Climate Change

A glacial melt lake in Greenland.

It's becoming pretty obvious that the aviation industry is creeping closer and closer to the tactics of big tobacco and big oil in their attempts to "teach the controversy" over science that doesn't suit their profit margins.

Last week, it was an outrageous display of bullying aimed at groups concerned about climate change. A couple of weeks ago, there was another, smaller episode that got a lot less press; the aviation industry's briefing against an Inuit leader who came to the UK to tell his "southern neighbours" that the people of the Arctic are already feeling the impacts of climate change.

The aftermath of Hurricane Andrew.

After a study last week confirmed the link between climate change and increased rainfall in the UK, a new study published yesterday has made the connection between climate change and a doubling in the number of Atlantic hurricanes in an average season over the past 100 years.

Update - 1st August: The hearing is underway.

Here's a doozy for you: on Wednesday, the aviation industry is taking five million people - including a lot of their own staff - to court. If you're a member or supporter of a group that's concerned about climate change, the chances are you're a defendant too.

The industry seems to want to ban five million of us from Heathrow and all routes to the airport, including the Piccadilly line, parts of the rail network, and sections of the M25 and M4.

I've been meaning to write about these videos for some time but somehow it never seemed the right moment (and all our Woolworths work kept getting in the way), so apologies if you've already seen them elsewhere. Yet in the lull after the hard launch of our light bulbs campaign, it's worth pointing out that it's not just in the UK that a shift to energy-efficient bulbs is being sought.