Just Stop Oil supporters have disrupted Heathrow Airport in their second week of coordinated action, joining forces with international groups to demand that governments establish a fossil fuel treaty to end the extraction and burning of oil, gas, and coal by 2030.
At around 8:50 am, six Just Stop Oil supporters blocked access to the departure gates of Heathrow Terminal 5 South. They held signs reading “Oil Kills” and “Sign the Treaty.” In addition to these six, police arrested someone filming the action, while at least another ten people were arrested on public transport.
One of those arrested today is Di Bligh, 77, a grandmother from Rode and former CEO of Reading Borough Council. She expressed her concern about the ongoing climate crisis, stating, "Climate breakdown is endangering all we love. Starvation already threatens those who have done the least to cause this mess. Billions will be on the move as they try to find land they can cultivate, water to drink—any safe place."
Bligh emphasized the need for a collective international effort, saying, "Electric cars and wind farms won’t do it: governments must act together before we reach more tipping points into chaos than we can prevent. We need our political leaders to act now, by working with other nations to establish a legally binding treaty to stop the extraction and burning of oil, gas, and coal by 2030."
Also arrested was Ruth Cook, 72, from Somerset, who highlighted the urgency of addressing the climate emergency. "We can’t carry on as normal pretending that the climate emergency isn’t happening. The evidence is all around us and people in many parts of the world are already suffering—droughts, famine, floods, wildfires," she said. "I am here for my two grandchildren, my two grandnieces who have just come into this world, and for all children—what future will they face? I want to be able to look them in the eye and tell them that I did all that I could. We need a fossil fuel treaty to Just Stop Oil by 2030."
Today’s disruption follows an action at Leipzig-Halle Airport in Germany, where five supporters of Last Generation glued themselves to the tarmac, preventing cargo planes from taking off.
The past week has seen the world’s four hottest days ever recorded, with dozens killed in the raging floodwaters and massive mudslides triggered by Typhoon Gaemi, and hundreds killed in mudslides in Ethiopia and India. Half of Jasper in Canada has been reduced to ash. About 3.6 billion people have endured temperatures that would have been exceedingly rare in a world without burning fossil fuels, according to an analysis by Climate Central scientists.
"This ‘taste’ of a +1.5 degree world is showing how the natural systems that humans depend on will buckle amid soaring temperatures," said Johan Rockström, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany. "The extreme events that we are now experiencing are indications of the weakening resilience of these systems. We cannot risk pushing this any further."
Climate scientist Kim Cobb, director of the Institute at Brown University for Environment and Society, added, "We’re dancing about a climate average that is very dangerous for communities and ecosystems around the world."
Yesterday, two more Just Stop Oil supporters, Phoebe Plummer and Jane Touil, were imprisoned, bringing the total number of peaceful activists currently imprisoned in the UK for demanding government action on climate breakdown to sixteen.
The Oil Kills international uprising has been active at airports around the world, with 21 groups across 12 countries taking action at 20 airports. Participating groups include Letzte Generation Germany, Folk Mot Fossilmakta and Scientist Rebellion in Norway, XR Finland, Futuro Vegetal in Spain, Just Stop Oil in the UK, Drop Fossil Subsidies and Act Now – Liberate in Switzerland, Letzte Generation Austria, Extinction Rebellion and Scientists Rebellion in Sweden, Doe Deurne Dicht in Belgium, Last Generation Canada, XR Boston, Last Generation America, and Scientist Rebellion Turtle Island from the USA.
Just Stop Oil supporters and their international allies remain committed to taking the necessary actions to generate political pressure until governments take decisive steps to protect communities from the worst effects of climate breakdown. This summer, areas of key importance to the fossil fuel economy will be declared sites of civil resistance around the world. The movement calls for widespread support and participation in their efforts to avert further climate catastrophe.
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