We face a tsunami of information that fills our news feeds everyday, mostly unfiltered. Facts and fake news are all mixed up on our smartphones, tablets and laptops.

Sometimes this fake news can look very convincing, which can make it difficult to recognise. In our fast-paced world my printed infographic books feed the need for sustainable information.

They are based on scientific papers and reviewed by scientists from all over the world, and are guaranteed to be trustworthy while narrowing down the environmental problems to their very core.

Visualising information 

Infographic books are easy to understand, even without any prior knowledge on the topic. Most of all they are not opinionated, but rather neutral tools for gaining more knowledge and a deeper understanding of the complexity of a chosen topic, for example the state of the oceans. 

My new book The Ocean Book explores the diverse problems our seas are facing today: climate change, loss of biodiversity, overfishing, industrialization and pollution. The information builds one page after the other, creating a complex picture of interactions and a broad overview of the current threads the oceans are facing.

Scientific papers are not on the reading list of most people, they are not written in a way the general public can immerse themselves in. They are the outcome of one or two years of hard data based work and every word, every phrase has a very precise meaning. 

The problem with these kind of papers is that only scientists understand them. That’s a big issue, because a lot of scientific papers actually want to create change and send a message to the general public, for example on the state of our planet, on the climate breakdown or on the threads to ocean wildlife.

That is where infographics come in handy, they have the power to visualize the essence of a scientific paper. No matter how complex it at first seems, a graphic can be eye-opening and easy to understand for everybody.

Knowledge building

One of the most important principles is that less is more. Finding the balance between aesthetics, interpretation and visualization of the data in critical. The selection of data and the creation of easy-to-read icons is a challenge I face every day. 

Modern computer-generated infographics tend to do the opposite: instead of opening your eyes and making a topic simpler to understand, they visualise complexity in an obvious and aesthetic way,  without leaving you with further understanding or revelation. 

I try to go in a different direction with my infographic book series.  I prioritise the selection of topics that suit the flow of information and knowledge-building over aesthetics. Showing the broader picture, zooming in, connecting the dots that lead slowly page after page to a complex picture of the problem. 

My books are simple in every way. They feature one colour plus black, distinctive and repetitive icons and a clear and easy to understand language – anyone can further their understanding and learn something new.

In the best case, these books make people curious to learn more, encourage them to do further research and reading on the topic, or to start putting thoughts into action and caring even more for our planet. 

Starting small 

We all know that everybody has the power to make a bigger change in the world. There are many examples of great people throughout history who have stood up for their beliefs and created grassroots movements. Every little action counts and many small actions will eventually lead to a bigger change.

We can all save the world, the oceans, and the climate by starting to change and simplify our lifestyle. Little by little, day by day – there are many possibilities and ways to become more earth friendly.

Incorporating new habits into daily life can be easy, so long as we don’t lose sight of the overwhelming size of the global problems. Starting small and keeping going, we will inspire others to do the same. 

A really small start can just be having a closer look at an infographic. You never know what that might trigger in your brain and what actions and change you might bring to the world.

This Author

Esther Gonstalla is a German freelance infographic designer and writer of three infographic books: The Atomic Book, The Climate Book and most recently The Ocean Book (Green Books, Cambridge). 

Image: Greg McFall, Wikimedia. 

Vale is the company behind a recent massive mining incident in Brazil. The failure of their Brumadinho tailings dam killed at least 300 people, many of them the company’s own employees and caused enormous environmental damage that has destroyed the river and will affect people in the area for many years.

The international day of action for rivers aims to “celebrate our life-giving waters, and honor all those who have worked hard to ensure that our rivers continue flowing“.

The Vale Ma’ shows that this was anything other than an isolated case. As the Brazilian lead researcher in the project Beatriz Saes said: “Many people in Brazil are saying that it was not an accident. It was a crime.”

Impacts

The ENVJUSTICE – EJAtlas team at the UAB’s Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA) called their map “¡Esto no Vale! Isso não Vale! Vale S.A. operations and socio-environmental conflicts”.

The map currently details 27 socio-environmental conflicts in the world related to Vale S.A.’s mining and infrastructure projects.

