Monthly Archives: July 2018

Dame Emma Thompson lambasts the ‘handful of desperadoes’ in fracking

A mass protest at a fracking site in Lancashire endorsed by actor Dame Emma Thompson reached its 54th hour mark yesterday and closed three years and a day after Lancashire County Council voted against fracking at the site.

The event was advertised by anti-fracking network Reclaim the Power as ‘Block Around the Clock’. It was styled as a festival of resistance and took place while the government was considering whether to approve Cuadrilla’s request for permission to start fracking at Preston New Road. As of this date, a decision has not been announced. If permitted, it would be the first commercial fracking in the UK since 2011.

Recently honoured actor Dame Emma Thompson has sent words of encouragement and thanks to campaigners, stating: “The fracking industry has been transformed from a national tsunami threatening to engulf us all to a handful of desperadoes.

Behind schedule

“And while even the government has cooled down on a fracking revolution, unfortunately they’re still happy to use their power to protect these polluters against the wishes of the people.

“Fracking isn’t failing just because it’s an absurdly stupid, polluting industry. It’s failing because there’s a strong and growing opposition.”

She added: “I can’t guarantee that you’ll ever get the thanks you deserve for what you’re doing, but you’re doing it, and you’re doing it with great courage. So please, please, please, keep doing it”

The actor has been an outspoken critic of the fracking industry for a number of years, and has been a regular visitor to the site where this week’s protest is taking place.

The protest follows widespread local and national opposition to the controversial practice. A continuing campaign by locals has pushed Cuadrilla’s plans to start fracking more than a year behind schedule at Preston New Road.

Evasion tactics

Latest government statistics show that only 18 percent of the public support fracking, compared to 85 percent for renewables.

Despite this, the government last month announced plans to change planning laws to promote fracking, taking fracking decisions out of the hands of local authorities and allowing drilling to take place without planning applications.

Milo Phillips of Reclaim the Power said: “Our round-the-clock protest shows we’ll be there night and day until fracking is defeated. With the climate crisis more urgent than ever, the last thing we need is new gas infrastructure that will lock us into dirty energy for decades to come.

“A rapid, just transition away from fossil fuels to renewables can create sustainable employment for local people while respecting the planet, unlike fracking.

“Our message today is clear: whatever the bullying and evasion tactics from government and the fracking industry, we’ll be there organising with local communities ensuring it does not go ahead.”

Anti-fracking parade

Claire Stephenson, from local group Frack Free Lancashire, said: “Despite the PR bluster that has been continually spun from government and industry, peer-reviewed science has highlighted the inherent dangers associated with fracking.

“Local people voted no to fracking in 2015, but our decision was overturned by the Westminster government, exposing local democracy as a sham.”

She added: “We continue to stand in defiant, unwavering opposition to this industry: Cuadrilla has zero social license to operate in our communities and we will continue to peacefully demonstrate that.”

The Block Around the Clock protest was followed by an anti-fracking parade on the streets of Blackpool led by local women.

This Article

This article is based on a press release from Reclaim the Power.

Protesters protest against ‘draconian decrees’ against protests

Campaigners from across the South East gathered at the High Court in London at lunchtime yesterday in a protest against a “draconian injunction” application by oil company, UK Oil and Gas.

Six women from Surrey and Sussex are opposing the application for an interim injunction which aims to stop certain forms of protest at UKOG sites.

They say their right to peaceful protest will be stifled by the injunction, which is in breach of their human rights. UKOG is currently presenting its case, and will be followed by Stephanie Harrison QC for the defendants. The case is due to finish on Thursday morning.

Draconian decrees

The campaigners were joined by Green Party co-leader Jonathan Bartley and deputy leader Amelia Womack, supporting the right to peaceful protest.

Jonathan Bartley said: “When all other avenues of resistance have been exhausted, the right to peaceful protest is all communities have left. But as we saw today, that right is under concerted and consistent attack.

“The application from UKOG is part of a nationwide rollout of injunctions intended to stifle dissent. Across the country the blunt and over-heavy cudgel of legal prohibition is being invoked to suppress people’s basic freedoms.

“From Sussex to Sheffield and Lancashire to London, draconian decrees are attempting to diminish dissent by criminalising those who put their bodies on the line in the fight to protect local communities and our planet from environmental destruction.”

