For many, coal represents the new, grubby face of globalization. From Bristol to Bangladesh, the extraction and burning of coal is increasing faster than you can say ‘carbon-capture technology’. But thankfully, so is the resistance, as the recent direct action ‘climate camps’ – which took place on three different continents – have demonstrated, with sackloads of exuberance.
This July, more than 1,200 people descended upon the Carrington coal terminal in Newcastle, Australia. Of those, 37 were arrested for boarding trains and lying across railway tracks, while others formed a human sign nearby which read: ‘Cut carbon now or never.’ This follows similar actions last year when 11 activists were arrested for attaching themselves to coal-loading equipment at the Newcastle site.