The conflicts include mining exploitation and tailings dams, such as those that broke in Mariana (2015) and Brumadinho (2019) leaving behind hundreds of deaths and irreversibly contaminating rivers and lands.

The map shows that the mining company is responsible for a large array of socio-environmental impacts all over the globe.

Activist scholars

To mark the rivers protection day, the research team wanted to contribute to the global efforts of environmental justice groups to reclaim justice and to stop corporate impunity.

They have urged users to reflect on the wider problems generated by the resource extraction of large mining companies and their political allies.

The map is produced by the EJAtlas research group at the UAB together with Yannick Deniau of the Geocomunes collective (Mexico) and Beatriz Saes (Universidade Federal Fluminense, Brazil).

The data was gathered by activist scholars, independent researchers and local activists and is part of an ongoing mapping process, which documents and publishes new cases of environmental conflict.

This Article

This article was authored by Beatriz Saes, Daniela Del Bene, Sara Mingorría, Yannick Deniau, Raquel Neyra, Max Stoisser, Lucrecia Wagner, Grettel Navas and Nick Meynen and submitted by the ENVJUSTICE – EJAtlas team.

Vale is the company behind a recent massive mining incident in Brazil. The failure of their Brumadinho tailings dam killed at least 300 people, many of them the company’s own employees and caused enormous environmental damage that has destroyed the river and will affect people in the area for many years.

The international day of action for rivers aims to “celebrate our life-giving waters, and honor all those who have worked hard to ensure that our rivers continue flowing“.

The Vale Ma’ shows that this was anything other than an isolated case. As the Brazilian lead researcher in the project Beatriz Saes said: “Many people in Brazil are saying that it was not an accident. It was a crime.”

Impacts

The ENVJUSTICE – EJAtlas team at the UAB’s Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA) called their map “¡Esto no Vale! Isso não Vale! Vale S.A. operations and socio-environmental conflicts”.

The map currently details 27 socio-environmental conflicts in the world related to Vale S.A.’s mining and infrastructure projects.

The conflicts include mining exploitation and tailings dams, such as those that broke in Mariana (2015) and Brumadinho (2019) leaving behind hundreds of deaths and irreversibly contaminating rivers and lands.

The map shows that the mining company is responsible for a large array of socio-environmental impacts all over the globe.

Activist scholars

To mark the rivers protection day, the research team wanted to contribute to the global efforts of environmental justice groups to reclaim justice and to stop corporate impunity.

They have urged users to reflect on the wider problems generated by the resource extraction of large mining companies and their political allies.

The map is produced by the EJAtlas research group at the UAB together with Yannick Deniau of the Geocomunes collective (Mexico) and Beatriz Saes (Universidade Federal Fluminense, Brazil).

The data was gathered by activist scholars, independent researchers and local activists and is part of an ongoing mapping process, which documents and publishes new cases of environmental conflict.

This Article

This article was authored by Beatriz Saes, Daniela Del Bene, Sara Mingorría, Yannick Deniau, Raquel Neyra, Max Stoisser, Lucrecia Wagner, Grettel Navas and Nick Meynen and submitted by the ENVJUSTICE – EJAtlas team.

Vale is the company behind a recent massive mining incident in Brazil. The failure of their Brumadinho tailings dam killed at least 300 people, many of them the company’s own employees and caused enormous environmental damage that has destroyed the river and will affect people in the area for many years.

The international day of action for rivers aims to “celebrate our life-giving waters, and honor all those who have worked hard to ensure that our rivers continue flowing“.

The Vale Ma’ shows that this was anything other than an isolated case. As the Brazilian lead researcher in the project Beatriz Saes said: “Many people in Brazil are saying that it was not an accident. It was a crime.”

Impacts

The ENVJUSTICE – EJAtlas team at the UAB’s Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA) called their map “¡Esto no Vale! Isso não Vale! Vale S.A. operations and socio-environmental conflicts”.

The map currently details 27 socio-environmental conflicts in the world related to Vale S.A.’s mining and infrastructure projects.

The conflicts include mining exploitation and tailings dams, such as those that broke in Mariana (2015) and Brumadinho (2019) leaving behind hundreds of deaths and irreversibly contaminating rivers and lands.