Friends of the Earth applied to intervene in the case, as it says its interests as an organisation campaigning on climate change are also affected. It was not given permission to intervene, and has applied to become defendants, subject to a costs protection agreement with UKOG.

This Article

This article is based on a press release from Weald Action Group. 

‘For all the tea in China’ – reflections on a future ecological civilisation

I was fortunate enough to on a trip to China this year and in so doing gained an insight into Chinese plans for their future – and indeed the future of the planet.

Satish Kumar, the editor emeritus of The Ecologist, had established a strong Chinese bond through Schumacher College and was invited by Fujian Province University of Forestry and Agriculture.

The aim was to discuss and facilitate an exchange of ideas around the Chinese government’s intention to become the world’s first ‘ecological civilisation’, a policy which China has been developing since 2007, and which is now firmly embedded in the Communist party’s constitution.

Powerful country

Satish was kind enough to invite me to accompany him in March this year. From the misrepresentation the Chinese receive in the foreign media one would almost regard such an objective as some sort of bad joke.

Becoming the world’s first ecological civilisation is a gargantuan task! In true Sanghudata spirit and with baby steps, the Chinese are humbly reaching out to the West.

They have realised that the planet cannot sustain the old capitalist paradigm, but how to reconcile economic prosperity with ecological sustainability?

In typical and dignified Chinese manner, they are cautious in their approach towards solving this gargantuan issue. The question is, can the Pandora’s box of corporate power, which has fuelled their lightning growth, be purged of corporate greed for the sake of our sick planet?

As they slowly become the most powerful country on the planet, the mantle of responsibility looms large through the post-capitalist mist.

Being a rebel

Having flown to Fujian’s provincial capital city Fuzjou, we were lodged at the University campus guest hotel, and dipped ceremoniously into Chinese contemporary culture, the only Westerners in sight. It felt like a diplomatic mission, and almost treated like royalty by our Chinese hosts.

Our first conference in the University was chaired by Professor Wen Tiejun, an expert in macro economics and sustainable development and an executive dean at the Renmin University of China in Beijing.

The Professor is the lauded eminance grise of China’s new Rural Reconstruction Movement, which promotes agroecology, sustainability and rural regeneration.

Throughout his life Professor Wen Tiejun has sailed close to the wind, but now commands huge respect and influence from all quarters of the political spectrum.

Well-born, he has struggled to be accepted, as he was in his own words “despised by conservatives for being a rebel, and despised by rebels for being a conservative!”

Evocative term

But this is no fence sitter, in fact his standing enables Professor Wen to express his political views candidly and openly, and he spoke frankly and eloquently about China’s intention in the world, which he assures is more hermetically positioned and definitely not predatory as many would contest. This is not a resource grab!

Professor Wen’s main preoccupation is to resolve the problem of urban migration, and he has the Government’s full
backing. Since 1980 China’s rural population has shrunk from over 80 percent, to around 40 percent, leaving rural villages seriously
depleted of labour, services, or life.

How to swing the pendulum back? One positive consequence of the Cultural revolution is that the Chinese still have strong connections with their villages, with many city dwellers still owning properties in the countryside.

In fact, the construction industry built enough homes in the city areas to house 80 percent of China’s population! If farming continues its decline many village communities will die.

Every Chinese government ministry now has a department of ‘Ecological Civilisation’ – it’s such an evocative term, but what does it actually mean to the Chinese, and how can they reconcile economic growth with ecological civilisation?

Large feasts

From what I leant, there is no shortage of scholarly and academic theories but practical application is limited and therefore there is little evidence on what has been achieved so far.

A diplomatic approach was adopted at the conferences, concentrating more on enthusiastic support and encouragement – there is surely greater benefit offering solutions rather than negative criticism!

This approach opened up discussion and enabled our ideas to find fertile ground. We did mention however the omnipresent high rise buildings in every connurbation which provoked a defensive reaction from local government officials.

Apparently the government uses profits from high rise construction to fund environmental clean up projects and building high rises ensures the maximum use of land area!

To punctuate the talks our hosts organised large feasts during the visit. Tables of up to 40 people with many different foods on offer, from strange mushrooms – not psychotropic! – to bamboo, sweet potato, different kinds of rice dish, kinds of turnip, suede, corn and greenery, many of which I had never heard of.

