Author: Ric Lander
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Visualising UK oil and gas extraction
Oil and gas exploration began in UK waters in 1965. Since that time 44 billion barrels of oil and gas equivalent have been extracted, 7,800 wells have been drilled and the industry’s operations pepper vast regions of the North Sea. Unlike coal or on-shore renewables, this major industrial activity goes far away from communities and…
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How to divest a nation from fossil fuels
Scotland as a nation is still heavily invested in the companies most responsible for climate change. To get a glimpse of how we might turn this situation around we need only look across the Irish Sea. The Republic of Ireland’s world-beating divestment policy provides a fantastic example for Scotland to follow as it moves to…
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The truth behind Shell’s big story
When it comes to Shell and the climate, we should be very wary. As major UN talks on climate change begin in Poland, UK-based oil company Shell have made a big announcement, and if you care about climate change, it’s worth getting to grips with.
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A Climate Justice Reading List
In Spring 2018 Friends of the Earth and 350.org hosted the Fossil Free UK Gathering, with a major focus on justice issues. This ‘reading list’ was created, and I share it here for others benefit: UPDATE: 350.org have published a more developed version of this list here.
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Boredom, bungles and dodging death: Charles Lander on the Western Front
What was is like to fight in the First World War? It is a question no living person can answer, but we have inherited many stories from the dead. My Great Grandfather, Charles Lander, kept a diary of his active service. It is a glimpse of the life of a fairly junior officer in a…
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Royal Bank of Scotland: 10 years of climate campaigning
Creativity and crises over the last 10 years of the publicly-owned polluter. “Make It Happen” was an RBS slogan that meant far more than they intended. In the mid-2000s activists had spent years of fighting oil spills, pipelines and mega coal mines and the damage they cause. When they began to look deeper into how…
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Breaking the power of fossil fuels: divestment at work
It’s not right, but money talks and money makes the world go round. Despite years of scandal, failure and chaos, financiers in the City of London continue to make the big calls on how to invest, and in doing so, hold our common future in their hands. Almost 10 years since the financial crash this…
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Campaign stories: Edinburgh University goes fossil free (finally!)
The successful five year campaign to divest Edinburgh University from fossil fuels should give heart to people everywhere who are campaigning for climate justice in their communities. By Ruby Kelman and People & Planet Society, with additional text by Ric Lander Edinburgh University People & Planet with supporters in the Old College quad, March 2016.…
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What we’re saying Yes to: Public investment for the people
The UK is in dire need of new investment for housing. Credit: GWN2008 There are a lot of problems we face that we need our government to tackle. Some demand the time of effort of policy makers, like the forging of new relationshops within and outwith our borders, the provision of new rights, and changes…
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No time to waste: to fight climate change we need a Labour Government
Jeremy Corbyn speaking with Naomi Klein and others in Paris during the 2015 climate summit. Image by Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung. It’s 2017. You live in a dystopian future where tiny drone aircraft deliver pizzas, oil companies create earthquakes to get the last drops of fuel out of the earth, our fields are tilled by solar-powered…