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"LET'S
TALK ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE" PROTESTERS CHALLENGE MOTOR SHOW
PHOTO OPPORTUNITY: 10.30am on Wednesday, 23/10/02 50 protesters outside NEC having a "Climate Chaos Party". For more information please contact Jenny Thatcher (details below)
Over
70 environmental activists gathered at the NEC on the opening day of the Motor
Show in a demonstration organised by Birmingham Friends of the Earth and Rising
Tide to protest at the continuing dependence of UK travellers on the motor
car.
The
British International Motor Show, held annually at the NEC, is the largest
of its kind in Europe. It has become
a showcase for new models and innovation in the industry. However the show is being criticised this year
for its involvement in what environmentalists are calling the irresponsible
promotion of Car Culture.
The
protesters, wearing wet weather gear marked with tyre tracks and dancing to
a samba band, brandished a model globe with a tyre track across it bearing
the slogan "What was that Bump?" at passing representatives of the
car industry.
The
demonstrators joined the spirit of the show in celebrating the future of the
motor car industry, a future they claim will be characterised by flooding,
hurricanes and other extreme weather as global warming worsens due to the
continued burning of fossil fuels. However
they carried a serious message to the Show, hailed by organisers as the biggest
ever, as the trade day kicked off this morning. Today's opening coincides with the start in
New Dehli of the next round of international climate talks, COP8
[i]
.
Jenny
Thatcher of Birmingham Friends of the Earth said "‘As World
Leaders struggle to come to an agreement on how to act on climate change,
we shamelessly glorify one of the Western World's biggest consumers of fossil
fuels
[ii]
. Climate change is the most serious threat we
face in the 21st century. We're calling
on the car industry, international governments and members of the public to
take this issue seriously, demand a decent public transport system and to
cut their car use. This is about appropriate use of technology - cars have
their uses, but so do fire engines, and this doesn't mean everyone needs to
have a fire engine parked outside their house."
This
new wave of protest comes in the wake of the Government's announcement of
the first traffic congestion charges, in Durham.
Next February a £5 charge will be levied on motorists entering the
city of London.
However
demonstrators are not simply protesting about climate change. Concerns have also been raised about the social,
health and political costs associated with the national addiction to driving
(see note iii).
They
are calling for a localised, foot-based transport future where the car is
an accessory not a necessity.
For more information, please see www.greenbirmingham.com/footwork, or contact Birmingham Friends of the Earth on 0121 632 6909.
ENDS
Birmingham
Friends of the Earth is a local volunteer-led environmental campaigning group, linked to Friends
of the Earth England and Wales
For
Further Details Please Contact
Jenny
Thatcher
Birmingham
Friends of the Earth
54-57
Allison Street
Digbeth
Birmingham
B5
5TH
0121
632 6909/0776 1234 945
beep@dial.pipex.com
Rising
Tide is
an international network of organisations campaigning on climate change, established
at The Hague in 2000.
For
Further Details Please Contact
George
Marshall
01865
241 097
Notes
to Editors