Climate Camp Article in Guardian (Carbon Trading)

When it comes to reducing emissions via carbon trading I guess the question we want people to ask is:

Do we want to place our faith in the same set of principles that lead to the financial crisis?

The economy is important but our natural environment is foundational to life. Lets not gamble on this one. Stopping the construction of new coal plants is a lot more concrete than trading in abstract units of 'avoided emissions' and the more abstract you get the more profiteering and confusion is possible.

The organisers of Climate Camp, a protest group that has previously demonstrated at coal power stations and Heathrow airport, have chosen London's financial centre as the target of their main summer protest this year.

The decision to target the City is aimed at throwing a spotlight on the carbon trading system, one of the central planks of the EU's attempts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from businesses. Carbon trading in the US is also being pushed by the Obama administration, but the activists say they want to highlight the failure of the mechanism to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The precise form of the protest and where it will take place are yet to be decided, although a spontaneous snowball fight that broke out between environmental activists and bankers after the heavy snowfall on 2 February may have inspired the group to target the City. The action may also strike a chord with public anger at huge public bail-outs of the banks.

(article in the Guardian)

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