
Nina Vinther (Classical music aviation activist - UK)
Alice English (Sky Rebellion coordinator - UK)
Jon Fuller (A climate activist with 40 years' experience involved across multiple campaigns - UK )
Phil Maxwell & Hazuan Hashim (Liverpool activist filmmakers covering local airport campaigning - UK)
PERFORMANCES BY -
April de Angelis (Acclaimed National Theatre playwright & activist - UK)
Dan Spanner (Musician & activist - UK)
Moderated by writer and art curator Rob La Frenais
Created & hosted by contemporary composer and ClimateKeys founder Lola Perrin
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Read article in The Ecologist about this event
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FROM PLAN B WEBSITE
Our governments can again claim to be committed to the Paris Agreement, while taking actions that are blatantly inconsistent with it.
In August 2018 Plan B began a legal challenge to the Government’s reckless plans to expand Heathrow Airport on the grounds that they had failed to assess the plans against the Paris temperature limit of 1.5˚C.
Initially the Government claimed to have considered the Paris Agreement. But as we put this claim under scrutiny through the legal process they backed down and admitted that Heathrow expansion had not been assessed against the Paris temperature limit. They attempted to argue that the Paris Agreement was “not relevant” to Government policy on climate change.
The High Court supported the Government’s position, and we appealed to the Court of Appeal.
On 27 February 2020, the Court of Appeal unanimously found in our favour, setting a precedent with global implications:
The Government has accepted the ruling. On 4 March 2020, the Prime Minister stated in Parliament, “we will ensure that we abide by the judgment and take account of the Paris convention on climate change”.
Heathrow Airport Limited, however, appealed the judgment, and on 16 December 2020 the Supreme Court ruled in their favour, claiming the Chris Grayling had taken the Paris Agreement into account even though the Minister himself had said it was “not relevant”.
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