Determined women

What’s more the Chinese tradition of sitting at a round table means that one can sample up to 20 dishes, remembering to pick the opportunity as it spins past!

Food arrived in extroardinary displays, an old boat with a wooden figure on the bow singing Chinese opera and dry ice coming out of the portholes – fantastic!

The wonderful social custom of getting up mid-meal to walk clockwise around the whole table to greet and toast everyone with plum wine on the way, I found particularly convivial. Food culture is important for developing good relations, and therefore agreements and compromise.

The most important moment for me was my presentation of the A Plastic Planet (APP) campaign that I have been working with in the UK, Amsterdam and Italy, preceded by the stunning film Plastic Ocean.

APP started from very humble origins, the brainchild of two very determined women, Frede Magnussen and Siân Sutherland, petitioning supermarkets to include one plastic-free aisle in their stores on the premise that plastic is not suitable as packaging for food and drink.

Media and lobbyists

In their own words, “we can buy fat free, gluten free, dairy free but we can’t buy plastic free. ”

China is more than ready to hear this message as my audience’s reaction confirmed.

My intention is to propagate this message in China and with the help of the Ecological Civilisation Association, plastic use for food and drink could be reduced substantially, and replaced with a whole new industry of materials made from grass, wheat, Mater-Bi, glass, wood, seaweed, corn, sugar cane, and algae.

A large proportion of these materials already exist as a waste recource either in food production, or agriculture providing a potentially much needed income stream for the farming community, which China is trying to preserve.

As I contemplate my next move I have understood that operating in China is a totally different prospect than in Europe. Creating a groundswell using media and lobbyists is not really possible, however, if the government is supportive, then change can be effected quickly.

Travelling with Satish again showed me the value and power of humility, and valuing the person in front of you, which generates goodwill.

Our short experience with the Chinese showed their capacity for goodwill, and coupled with their workrate, energy and commitment, they may just become the first country to become plastic-free, and that would be worth all the tea in China!

This Author

James P Graham is an artist

Dame Emma Thompson lambasts the ‘handful of desperadoes’ in fracking

A mass protest at a fracking site in Lancashire endorsed by actor Dame Emma Thompson reached its 54th hour mark yesterday and closed three years and a day after Lancashire County Council voted against fracking at the site.

The event was advertised by anti-fracking network Reclaim the Power as ‘Block Around the Clock’. It was styled as a festival of resistance and took place while the government was considering whether to approve Cuadrilla’s request for permission to start fracking at Preston New Road. As of this date, a decision has not been announced. If permitted, it would be the first commercial fracking in the UK since 2011.

Recently honoured actor Dame Emma Thompson has sent words of encouragement and thanks to campaigners, stating: “The fracking industry has been transformed from a national tsunami threatening to engulf us all to a handful of desperadoes.

Behind schedule

“And while even the government has cooled down on a fracking revolution, unfortunately they’re still happy to use their power to protect these polluters against the wishes of the people.

“Fracking isn’t failing just because it’s an absurdly stupid, polluting industry. It’s failing because there’s a strong and growing opposition.”

She added: “I can’t guarantee that you’ll ever get the thanks you deserve for what you’re doing, but you’re doing it, and you’re doing it with great courage. So please, please, please, keep doing it”

The actor has been an outspoken critic of the fracking industry for a number of years, and has been a regular visitor to the site where this week’s protest is taking place.

The protest follows widespread local and national opposition to the controversial practice. A continuing campaign by locals has pushed Cuadrilla’s plans to start fracking more than a year behind schedule at Preston New Road.

Evasion tactics

Latest government statistics show that only 18 percent of the public support fracking, compared to 85 percent for renewables.

Despite this, the government last month announced plans to change planning laws to promote fracking, taking fracking decisions out of the hands of local authorities and allowing drilling to take place without planning applications.

Milo Phillips of Reclaim the Power said: “Our round-the-clock protest shows we’ll be there night and day until fracking is defeated. With the climate crisis more urgent than ever, the last thing we need is new gas infrastructure that will lock us into dirty energy for decades to come.

“A rapid, just transition away from fossil fuels to renewables can create sustainable employment for local people while respecting the planet, unlike fracking.

“Our message today is clear: whatever the bullying and evasion tactics from government and the fracking industry, we’ll be there organising with local communities ensuring it does not go ahead.”

