On December 1st, Jean Lambert will be joining other London Greens to highlight Esso's shameful record on climate change.
Together with campaigners form Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and People
& Planet, London Green Party members will be picketing Esso petrol stations
in protest against the company's "cavalier and destructive" attitude
to the Kyoto climate agreement. The Greens will be distributing
leaflets asking drivers to boycott the company widely regarded as a leading
"climate change villain".
"Esso/Exxon has been funding a misleading campaign to deny the link between fossil fuels and global warming, and was a big donor to President Bush in his election campaign," says Frances Mortimer, UCL student and co-ordinator of Student Greens in London. "It was soon rewarded when he pulled the US out of the Kyoto Protocol, currently the only international agreement on cutting greenhouse emissions [1].
"You might expect an oil company to find the global transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy a difficult time. But that does not excuse Esso's totally irresponsible conduct in actively sabotaging international action on climate change,"
Frances Mortimer continued: "People increasingly want to minimise their impact on the environment, as they begin to see with their own eyes the effects of climate change in Britain and around the world [2]. We want to explain that buying petrol from Esso implies support for Esso's policy of ignoring climate change. We're confident that most drivers will see our point."
The pickets are part of a nationwide Stop Esso Day organised by a coalition including Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace and People & Planet. The day of action is likely to be the biggest ever climate change protest in the UK, and is supported by groups ranging from the Women's Environmental Network to the World Development Movement.
The Esso boycott, launched earlier this year with support from the Greens in the European Parliament and celebrity campaigner Bianca Jagger, has spread to six countries outside the UK.
Jean will be picketing the Esso service station on Lea Bridge Road, Hackney
border end. 11am - 1pm
with Chit Chong Hackney Green Party Councillor.
Notes:
1. For details of the case against Esso, see www.stopesso.com
2. For a brief summary of the effects of climate change, including economic
effects, see 'Out of the Frying Pan, into the Flood: Global Warming and Weather
Disruption' at: www.greenparty.org.uk/reports/2000/climate/climatechange.htm
Further information on the Green Party's climate campaigning is at:
www.greenparty.org.uk/campaigns
General contacts:
Tim Turner, London Green Party Media Contact: 020 8459 2802
Cindy Baxter, StopEsso coalition: 020 7354 5708