The map shows that the mining company is responsible for a large array of socio-environmental impacts all over the globe.

Activist scholars

To mark the rivers protection day, the research team wanted to contribute to the global efforts of environmental justice groups to reclaim justice and to stop corporate impunity.

They have urged users to reflect on the wider problems generated by the resource extraction of large mining companies and their political allies.

The map is produced by the EJAtlas research group at the UAB together with Yannick Deniau of the Geocomunes collective (Mexico) and Beatriz Saes (Universidade Federal Fluminense, Brazil).

The data was gathered by activist scholars, independent researchers and local activists and is part of an ongoing mapping process, which documents and publishes new cases of environmental conflict.

This Article

This article was authored by Beatriz Saes, Daniela Del Bene, Sara Mingorría, Yannick Deniau, Raquel Neyra, Max Stoisser, Lucrecia Wagner, Grettel Navas and Nick Meynen and submitted by the ENVJUSTICE – EJAtlas team.

Vale is the company behind a recent massive mining incident in Brazil. The failure of their Brumadinho tailings dam killed at least 300 people, many of them the company’s own employees and caused enormous environmental damage that has destroyed the river and will affect people in the area for many years.

The international day of action for rivers aims to “celebrate our life-giving waters, and honor all those who have worked hard to ensure that our rivers continue flowing“.

The Vale Ma’ shows that this was anything other than an isolated case. As the Brazilian lead researcher in the project Beatriz Saes said: “Many people in Brazil are saying that it was not an accident. It was a crime.”

Impacts

The ENVJUSTICE – EJAtlas team at the UAB’s Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA) called their map “¡Esto no Vale! Isso não Vale! Vale S.A. operations and socio-environmental conflicts”.

The map currently details 27 socio-environmental conflicts in the world related to Vale S.A.’s mining and infrastructure projects.

The conflicts include mining exploitation and tailings dams, such as those that broke in Mariana (2015) and Brumadinho (2019) leaving behind hundreds of deaths and irreversibly contaminating rivers and lands.

The map shows that the mining company is responsible for a large array of socio-environmental impacts all over the globe.

Activist scholars

To mark the rivers protection day, the research team wanted to contribute to the global efforts of environmental justice groups to reclaim justice and to stop corporate impunity.

They have urged users to reflect on the wider problems generated by the resource extraction of large mining companies and their political allies.

The map is produced by the EJAtlas research group at the UAB together with Yannick Deniau of the Geocomunes collective (Mexico) and Beatriz Saes (Universidade Federal Fluminense, Brazil).

The data was gathered by activist scholars, independent researchers and local activists and is part of an ongoing mapping process, which documents and publishes new cases of environmental conflict.

This Article

This article was authored by Beatriz Saes, Daniela Del Bene, Sara Mingorría, Yannick Deniau, Raquel Neyra, Max Stoisser, Lucrecia Wagner, Grettel Navas and Nick Meynen and submitted by the ENVJUSTICE – EJAtlas team.

We are living in ‘interesting times’. In this climate, laughter yoga has many potentially helpful practices, and laughing at one’s fears is one of them.

In order to laugh at one’s fears, it helps to practise laughing for the sake of it, and/or as a yoga. This makes it a progressively easier practice.

This extract was first published in Resurgence & Ecologist magazine. 

In this yogic way, you laugh intentionally in the same way as you breathe intentionally. You focus on the activity for its own sake, for the benefits that accrue from the act of laughter itself. Laughing at one’s fears also happens to be part of several trauma-release therapies, so there are many excellent reasons for developing this ability. 

Personal liberation

Happily, not only is it an enjoyable and effective practice: it also gets easier.

Paulo Coelho makes a typically insightful comment on fear and laughter in his book The Witch of Portobello: “Don’t be like those people who believe in ‘positive thinking’ and tell themselves that they’re loved and strong and capable. You don’t need to do that, because you know it already. And when you doubt it – which happens, I think, quite often at this stage of evolution – do as I suggested.

“Instead of trying to prove that you’re better than you think, just laugh. Laugh at your worries and insecurities. View your anxieties with humour. It will be difficult at first, but you’ll gradually get used to it.” 