Anti-fracking parade

Claire Stephenson, from local group Frack Free Lancashire, said: “Despite the PR bluster that has been continually spun from government and industry, peer-reviewed science has highlighted the inherent dangers associated with fracking.

“Local people voted no to fracking in 2015, but our decision was overturned by the Westminster government, exposing local democracy as a sham.”

She added: “We continue to stand in defiant, unwavering opposition to this industry: Cuadrilla has zero social license to operate in our communities and we will continue to peacefully demonstrate that.”

The Block Around the Clock protest was followed by an anti-fracking parade on the streets of Blackpool led by local women.

This Article

This article is based on a press release from Reclaim the Power.

Protesters protest against ‘draconian decrees’ against protests

Campaigners from across the South East gathered at the High Court in London at lunchtime yesterday in a protest against a “draconian injunction” application by oil company, UK Oil and Gas.

Six women from Surrey and Sussex are opposing the application for an interim injunction which aims to stop certain forms of protest at UKOG sites.

They say their right to peaceful protest will be stifled by the injunction, which is in breach of their human rights. UKOG is currently presenting its case, and will be followed by Stephanie Harrison QC for the defendants. The case is due to finish on Thursday morning.

Draconian decrees

The campaigners were joined by Green Party co-leader Jonathan Bartley and deputy leader Amelia Womack, supporting the right to peaceful protest.

Jonathan Bartley said: “When all other avenues of resistance have been exhausted, the right to peaceful protest is all communities have left. But as we saw today, that right is under concerted and consistent attack.

“The application from UKOG is part of a nationwide rollout of injunctions intended to stifle dissent. Across the country the blunt and over-heavy cudgel of legal prohibition is being invoked to suppress people’s basic freedoms.

“From Sussex to Sheffield and Lancashire to London, draconian decrees are attempting to diminish dissent by criminalising those who put their bodies on the line in the fight to protect local communities and our planet from environmental destruction.”

Friends of the Earth applied to intervene in the case, as it says its interests as an organisation campaigning on climate change are also affected. It was not given permission to intervene, and has applied to become defendants, subject to a costs protection agreement with UKOG.

This Article

This article is based on a press release from Weald Action Group. 

‘For all the tea in China’ – reflections on a future ecological civilisation

I was fortunate enough to on a trip to China this year and in so doing gained an insight into Chinese plans for their future – and indeed the future of the planet.

Satish Kumar, the editor emeritus of The Ecologist, had established a strong Chinese bond through Schumacher College and was invited by Fujian Province University of Forestry and Agriculture.

The aim was to discuss and facilitate an exchange of ideas around the Chinese government’s intention to become the world’s first ‘ecological civilisation’, a policy which China has been developing since 2007, and which is now firmly embedded in the Communist party’s constitution.

Powerful country

Satish was kind enough to invite me to accompany him in March this year. From the misrepresentation the Chinese receive in the foreign media one would almost regard such an objective as some sort of bad joke.

Becoming the world’s first ecological civilisation is a gargantuan task! In true Sanghudata spirit and with baby steps, the Chinese are humbly reaching out to the West.

They have realised that the planet cannot sustain the old capitalist paradigm, but how to reconcile economic prosperity with ecological sustainability?

In typical and dignified Chinese manner, they are cautious in their approach towards solving this gargantuan issue. The question is, can the Pandora’s box of corporate power, which has fuelled their lightning growth, be purged of corporate greed for the sake of our sick planet?

As they slowly become the most powerful country on the planet, the mantle of responsibility looms large through the post-capitalist mist.

Being a rebel

Having flown to Fujian’s provincial capital city Fuzjou, we were lodged at the University campus guest hotel, and dipped ceremoniously into Chinese contemporary culture, the only Westerners in sight. It felt like a diplomatic mission, and almost treated like royalty by our Chinese hosts.

Our first conference in the University was chaired by Professor Wen Tiejun, an expert in macro economics and sustainable development and an executive dean at the Renmin University of China in Beijing.

The Professor is the lauded eminance grise of China’s new Rural Reconstruction Movement, which promotes agroecology, sustainability and rural regeneration.

Throughout his life Professor Wen Tiejun has sailed close to the wind, but now commands huge respect and influence from all quarters of the political spectrum.

Well-born, he has struggled to be accepted, as he was in his own words “despised by conservatives for being a rebel, and despised by rebels for being a conservative!”

