Greenpeace active supporters in Nottingham continued the summer of action against gas guzzling 4x4s with activists outside the Merlin Land Rover dealership in Nottingham demanding curbs on the climate-wrecking cars. This was just weeks after Greenpeace volunteers chained themselves to the production line at the Range Rover production line in Solihull and 4 activists from Nottingham were amongst volunteers chained to Range Rovers in a Manchester dealership. The petrol-powered 4x4 can do just 12mpg in urban areas.
The protest is part of a nationwide summer of action and road users will become used to seeing road signs saying no 4x4s and 4x4 drivers will find notices on their vehicles reminding them of the climate damage their 4x4 is causing. The Greenpeace campaigners also have product recall notices which will be placed in car magazines and action cards to local MPs demanding that they force the Government to take action.
Greenpeace volunteer Rebecca Rothera said "driving cars like this in towns and cities is mad. Many of these vehicles do less than the Model T Ford. That means in 80 years we have gone backwards, and with up to 150,000 people dying every year due to the effects of climate change, we need to ensure our cars are more fuel efficient. With Greenpeace activists across Nottinghamshire ramping up the campaign, we hope more and more people will listen to what we have to say. Most of these climate wreckers only go off road when they park on the pavement but the greenhouse gases they spew out is killing people and wrecking our planet."
The Range Rover is the least fuel efficient of Britains top 10 selling 4x4s. Ford, the owners of Land Rover are aggressively marketing its range of urban 4x4s - cars like the Discovery and Range Rover - to urban drivers. It spent £3m on advertising in London alone last year! Publicity material for these climate wreckers describes them as "astounding. There has never been a Land Rover so focused on awesome tarmac performance."
Protestors will be accompanied by Captain Climate
For information on fuel efficiency of different cars visit www.vcacarfueldata.org.uk/search/search.asp
For more information on the Greenpeace campaign, call 0207 865 8255 or visit www.greenpeace.org.uk
www.choosecleanenergy.com
Message ends
For information on the event call Jane Burd 07946 331065
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____________________________________________
ALAN LODGE
Photographer - Media: One Eye on the Road. Nottingham. UK
Email: tash@gn.apc.org
Web: http://tash.gn.apc.org
WAP phone http://wappy.to/tash
My Blog http://tash_lodge.blogspot.com
BroadBand http://tash.dns2go.com
Member of the National Union of Journalists [No: 014345]
____________________________________________
"It is not enough to curse the darkness.
It is also necessary to light a lamp!!"
____________________________________________
OS Grid Ref: SK 575414 - Lat/Lon: 52:58:03N, 1:08:38W
Comments
Hide the following 14 comments
Greenpeace Hypocrisy ?
25.06.2005 05:52
Why do they actively support the Glastonbury festival then? Their banner and logo is all over the site.
The marquees, stages and many of the other facilities are delivered and erected using 4x4's, it's miles away from anywhere so has to be travelled to, isn't this the frivolous hypermobility they purport to despise?
Why is it OK for loads of people to be frivolously hypermobile to visit Glastonbury, but not to drive their 4x4 into town occasionally?
I wonder if they've considered the waste of energy involved in supporting the electrical requirements of all the sound stages and stalls, along with the exhaust fumes from the multiple generators that don't have the relative cleanliness of exhaust emissions of a road-going vehicle?
Was there a risk assessment done regarding the relative exhaust emissions of the generators to be used?
Seems they just pick on things they dislike and go along with things they like, despite what it does to the environment.
They seem more like Hypocrites and self-centred hedonists than eco-warriors to me.
The Caretaker
e-mail: the_caretaker@hotmail.com
travel to big events
25.06.2005 09:58
Every year there are more and more money making events which involve 1000s travelling. The contrived football playoffs are a good example. Day after day, 80,000 people driving from places like Hartlepool and Lincoln to Cardiff. Maybe a tax per attendee should be leveed on those organising these mass movements unless they can demonstrate social benefits?
teddy
Homepage: http://www.daveches.co.uk
Where can I get some of those signs?