As Coelho says, this is a difficult practice at first. However, laughing at your worries, insecurities, anxieties and fears is a route back to sanity and inner calm.

It is a path to psychological freedom, emotional intelligence, professional effectiveness, and personal liberation. It helps you be more mindful and become more resilient. 

Pain and trauma

In laughter yoga you learn to laugh for the sake of laughing. You learn to laugh for the psychological, emotional, physical, whole-person benefits. With practice this becomes an effective technique for dealing with pressure and regaining your equilibrium. 

When you learn this practice and learn to overcome your fears, miracles happen. One retreat delegate said: “At the weekend I only touched on the pain and trauma I have been through in the last six years. Over that time I had completely forgotten how to laugh, lost my confidence and self-esteem along with trust in others – all the negatives.

“I think I had reached rock bottom – anti-depressants from the doctor, high blood pressure, IBS, all, I believe, caused by my ego dwelling on the past and going over things like a long-playing record. Thankfully a visit to the doctor made me realise I had to begin to take control.

“I needed to laugh and find the fun in my life and also live in the NOW, not the past. I read and researched… and wondered whether there were any clubs that actually taught you how to laugh…

“Obviously I realise it is early days, but I am sure with my inner strength and determination I will succeed. In fact my doctor, whom I saw today, has agreed to gently phase me off medication.” 

Her story is one of many.

So, when life seems a bit frightening – laugh at your fears.

This Article

This is an edited extract from Joe Hoare’s book Laughter Yoga and Happiness: 7 Insights from 15 Years of Laughter Yoga. It has been published by Resurgence & Ecologist magazine. Image courtesy of Hoare’s website.

Days spent knocking doors to fundraise for a large environmental organisation in the UK can often be a frustrating and disheartening experience. Hours spent shuffling along rainy streets to be repeatedly told that the politicians are handling it, or that the current state of the climate isn’t something of much concern, can sometimes feel wasted.

Living in the country which sparked the coal-fired, steam-powered engine that’s dragging the earth towards climate catastrophe, you can be left wondering how the general public can distance itself from the realities of our current situation to such an extent?

This question can be quickly and succinctly answered when your turn your head towards the empty benches of the house of commons. Seeing this disconnection and lack of urgency mirrored precisely in the abysmal turn out at the most recent parliamentary debate on climate change, with on only ten Tory MP’s in attendance at certain points of the debate.

Excitement and urgency

The question becomes, how could you expect the citizens of the UK to take the issues surrounding climate change to heart when so many of their elected representatives treat it with such callous indifference?

One afternoon following the first Youth Strike for Climate on the 15 February 2019, I happened to be working on streets around Brighton which saw one of the biggest turnouts in the UK.

As the day stretched on and more and more young people returned home from the strike, the atmosphere and reception behind so many of the doors which opened in front of me was markedly different.

Young people, sometimes in groups or with their siblings, came hurrying to the door with stories about the strike, with questions about campaigns and with a sense of excitement and urgency.

From their faces and reactions it was clear that this had been more than a day bunking-off school. They were excited to discuss the issues that so many people twenty years their senior shrug off in indifference.

Generational rupture

There was no doubt that the young people I was speaking to understood what exists beyond the threats of the climate crisis, the possibility for a fairer, more just world which could arise from reforming our social and political systems around mobilising to stabilise the climate.

After this experience it struck me that this was a running theme that crops up time and again. Parents talking about how their children pick them up on recycling and palm oil, primary school age children coming to the door to talk about their roles as eco-officers for their class, parents signing up in their children’s names.

The Prime Minister may see these strikes as a waste of class time, but these strikes are the manifestation of a generational rupture in which the children and young people of the UK are rising up to protect what should be being protected for them.

The stagnation of business as usual politics has infected much of the UK’s political mindset and left the job of ensuring our planet’s future to the youngest of us. On seeing the passion and dedication of their response, there is no doubt that they are the people for the job.

The rise of Youth Strike 4 Climate, UKYCC, Plan B, Extinction Rebellion and even to some extent Momentum, shows how the call for climate justice in this country has become a youth driven awakening of the political system.