Evocative term

But this is no fence sitter, in fact his standing enables Professor Wen to express his political views candidly and openly, and he spoke frankly and eloquently about China’s intention in the world, which he assures is more hermetically positioned and definitely not predatory as many would contest. This is not a resource grab!

Professor Wen’s main preoccupation is to resolve the problem of urban migration, and he has the Government’s full
backing. Since 1980 China’s rural population has shrunk from over 80 percent, to around 40 percent, leaving rural villages seriously
depleted of labour, services, or life.

How to swing the pendulum back? One positive consequence of the Cultural revolution is that the Chinese still have strong connections with their villages, with many city dwellers still owning properties in the countryside.

In fact, the construction industry built enough homes in the city areas to house 80 percent of China’s population! If farming continues its decline many village communities will die.

Every Chinese government ministry now has a department of ‘Ecological Civilisation’ – it’s such an evocative term, but what does it actually mean to the Chinese, and how can they reconcile economic growth with ecological civilisation?

Large feasts

From what I leant, there is no shortage of scholarly and academic theories but practical application is limited and therefore there is little evidence on what has been achieved so far.

A diplomatic approach was adopted at the conferences, concentrating more on enthusiastic support and encouragement – there is surely greater benefit offering solutions rather than negative criticism!

This approach opened up discussion and enabled our ideas to find fertile ground. We did mention however the omnipresent high rise buildings in every connurbation which provoked a defensive reaction from local government officials.

Apparently the government uses profits from high rise construction to fund environmental clean up projects and building high rises ensures the maximum use of land area!

To punctuate the talks our hosts organised large feasts during the visit. Tables of up to 40 people with many different foods on offer, from strange mushrooms – not psychotropic! – to bamboo, sweet potato, different kinds of rice dish, kinds of turnip, suede, corn and greenery, many of which I had never heard of.

Determined women

What’s more the Chinese tradition of sitting at a round table means that one can sample up to 20 dishes, remembering to pick the opportunity as it spins past!

Food arrived in extroardinary displays, an old boat with a wooden figure on the bow singing Chinese opera and dry ice coming out of the portholes – fantastic!

The wonderful social custom of getting up mid-meal to walk clockwise around the whole table to greet and toast everyone with plum wine on the way, I found particularly convivial. Food culture is important for developing good relations, and therefore agreements and compromise.

The most important moment for me was my presentation of the A Plastic Planet (APP) campaign that I have been working with in the UK, Amsterdam and Italy, preceded by the stunning film Plastic Ocean.

APP started from very humble origins, the brainchild of two very determined women, Frede Magnussen and Siân Sutherland, petitioning supermarkets to include one plastic-free aisle in their stores on the premise that plastic is not suitable as packaging for food and drink.

Media and lobbyists

In their own words, “we can buy fat free, gluten free, dairy free but we can’t buy plastic free. ”

China is more than ready to hear this message as my audience’s reaction confirmed.

My intention is to propagate this message in China and with the help of the Ecological Civilisation Association, plastic use for food and drink could be reduced substantially, and replaced with a whole new industry of materials made from grass, wheat, Mater-Bi, glass, wood, seaweed, corn, sugar cane, and algae.

A large proportion of these materials already exist as a waste recource either in food production, or agriculture providing a potentially much needed income stream for the farming community, which China is trying to preserve.

As I contemplate my next move I have understood that operating in China is a totally different prospect than in Europe. Creating a groundswell using media and lobbyists is not really possible, however, if the government is supportive, then change can be effected quickly.

Travelling with Satish again showed me the value and power of humility, and valuing the person in front of you, which generates goodwill.

Our short experience with the Chinese showed their capacity for goodwill, and coupled with their workrate, energy and commitment, they may just become the first country to become plastic-free, and that would be worth all the tea in China!

This Author

James P Graham is an artist

Dame Emma Thompson lambasts the ‘handful of desperadoes’ in fracking

A mass protest at a fracking site in Lancashire endorsed by actor Dame Emma Thompson reached its 54th hour mark yesterday and closed three years and a day after Lancashire County Council voted against fracking at the site.

The event was advertised by anti-fracking network Reclaim the Power as ‘Block Around the Clock’. It was styled as a festival of resistance and took place while the government was considering whether to approve Cuadrilla’s request for permission to start fracking at Preston New Road. As of this date, a decision has not been announced. If permitted, it would be the first commercial fracking in the UK since 2011.

