juliet

Things done in last fortnight: Climate Camp (part of site setup team); job interview (<2 hrs after getting into Kings Cross after Climate Camp; but I got the job![0]); two deadlines (or was it three?); visit to angelmine in Southampton; LED Festival for a couple of hours to see Leftfield (v good!); two days at BiCon (thus breaking my 6-yr refusal to return after interpersonal chaos -- not the fault of BiCon itself in any way -- experienced last time it was in London).

Perhaps it is not surprising that I am feeling a bit wrung out now.

Yesterday at BiCon was much fun -- went to a workshop, had interesting conversations with assorted lovely people on many topics (including RADICALISM, hurrah), ate CURRY, danced a fair bit, went to a most enjoyable party, generally had awesome time. Did have a minor meltdown on getting back to Bermondsey, but doop is very good at providing tea, toast, and hugs in this situation. Sleep also good.

Climate Camp went very well indeed, btw! Site went up on time, site came down on time, in between there were workshops & actions. Success! The likelihood of me doing any kind of writeup is very close to zero; I commend to you the blog for your Climate Camp writeup needs (or the @climatecamp Twitter feed).

Really I could do with taking about a week off now & SLEEPING, or possibly lying on the sofa watching trashy SF and knitting. Instead I am riding tandems round Earlsfield for 3 days this week (an arts project thing which will be performing in Trafalgar Sq on Saturday afternoon, if anyone wants to come and see it), and starting $newjob next week. Good. Yes. (Help.)

[0] Back at CTUK for a few months doing maternity cover for a part-time admin role.

So, if you fancy a trip to Edinburgh this summer, or indeed if you already *are* in Edinburgh this summer.... presenting

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The Camp for Climate Action is a grassroots movement taking direct action against the root causes of climate change. We've already had major successes in stopping Heathrow's third runway and E.ON's plans for a new coal fired power station at Kingsnorth.

This year we're targeting the Royal Bank of Scotland, one of the world's largest investors in oil, gas and coal.

Last year RBS were bailed out with £50 billion of public money. From tar sands extraction in Canada to coal infrastructure here in the UK, we're paying to trash our future. These projects are not just causing catastrophic climate change, but destroying the lives and livelihoods of people across the globe. Meanwhile, we're told there is no money left in the public pot and we should be braced for decades of public sectors cuts.

What are we doing about it? In August, people from across the UK will be converging to take back the power and Break the Bank! Our sustainable and collectively organised basecamp will give you the chance to learn, train up, and meet like minded individuals. Exciting action plans are also underway for those who want to get involved.

So come to Edinburgh this summer! We'll see you there.

More information at the Climate Camp website.

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(also we have a kickass accessibility statement this year, hurrah.)

And some other COP15 links as well, while I'm at it.

Spent some time down there yesterday helping anchor tents and feeding the rocket stove. And listening to half a dozen activists patiently try to explain consensus process to Julia Pendry (Met officer-in-charge-of-talking-to-us) and her accompanying aide. Which was entertaining, and slightly surreal.

Also went CLIMBING with doop, & now have my very own climbing shoes which actually work in a way which the hire ones don't really. I am slightly achey now.

I have a mildly sore throat, a sniffle, and an itchy nose (in that way it itches when you're sore-throat-ish and sniffly). Any recommendations for heading the Unwell off at the pass? Other than vit C, zinc, & 'sitting on the sofa a bit', all of which are already well in hand. (Well; I have to go down to Bromley this afternoon but until then everything I need to do can be done from underneath a blanket.)

ION: Bohemian Rhapsody as interpreted by the Muppets, for anyone who hasn't yet encountered this. Seriously awesome.

IOON: going to The Wave in 10 days? Want something to do afterwards? Climate Camp London will be occupying a space somewhere in Central London for the rest of the weekend. More details to follow, but vegan cake will feature alongside the message to government that "business as usual" is not enough to stop climate change.

Plus if you've ever thought that you might like to be a legal observer, we are running not one but TWO training sessions in the next 10 days: one on Sun 29th Nov 3pm-5pm, one on Fri 4th Dec 7pm-9pm, both at LARC. Lovely hi-viz vests, notebooks, and lots of fascinating legal info provided.

Off to Nottingham for the weekend for the Great Climate Swoop! I shall hopefully be twittering throughout (or look for the #swoop tag). I'm doing Legal Observer Stuffs this time due in large part to my increasingly dodgy leg.

This is really very early to be on a train. I think Finlay-the-dog was a bit confused as I left the house before dawn this morning. (for once he didn't attempt to follow me & the bike out the door, but stood on the doorstep with his "but it's cold!" expression on.)

Climate Camp legal team report on the policing of the 24 hr G20 camp. There's a decent summary in the first couple of pages if you don't want to read all of it.

Warning: the witness accounts in Appendix 3 are distressing in places: police violently attacking and threatening peaceful protesters.

(The legal-notebook-based timeline that they have in there is interesting.)

Climate Camp coming to G20 for the day (and night).

Information on the practicalities here.

Sadly I won't be there, due to being on the wrong continent, but if it's anything like last summer's camp I would strenuously encourage people to go along & get involved.

There's also a G20 'put people first' march on the 28th March, which I believe actually has police permission to occur.

What looks like a very splendid Climate Camp action against e.on. Also video of one of the people involved being interviewed.

Top work :)

If you happen to be at a loss for something to do this Saturday: come along to the Synergy Centre, to the London post-Climate Camp day. (Synergy is near Oval.)

There's discussions and plans and so forth in the daytime, and a social whatsit in the evening. I'm going to be there, and I believe marnameow as well, & possibly other folk.

I got a whole 10 hours of sleep last night. This makes me happy. Police situation is still the same, but they've responded to our proposal (that they clear offsite & we let them patrol, roughly). The response isn't all we could have hoped for, but the site meeting is discussing it atm and hopefully it's still possible to get a resolution.

On the more important business of, y'know, what we're actually here for, I'm off to a workshop on off-grid renewables in 15 minutes, and possibly something about soil building as a climate change solution this afternoon. And I was speaking to one of the legal observer team yesterday who said they're short on people & would I like to come along to one of their training sessions? So that's early evening - I'm only onsite till Thursday morning so may not be that much use this time, but it'll be a skill learnt for another time. And I'm down to facilitate tomorrow morning's neighbourhood meeting (the camp is divided into geographical neighbourhoods for camping, with each having a living-area marquee, kitchen, etc, as well as the central stuff. London is pretty large.)

So that's all the good stuff, the stuff that we're actually here for. Workshops, and talks, and building things - I spent the weekend building benches and tables and helping out with the London kitchen. And building connections and relationships. I've met some really fantastic people here. There's a massive attitude of encouraging people to get involved, and any time you do do something (even if it's as simple as fixing a thing that needs fixed, or filling up the big water carrier on the drinks table), it feels appreciated. People are really quick to say "that's fantastic, thank you, you're doing a great job" to each other, which is amazing & really makes it easy to get stuck in. (I haven't done anything remotely like this in years, but I wound up as London spokesperson for yesterday's emergency meetings - which was stressful but really rewarding. And see above about all the other stuff.)

Anyway, I should go find out about soil building! And focus on that & not all yesterday's stress.