These groups are the positive, alternative outlets for frustrated and disenfranchised social groups. Tory Brexit arose out of this same disenfranchisement to become the issue which has taken up the vast majority of public consciousness since June of 2016. Brexit has left so many young people feeling as though they’re watching their leaders rearranging their papers while the building burns.

Thunderous wave

The rising-up of a generation to stand peacefully against the acts of state and social violence which are systematically perpetrated against the planet, its animal inhabitants and the human citizens of the global south, is giving form to the academic discussion surrounding climate justice at an unprecedented scale.

Engaging with some of these young people and listening to their vision for a more just and equitable future has been one of the highlights of my time as a fundraiser.

Although some people may doubt it, sea levels are rising, the climate is being destroyed and we’re at the precipice of environmental collapse. There is a youth led, peaceful and thunderous wave rising in response.

There will be many who have their doubts about this too, but as the next day of striking approaches, with Extinction Rebellion’s week of international rebellion following shorty after, there’s a sense that our last and best chance to enact the necessary social and political revolution is playing out in front of us.

Let’s hope that as more and more doors open towards our uncertain future, that behind them are stood the fearless and hopeful young people who have ignited this movement for climate justice.

This Author

Phil O’Sullivan is an environmental fundraiser and writes about climate justice.

From the world’s northernmost town, Longyearbyen, down to Cape Town in South Africa, from the Western tip of Anchorage in Alaska to Tokyo in Japan, young people are preparing to go on a school strike for the climate.

The walkout on on Friday 15 March will be the biggest yet, in a weekly drumbeat of pressure on governments to safeguard their futures. At time of publication, 1,209 events had been registered across 92 countries with the German movement Fridays for the Future.

“The situation we are facing today is a unique one,” Linus Steinmetz, spokesperson for Fridays for the Future said.

Pre-industrial

“We are the last generation to have a realistic chance to prevent a climate catastrophe. According to the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), we have less than 12 years to deliver the changes required to avoid this, but we do have the means.”

The school strikes for climate were initially spurred by the solo protests of Swedish 16-year old Greta Thunberg.

In September, Thunberg started a weekly vigil on the steps of the parliament in Stockholm to call for faster action to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

The teenager, who has Asperger syndrome, has since become a figurehead for the global climate movement, garnering praise for her blunt and persistent activism.

Climate strikers are demanding that countries comply fully with the Paris Agreement, which aims to limit global warming to “well below 2 degrees” above pre-industrial levels.

Youth movement

George Bond, a 15-year-old from Dorset in the UK, told Climate Home News he wanted the government to declare a state of emergency and involve young people more in decision-making.

“We are living in an imminent climate crisis,” he said. “We must take immediate, drastic action to reverse the ecological changes that we’re inducing.”

Some commentators have criticised the movement for encouraging children to skip school. The strikers, who are mostly too young to vote, argue it is the only way to make their voices heard.

“There are so many students joining the movement because we have lost our faith in adult politicians,” Steinmetz said.

Cut classes

“We have lost our belief in a real change for climate politics. We have lost faith in our generation’s future. When adults do not act responsibly, we as an international youth movement perceive it as our duty to be the voice of reason.”

While it started with schoolchildren, the movement welcomes citizens of all age to participate. As such, it defines itself as “youth-led”.

In France, a video by climate school strikers called on “high-school students, parents, teachers, citizens” to take part in the action.

In February, hundreds of academics urged UK schools to allow students to cut classes for the climate.

This Article

This Article first appeared on Climate Home News.

When we think about the challenges climate change poses to the UK, flooding is understandably at the top of a lot of people’s minds.

It’s certainly been a concern for the people of Wolverley, Worcestershire. The village sits between the River Stour and the Worcestershire canal and it’s had four once-in-a-lifetime floods in the past decade.

The community have come together to do something about it, and my teammates and I at 10:10 Climate Action wanted to help. Together, we’ve been working with a great, tried-and-tested technology which can help tackle a load of problems all at once: tree planting.

Increased risk

Flooding has been a risk for Brits since we first set up camp on this island. Every so often, a community would experience a storm, a river bursting its banks or huge waves crashing onto the shore. The results were – and still are – devastating. It can take years to recover.

