Fossil Fuels

Canada's Tar Sands project has been suffering from a bit of a PR problem, what with it being one of the most ludicrous and environmentally catastrophic schemes ever to have occurred to humankind and all.

(If you haven't heard of it yet, the plan is to extract crude oil from bituminous sand and clay in Northern Alberta. To produce one barrel of oil, up to four tonnes of rock and soil - plus the pristine boreal forest on top of it - need to be removed and four barrels of surface and ground water need to be used. The process is so energy intensive that tar sands produce up to five times more greenhouse gases than conventional oil.)

Greetings from the black hole: protesters at Ffos-y-Fran open cast pit in South Wales

Climate change campaigners marked the third annual "Fossil Fool's Day" on Tuesday with a series of protests around the world highlighting the need for us all to reduce the amount of carbon we burn. Here in the UK the focus was very much on coal, and sending a message to ministers that if new coal plants like Kingsnorth are built, they'll ruin any realistic chance that we have of meeting our commitments to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, and represent a devastating failure of the government's resolve to tackle climate change. Key events included:

• the shutting down one of Europe's largest open cast coal mines at Ffos-y-Fran in South Wales;
• Earth First! activists blockading the UK's largest gas Terminal at Bacton in Norfolk;
• People and Planet building a 12ft high model of a coal-fired power station in Parliament Square;

This week the Rainbow Warrior marked the start of a six week 'Target Climate Change' tour of New Zealand with an action against the Hellenic Sea, a 60,000 tonne bulk carrier owned by coal exporter Solid Energy. While it trades on NZ's clean green credentials the government is making millions of dollars from Solid Energy peddling coal on the world market - quite literally stoking the fires of climate change.

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Five of the 'Kingsnorth Six' at the top of the 200m chimney

Today five six of our volunteers faced their first court hearing over the shutting down of one of Britain's dirtiest power stations, at Kingsnorth in Kent, last October. They pleaded 'not guilty' at Maidstone Crown Court to charges of criminal damage and trespass. The charges relate to climbing a 200m smokestack on the site and painting a message to the prime minister - "GORDON BIN IT" in huge letters down the side. They took action because the government is considering considering proposals for a new generation of coal-fired plants.