environment » Scottish Socialist Youth

Cairn energy: the worst oil company you've never heard of

At Climate Camp last week our main target was the Royal Bank of Scotland for it’s part in bankrolling climate change, but a secondary one was Edinburgh based Cairn Energy. Cairn aren’t a famous name like BP or Shell, but right now they’re at the heart of one of the biggest battles that the environmental [...]

The Mighty Mighty Climate Camp

I’ve just returned from 5 days of occupying the land of the Royal Bank of Scotland, a piece of direct action that yesterday successfully achieved its objective of shutting down RBS’ headquarters. On Monday when we looked across at the building we could see there was nobody working there apart from cops and security guards. [...]

Camp for Climate Action

This weekend, Climate Camp is coming to Edinburgh. Anything up to 1000 people are expected to descend on the capital for five days of discussions, workshops, training and direct action, in the fifth camp of its kind in the UK. Following past camps which have targeted airport expansion and coal power stations, this year the [...]

Robo-bins say "Bottles mean prizes!"

The ConDem coalition government has shown its true shade of green with new proposals to reward households who produce more recycling waste. The plans, announced last week by Communities Secretary, Conservative Eric Pickles (whose name just seems to capture his essence), are ostensibly designed to reduce waste going into landfill sites around the country. In [...]

Just how big is the US spill disaster?

As we’ve previously reported, the US is currently facing probably its worst environmental disaster of all time, in the shape of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. A disaster caused by the corporate greed of BP, determined to drill no matter the consequences, and the incompetence of government regulators compromised by oil company money. But just [...]

Scientists say GM dialogue is a front for industry

Two scientists have now resigned from a group charged by the Food Standards Agency with having a “public dialogue” about genetically modified foods. Last week Dr Helen Wallace, who is part of the think tank Gene Watch UK, resigned from the steering group for the project, and Professor Brian Wynne, who was the group’s Vice [...]

Obama and the spill

As Leftfield previously reported, the US is currently undergoing one of its worst environmental disasters of all time. Last month, an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico started an oil spill of gargantuan proportions. For weeks huge quantities of oil have been pouring into a pristine natural environment, devastating [...]

"America's Chernobyl"

One of the worst environmental disasters in US history is currently unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico, and the reactions to it are an indictment of the capitalist oil industry and their bought-and-paid-for politicians. After an explosion at the Deepwater Horizon offshore rig, operated by BP, an underwater oil well is currently discharging 790,000 – [...]

A Rude Interruption

The attempt by Aberdeen SSP to conduct a serious interview on the issue of free public transport was left in disarray last night after a (no doubt drunken) passerby interrupted SSP candidate for Aberdeen North Ewan Robertson’s attempt to explain the policy. Rather than discuss issues of climate change, reversing rip-off privatised transport with a [...]

Messages to the People's Conference on Climate Change

In response to the utter failure of the world’s governments to tackle the climate crisis in Copenhagen, the left wing government in Bolivia has organised a people’s summit. Bolivia, Venezuela and other radical developing countries refused to sign the deal that rich countries like Britain and the US tried to force through the Copenhagen summit, [...]