Recently honoured actor Dame Emma Thompson has sent words of encouragement and thanks to campaigners, stating: “The fracking industry has been transformed from a national tsunami threatening to engulf us all to a handful of desperadoes.

Behind schedule

“And while even the government has cooled down on a fracking revolution, unfortunately they’re still happy to use their power to protect these polluters against the wishes of the people.

“Fracking isn’t failing just because it’s an absurdly stupid, polluting industry. It’s failing because there’s a strong and growing opposition.”

She added: “I can’t guarantee that you’ll ever get the thanks you deserve for what you’re doing, but you’re doing it, and you’re doing it with great courage. So please, please, please, keep doing it”

The actor has been an outspoken critic of the fracking industry for a number of years, and has been a regular visitor to the site where this week’s protest is taking place.

The protest follows widespread local and national opposition to the controversial practice. A continuing campaign by locals has pushed Cuadrilla’s plans to start fracking more than a year behind schedule at Preston New Road.

Evasion tactics

Latest government statistics show that only 18 percent of the public support fracking, compared to 85 percent for renewables.

Despite this, the government last month announced plans to change planning laws to promote fracking, taking fracking decisions out of the hands of local authorities and allowing drilling to take place without planning applications.

Milo Phillips of Reclaim the Power said: “Our round-the-clock protest shows we’ll be there night and day until fracking is defeated. With the climate crisis more urgent than ever, the last thing we need is new gas infrastructure that will lock us into dirty energy for decades to come.

“A rapid, just transition away from fossil fuels to renewables can create sustainable employment for local people while respecting the planet, unlike fracking.

“Our message today is clear: whatever the bullying and evasion tactics from government and the fracking industry, we’ll be there organising with local communities ensuring it does not go ahead.”

Anti-fracking parade

Claire Stephenson, from local group Frack Free Lancashire, said: “Despite the PR bluster that has been continually spun from government and industry, peer-reviewed science has highlighted the inherent dangers associated with fracking.

“Local people voted no to fracking in 2015, but our decision was overturned by the Westminster government, exposing local democracy as a sham.”

She added: “We continue to stand in defiant, unwavering opposition to this industry: Cuadrilla has zero social license to operate in our communities and we will continue to peacefully demonstrate that.”

The Block Around the Clock protest was followed by an anti-fracking parade on the streets of Blackpool led by local women.

This Article

This article is based on a press release from Reclaim the Power.

Protesters protest against ‘draconian decrees’ against protests

Campaigners from across the South East gathered at the High Court in London at lunchtime yesterday in a protest against a “draconian injunction” application by oil company, UK Oil and Gas.

Six women from Surrey and Sussex are opposing the application for an interim injunction which aims to stop certain forms of protest at UKOG sites.

They say their right to peaceful protest will be stifled by the injunction, which is in breach of their human rights. UKOG is currently presenting its case, and will be followed by Stephanie Harrison QC for the defendants. The case is due to finish on Thursday morning.

Draconian decrees

The campaigners were joined by Green Party co-leader Jonathan Bartley and deputy leader Amelia Womack, supporting the right to peaceful protest.

Jonathan Bartley said: “When all other avenues of resistance have been exhausted, the right to peaceful protest is all communities have left. But as we saw today, that right is under concerted and consistent attack.

“The application from UKOG is part of a nationwide rollout of injunctions intended to stifle dissent. Across the country the blunt and over-heavy cudgel of legal prohibition is being invoked to suppress people’s basic freedoms.

“From Sussex to Sheffield and Lancashire to London, draconian decrees are attempting to diminish dissent by criminalising those who put their bodies on the line in the fight to protect local communities and our planet from environmental destruction.”

Friends of the Earth applied to intervene in the case, as it says its interests as an organisation campaigning on climate change are also affected. It was not given permission to intervene, and has applied to become defendants, subject to a costs protection agreement with UKOG.

This Article

This article is based on a press release from Weald Action Group. 

‘For all the tea in China’ – reflections on a future ecological civilisation

I was fortunate enough to on a trip to China this year and in so doing gained an insight into Chinese plans for their future – and indeed the future of the planet.

Satish Kumar, the editor emeritus of The Ecologist, had established a strong Chinese bond through Schumacher College and was invited by Fujian Province University of Forestry and Agriculture.