But we’re seeing these ‘once in a generation’ type floods happening much more regularly. The Met Office confirmed that four out of the five wettest years on record in Britain have taken place since the year 2000.

There are two ways climate change can make flooding more likely. Firstly, sea levels are rising due to melting ice caps. Rising sea levels make storm surges more frequent and more severe, which can create disastrous flooding in coastal areas.

On top of this, our atmosphere is warmer. And a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture. With more water in the atmosphere, when it does pour there’s a lot more rain up there to fall down! This increases the severity of flooding as riverbanks are overwhelmed, making floods much more destructive.  

By cutting greenhouses gases to limit the impacts of climate change, and by building communities that are resilient to the levels of climate change we’re already locked into, this disruption to people’s lives and to families can be prevented.

Climate change

Firstly, they absorb carbon, making tree-planting a great way to tackle climate change. The government’s own climate change advisors say trees are a vital part of us hitting our climate targets – in fact they think we need a lot more.

So trees will help reducing climate impacts like flooding in the long-term. But did you know that trees have a double purpose in tackling flooding: they can also be used as a soft flood defence?

Trees reduce flood risk from the top to bottom. Lots of raindrops that land on leaves evaporate straight into the air- so less water reaches the ground. And, leaves intercept rainfall, slowing the rate that water flows into rivers and reducing the risk it’ll burst its banks.

The roots of a tree are also important. They create little passages in the soil as they grow, so when it rains water flows into those instead of flowing straight into the river.

The roots also act as a net to hold the soil in place and stop it washing into a river. That can be a problem because the more soil on a river bed, the less space for water, which means the river is more likely to flood when it rains a lot.

Trees are a great way to combat flooding. Plus – they’re gorgeous! That’s why planting trees in Wolverley seemed like the obvious plan of action for us.

Tree planting diary

Here’s what happened on the day. 

It’s 6am on a Friday in January. I pack my wellies and rush out the door into the pouring rain. I immediately regret not wearing said wellies. I’m heading to 10:10 HQ in Camden Town, where I’ll meet two colleagues and we’ll set off together, heading north. Our destination is Wolverley, a village in Worcestershire.

On our journey up, we go through areas covered by a moderate layer of snow. I hope, for the sake of the trees, that this isn’t the case in Wolverley.

Upon arriving, we prepare for the tree planting session that will take place the following day. We examine the sites, check equipment and mark the ground where trees will be planted. As we finish, we go for a walk around the village. We walk down a winding road surrounded by sandstone that leads us to the home of a local family.

Over a cup of tea, the grandmother tells us she recently stumbled upon photos she took of a flood that hit their home a few years ago. She quietly says she finds the photos hard to look at, they aren’t good memories. I can see why, the scene is unnerving. Home should be a place you feel safe, not on edge.

Next day

It’s Saturday, the rest of the 10:10 team are here and we’re heading down to the village hall to meet the volunteers – exciting! We arrive early, and early bird volunteers start to trickle in shortly after. By the time we leave to go to the first field we’ll be planting on today, we have about 50 volunteers in tow.

It was fantastic to see people coming together from across the country – from uni students to scouts to retired folk to families. Everyone grabbed a spade and mucked in.

With masses of enthusiasm they braved the chilly weather (and quite a few spots of rain!). Cups of tea from the outdoor wood-burning kettle kept spirits high, not to mention a lovely low carbon plant based lunch.

10:10’s director of innovation, Leo, happens to also be an ex-tree surgeon. He gathers everyone round and gives a demonstration of how we’ll be planting trees today. He is in his element. When he finishes, everyone disperses across the fields in a hurry to get those trees in the ground.

I chat to Jo, who heard about the project from a 10:10 email. She’s travelled down from Bristol wanting to take some positive, practical action against climate change. I also chat to a middle aged man who’s a Wolverley local.

He’s your traditional countryside Brit, and I am surprised when he tells me that he, along with his wife and daughters, went vegan last year, inspired by their son’s decision to make the diet change to reduce his personal carbon footprint.

Refreshing change

I finish the day chatting to volunteers – from near and far – underneath a marquee. The rain pours outside, but it doesn’t dampen spirits. One thing that really stands out to me is how powerful doing something physical is to them.