25.06.2005 10:18
Sim1
Another stunt
25.06.2005 11:54
What a shame Greepeace doesn't adopt the policy it preaches with the engines on its ships, but hey one rule for us - one rule for them
Yawn
Not that I agree with Greenpeace...
25.06.2005 18:17
I said the same thing in a recent article, short term losses for a long term goal.
fredrico
e-mail: musteatvegan@yahoo.co.uk
Yawning Caretakers
26.06.2005 20:35
your comments can fuck right off. I'm so sick of the whingeing 'you wear leather shoes' argument - which goes: "you talk about ideals and campaigning for a better world, about the environment, about animal rights, yet you have travelled by car in your life and you wear leather shoes therefore everything you say is worthless and can be undermined by me with the excuses I find to sit on my fat arse doing little else except posting to indymedia and finding fault."
bored
Heard of our solar showers?
28.06.2005 21:18
Generally these events COST Greenpeace money, so having the bank account low beforehand isn't such a wise idea! The fund raising that Greenpeace does is usually much more low key, using things like Co-op credit cards and the like.
The point of the campaign isn't to just ban all 4x4s, but to get them using cleaner engines. It's true that getting the gear in and out of Glastonbury would require big heavey vehicles - it's just a shame that manufacures like Land Rover don't produce vehicles using cleaner engines - such as the hydrogen fuel cell. Recently Lexus have produced an SUV that uses and ordinary V6 engine, along with 2 electric engines (known as a hybrid). If they can do it, so can Land Rover. Unfortunately, that's not likely to happen without serious pressure - like huge public embarrassment.
In the Greenpeace field at the Glastonbury festival (have you ever visted Caretaker?) you'll find solar powered showers, and other equally clean and green activities. If the event's going to go on anyway, isn't it better that Greenpeace try to make it as environmentally friendly as possible, and take the opportunity to raise some funds to allow their work to go on? It's like Fredrico says - short term losses for a long term goal.
I'm glad to see that the main arguments here aren't against the idea of combatting climate change - at last we've got over that major hurdle (that wouldn't be anything to do with the work of Greenpeace over the last decade would it?), just about methods. So, Caretaker, what are YOU doing to help stop the climate becoming worse?
HippyJim
e-mail: jim@hippycentral.org.uk
Homepage: http://www.hippycentral.org.uk
Greenpeace?
25.11.2005 10:49
4x4 driver
WHAT IF????
25.11.2005 11:26
WHAT'S THE PROBLEM THEN????? I HAVE BEEN DRIVING MY 4X4 FOR YEARS ON SUNFLOWER OIL, OTHER FRIENDS HAVE LPG KITS ON THERE'S?? SO ARE ALL 4X4'S REALLY THAT BAD OR ARE YOU BIASED AGAINST US ALL...THE DIESEL ENGINE WAS FIRST BUILT TO RUN ON PEANUT OIL NOT FOSSIL FUEL...MAYBE WE SHOULD ALL LOOK AT CONVERTING TO THIS METHOD... I RESPECT YOUR OPINIONS BUT YOU SHOULDN'T CAST EVERY 4X4 OWNER AS BEING DESTRUCTIVE TO (OUR) PLANET..
THANKS FOR YOUR TIME MR FINGERS
FINGERS MCLEAN
Idiots
25.11.2005 15:36
John
e-mail: brown@hotmail.com
An informative site for a change
25.11.2005 17:05
www.4x4prejudice.org
Bob696
two things
12.01.2006 19:35
2 - how much energy in the form of fossil fuel (for fertiliser, pesticide, transport and harvest) has to be used to make the equivalent amount of biodiesel?
If you think alternative fuels are great then I look forward to your answer on the above. Otherwise don't come back here with your pseudo-science.
Crash
energy & biodiesel / ethanol
22.03.2006 08:01
the bottom line clarifies
even the worst case is not bad compared to the alternatives.. lets not forget how much energy is used in securing current supplies, exploration, drilling construction of oil rigs, pipelines distribution infrastructure, transport wars, pollution political instability etc...
http://www.biodiesel.co.uk/levington_tables.htm#Table%2011
barleymow
ban 4x4's!!????
30.01.2008 22:19
Martin
e-mail: martinbennett3@aol.com