The aim was to discuss and facilitate an exchange of ideas around the Chinese government’s intention to become the world’s first ‘ecological civilisation’, a policy which China has been developing since 2007, and which is now firmly embedded in the Communist party’s constitution.

Powerful country

Satish was kind enough to invite me to accompany him in March this year. From the misrepresentation the Chinese receive in the foreign media one would almost regard such an objective as some sort of bad joke.

Becoming the world’s first ecological civilisation is a gargantuan task! In true Sanghudata spirit and with baby steps, the Chinese are humbly reaching out to the West.

They have realised that the planet cannot sustain the old capitalist paradigm, but how to reconcile economic prosperity with ecological sustainability?

In typical and dignified Chinese manner, they are cautious in their approach towards solving this gargantuan issue. The question is, can the Pandora’s box of corporate power, which has fuelled their lightning growth, be purged of corporate greed for the sake of our sick planet?

As they slowly become the most powerful country on the planet, the mantle of responsibility looms large through the post-capitalist mist.

Being a rebel

Having flown to Fujian’s provincial capital city Fuzjou, we were lodged at the University campus guest hotel, and dipped ceremoniously into Chinese contemporary culture, the only Westerners in sight. It felt like a diplomatic mission, and almost treated like royalty by our Chinese hosts.

Our first conference in the University was chaired by Professor Wen Tiejun, an expert in macro economics and sustainable development and an executive dean at the Renmin University of China in Beijing.

The Professor is the lauded eminance grise of China’s new Rural Reconstruction Movement, which promotes agroecology, sustainability and rural regeneration.

Throughout his life Professor Wen Tiejun has sailed close to the wind, but now commands huge respect and influence from all quarters of the political spectrum.

Well-born, he has struggled to be accepted, as he was in his own words “despised by conservatives for being a rebel, and despised by rebels for being a conservative!”

Evocative term

But this is no fence sitter, in fact his standing enables Professor Wen to express his political views candidly and openly, and he spoke frankly and eloquently about China’s intention in the world, which he assures is more hermetically positioned and definitely not predatory as many would contest. This is not a resource grab!

Professor Wen’s main preoccupation is to resolve the problem of urban migration, and he has the Government’s full
backing. Since 1980 China’s rural population has shrunk from over 80 percent, to around 40 percent, leaving rural villages seriously
depleted of labour, services, or life.

How to swing the pendulum back? One positive consequence of the Cultural revolution is that the Chinese still have strong connections with their villages, with many city dwellers still owning properties in the countryside.

In fact, the construction industry built enough homes in the city areas to house 80 percent of China’s population! If farming continues its decline many village communities will die.

Every Chinese government ministry now has a department of ‘Ecological Civilisation’ – it’s such an evocative term, but what does it actually mean to the Chinese, and how can they reconcile economic growth with ecological civilisation?

Large feasts

From what I leant, there is no shortage of scholarly and academic theories but practical application is limited and therefore there is little evidence on what has been achieved so far.

A diplomatic approach was adopted at the conferences, concentrating more on enthusiastic support and encouragement – there is surely greater benefit offering solutions rather than negative criticism!

This approach opened up discussion and enabled our ideas to find fertile ground. We did mention however the omnipresent high rise buildings in every connurbation which provoked a defensive reaction from local government officials.

Apparently the government uses profits from high rise construction to fund environmental clean up projects and building high rises ensures the maximum use of land area!

To punctuate the talks our hosts organised large feasts during the visit. Tables of up to 40 people with many different foods on offer, from strange mushrooms – not psychotropic! – to bamboo, sweet potato, different kinds of rice dish, kinds of turnip, suede, corn and greenery, many of which I had never heard of.

Determined women

What’s more the Chinese tradition of sitting at a round table means that one can sample up to 20 dishes, remembering to pick the opportunity as it spins past!

Food arrived in extroardinary displays, an old boat with a wooden figure on the bow singing Chinese opera and dry ice coming out of the portholes – fantastic!

The wonderful social custom of getting up mid-meal to walk clockwise around the whole table to greet and toast everyone with plum wine on the way, I found particularly convivial. Food culture is important for developing good relations, and therefore agreements and compromise.

The most important moment for me was my presentation of the A Plastic Planet (APP) campaign that I have been working with in the UK, Amsterdam and Italy, preceded by the stunning film Plastic Ocean.