In our world of increasingly online actions, this is a refreshing change to those who feel frustrated and can use their hands for something other than typing at a keyboard. For those who’ve come with climate change in mind, it is therapeutic to see some change happening right in front of them.

For those wanting to protect their homes from flooding, this gives them a sense of control – the ability to influence a force that they’ve traditionally felt powerless against.

We head back to our rented barnhouse and whip up a hearty sweet potato curry for dinner, we’re exhausted but excited to do it all again tomorrow.

By the end of the weekend, with the help of 80 incredible volunteers, we had planted 200 trees and 2000 whips (that’s little trees) that’ll grow into about 500m of hedgerow. They will help protect the village from flooding and soak up CO2 for decades to come!

This Author

Emma Kemp is campaigns officer at 10:10 Climate Action, a charity that runs positive, practical projects at the community level, and turns these local actions into a force for bigger changes.

Image: © Chris Rhys Field.

The High Court heard arguments concerning the climate change implications of the development, brought by climate lawyers Plan B and environmental campaign group Friends of the Earth against Transport Secretary Chris Grayling.

The House of Commons voted in favour of the estimated £14 billion expansion in June 2018. Construction of the third runway is set to begin in 2021, with an estimated 700 additional planes over Heathrow everyday.

Tim Crosland, Director of Plan B, said expansion was “completely inconsistent with the science.”

Paris Agreement

Crosland continued: “It looks almost certain that if Heathrow proceeds [with expansion], there’s just no chance we’ll be able to comply with the Paris Agreement. Why on Earth would the government have invested everything that it did in the Paris Agreement if it wasn’t going to consider it?”

Plan B argued that the proposal to expand Heathrow airport breaches legal obligations in the Planning Act to alleviate the impact of climate change. The group also argued that Grayling did not assess the Airports National Policy Statement (ANPS), the policy framework for Heathrow expansion, against the Paris Agreement.

The Paris Agreement is not legally enforceable in domestic law. Katan Jha, a member of Plan B’s legal team, said that the organisation is seeking “to prove that the Paris Agreement is government policy. If [the government] did consider the Paris Agreement, they would not have been able to justify a third runway.”

Jha added: “It is plainly incompatible with sustainable economic strategy”.

Protestors gathered outside the court to give speeches ahead of the hearing, and paper planes with written messages of support were hung from the gates outside the court. “I fear for my children’s future,” read one message, while another said that  “cheap flights are killing the Earth.”

Judicial reviews

Sebastian Kaye, a student and Plan B volunteer, said that it’s “crucial that we don’t allow the third runway to be built because of the extra carbon emissions as a result of it.

“It’s also really important for us to be able to overturn this decision to send a really loud and clear message to our political class to tell them that they’re not pulling their weight in terms of climate action and to show them that they will be held accountable.” 

Five judicial reviews in total have been brought against Grayling. Other parties bringing legal challenges include the mayor of London Sadiq Khan, local authorities Hillingdon, Hammersmith and Fulham, Richmond, Wandsworth, and the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, and other environmental groups such as Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth.

Friends of the Earth, which was also able to present arguments today, is pursuing a different line of objection to Plan B. The group believes the airport’s expansion policy is unlawful because it breaches the UK’s climate change commitments and duties towards sustainable development.

Friends of the Earth argue that the airport’s expansion will jeopardise the country’s ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that are “necessary to prevent global warming from causing catastrophic, irreversible impacts for people and ecosystems.”

Mitigation package

William Rundle, Head of Legal at Friends of the Earth, said: “We consider they have acted unlawfully and unfairly in not considering the true impact on future generations.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Transport defended the plans, however. “Expansion at Heathrow is a critical programme which will boost the economy, increase our international connections and create tens of thousands of new jobs,” they said.

“As with any major infrastructure project, the government has been anticipating legal challenges and we will robustly defend our position.

“We recognise the local impact of any expansion, which is why a world class package of mitigations would need to be delivered.”

This Author

Soila Apparicio is a journalist for Climate Home News. She is also a radio producer for Resonance FM. She has previously worked for the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and Compass News. This article first appeared at Desmog.uk.