APP started from very humble origins, the brainchild of two very determined women, Frede Magnussen and Siân Sutherland, petitioning supermarkets to include one plastic-free aisle in their stores on the premise that plastic is not suitable as packaging for food and drink.

Media and lobbyists

In their own words, “we can buy fat free, gluten free, dairy free but we can’t buy plastic free. ”

China is more than ready to hear this message as my audience’s reaction confirmed.

My intention is to propagate this message in China and with the help of the Ecological Civilisation Association, plastic use for food and drink could be reduced substantially, and replaced with a whole new industry of materials made from grass, wheat, Mater-Bi, glass, wood, seaweed, corn, sugar cane, and algae.

A large proportion of these materials already exist as a waste recource either in food production, or agriculture providing a potentially much needed income stream for the farming community, which China is trying to preserve.

As I contemplate my next move I have understood that operating in China is a totally different prospect than in Europe. Creating a groundswell using media and lobbyists is not really possible, however, if the government is supportive, then change can be effected quickly.

Travelling with Satish again showed me the value and power of humility, and valuing the person in front of you, which generates goodwill.

Our short experience with the Chinese showed their capacity for goodwill, and coupled with their workrate, energy and commitment, they may just become the first country to become plastic-free, and that would be worth all the tea in China!

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James P Graham is an artist

Dame Emma Thompson lambasts the ‘handful of desperadoes’ in fracking

A mass protest at a fracking site in Lancashire endorsed by actor Dame Emma Thompson reached its 54th hour mark yesterday and closed three years and a day after Lancashire County Council voted against fracking at the site.

The event was advertised by anti-fracking network Reclaim the Power as ‘Block Around the Clock’. It was styled as a festival of resistance and took place while the government was considering whether to approve Cuadrilla’s request for permission to start fracking at Preston New Road. As of this date, a decision has not been announced. If permitted, it would be the first commercial fracking in the UK since 2011.

Recently honoured actor Dame Emma Thompson has sent words of encouragement and thanks to campaigners, stating: “The fracking industry has been transformed from a national tsunami threatening to engulf us all to a handful of desperadoes.

Behind schedule

“And while even the government has cooled down on a fracking revolution, unfortunately they’re still happy to use their power to protect these polluters against the wishes of the people.

“Fracking isn’t failing just because it’s an absurdly stupid, polluting industry. It’s failing because there’s a strong and growing opposition.”

She added: “I can’t guarantee that you’ll ever get the thanks you deserve for what you’re doing, but you’re doing it, and you’re doing it with great courage. So please, please, please, keep doing it”

The actor has been an outspoken critic of the fracking industry for a number of years, and has been a regular visitor to the site where this week’s protest is taking place.

The protest follows widespread local and national opposition to the controversial practice. A continuing campaign by locals has pushed Cuadrilla’s plans to start fracking more than a year behind schedule at Preston New Road.

Evasion tactics

Latest government statistics show that only 18 percent of the public support fracking, compared to 85 percent for renewables.

Despite this, the government last month announced plans to change planning laws to promote fracking, taking fracking decisions out of the hands of local authorities and allowing drilling to take place without planning applications.

Milo Phillips of Reclaim the Power said: “Our round-the-clock protest shows we’ll be there night and day until fracking is defeated. With the climate crisis more urgent than ever, the last thing we need is new gas infrastructure that will lock us into dirty energy for decades to come.

“A rapid, just transition away from fossil fuels to renewables can create sustainable employment for local people while respecting the planet, unlike fracking.

“Our message today is clear: whatever the bullying and evasion tactics from government and the fracking industry, we’ll be there organising with local communities ensuring it does not go ahead.”

Anti-fracking parade

Claire Stephenson, from local group Frack Free Lancashire, said: “Despite the PR bluster that has been continually spun from government and industry, peer-reviewed science has highlighted the inherent dangers associated with fracking.

“Local people voted no to fracking in 2015, but our decision was overturned by the Westminster government, exposing local democracy as a sham.”

She added: “We continue to stand in defiant, unwavering opposition to this industry: Cuadrilla has zero social license to operate in our communities and we will continue to peacefully demonstrate that.”

The Block Around the Clock protest was followed by an anti-fracking parade on the streets of Blackpool led by local women.

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This article is based on a press release from Reclaim the Power.