It’s that time of year again folks! The clocks have gone back, we’ve had our fill of spooks and fireworks, and as the nights draw in, all eyes turn towards the 30th round of climate negotiations at the UN’s Conference of Parties (COP)!

This year it’s being held in the Amazonian city of Belem in Brazil. Will this year be different? Will any meaningful progress be accomplished at last? Or will the talks be stymied once again by the shenanigans of the fossil fuel lobbyists and others who want to carry on with their “business-as-usual” fantasies?

Saturday, 15th November – COP30 demo in Leeds

To mark the mid-point of COP30, people are coming together all over the world to demand bold action and make their voices heard. Here in Leeds we’re joining a wide range of other groups and organisations from around our region to spread the unifying message: This World is Ours! This World is Everyone’s!

Venue: Merrion Gardens, Merrion Street, Leeds LS2 8LQ

Assemble 12 noon for community and campaign stalls, speeches and music. March with us at 1pm, then return for more speeches, music, stalls. We also have indoor space at St John’s church next door, should the weather be too terrible! Come along, bring your banners, placards, flags and your voice! We are all in this together!

Also happening this month…

Monday, 17th November, 5.30pm-8pm: Green Drinks Leeds, at Imagine Leeds, 9 Blenheim Terrance, Leeds LS2 9HZ. The speaker will be Nick Hodgkinson from GALBA, giving an update on the campaign to stop Leeds Bradford Airport expansion.

Thursday, 27th November, 6pm-8pm: XR Leeds Meeting at Imagine Leeds, 9 Blenheim Terrace, Leeds LS2 9HZ. We’ll be showing another film, followed by discussion of the issues and a general catch up with all that’s happening.

SAVE THE DATE: XR Leeds Xmas Social is on Thursday, 11th December, commencing at 6pm in the city centre somewhere… watch this space for details.

Save Rotary Woods! Planning Decision Deferred

You may have seen in the media this week that North Yorkshire Council’s Harrogate & Knaresborough area planning committee have deferred their decision on whether to grant Harrogate Spring Water’s planning application to expand their site on Harlow Moor Road.

XR Harrogate’s Red Rebels were out in force at the committee meeting on Tuesday, along with other members of the Save Rotary Woods campaign, to highlight the strength of local opposition to the plans, which would see 500 trees destroyed to make way for the new site. The campaign has also received the backing of Dame Judi Dench, who called the plans an act of environmental vandalism.”

Ask your MP to attend the National Emergency Briefing

The National Emergency Briefing is bringing leading experts together to give politicians and the public the unvarnished truth on the climate and nature crisis – and the solutions.

The climate and nature crisis is a multi-pronged emergency that will impact all aspects of British life, from national security to the food supply. This briefing has been commissioned to report the latest evidence, clarify what is at stake and outline actionable solutions.

Check whether your MP is attending. If they’re not, you can email them in just a few clicks to urge them to prioritise this. This could be a turning point – a high-level, government-style briefing on the greatest challenge of our time. The more of us who sign up and spread the word, the stronger the impact will be.

Tell Keir to #StopRosebank!

Oil giant Equinor has just resubmitted a new application for Rosebank, the biggest undeveloped oil field in the UK. For the next 30 days, the government is asking the public what they think about the Rosebank application. After this, the government will make a new decision to scrap or greenlight Rosebank at any time. This is the window to speak directly to Keir Starmer.

Use this STOP ROSEBANK tool to send your personal message calling for this disaster project to be stopped. The STOP Rosebank team will send your messages together as part of its official response to the government and to your MP based on your postcode.

Reject Drax’s Dirty Data Centre!

Last week Stop Burning Trees handed in their petition signed by thousands calling for the University of York, York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority and the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology to cut ties with and reject Drax’s dirty data centre proposal.

They’ve put together a digital action pack that goes through three quick actions you can take from home. We need to make it clear to all those with ties to Drax’s dirty data centre proposal that they must reject and cut ties with it immediately.

If this goes ahead, it will mean millions more trees burnt, vulnerable communities polluted and even higher carbon emissions. Just last week, residents of Gloster Mississippi living under the shadow of one of Drax’s pellet plants filed a lawsuit against Drax over the impacts pellet production has had on their health and lives.

And recently, news broke of 10 lawsuits from workers against Drax over claims they developed asthma from wood dust at the power station site. In October, a report from the Biomass Action Network came out, finding five major economies, including the UK, have spent $250 BILLION on biomass subsidies over the last 22 years.

Stop Leeds Bradford Airport Expansion!

LBA has announced its intention to make a new planning application in November. The airport wants to vastly increase night flights, by removing the cap on the number of flights allowed at night, and extend the unrestricted daytime flying house by 90 minutes. Altogether, that would mean thousands more flights a year and a huge rise in greenhouse gas emissions.

GALBA says ‘Keep the Cap!’ on night flights.

The Group for Action on Leeds Bradford Airport (GALBA) is gearing up for another round in its long fight to stop the airport from expanding. GALBA has won before and will need help to win again! Find out more more about LBA’s plans here and join GALBA here.

Petitions

Landmark Legal Fight: a legal fight like no other is about to unfold and we all need to get behind it. 67 survivors of a Super Typhoon are demanding Shell pays for the harm it’s caused. Odette was a devastating super typhoon that ripped through the Philippines in December 2021. It claimed 407 lives and caused untold damage and suffering.

This landmark case represents a major step forward in the fight against big polluters. That’s why we’re standing with the claimants in their fight. Show the claimants they won’t face this fight alone. Add your name here.

Legal Rights for Amazonian Bees! Some of our world’s most important bees are under threat. But soon Peru could grant them legal rights, setting a groundbreaking precedent that protects the bees and recognises the deep interconnection of all life. Local allies are pressing hard for this law, and they’re asking us for backup! Add your name and Indigenous leaders will deliver the call straight to Congress.

Good News

Historic Greenwashing Legal Ruling: last week, a Paris Court found TotalEnergies’ advertising illegal, misleading consumers by presenting itself as a “major player in the energy transition”.

The Court ruled that the advertising was unlawful because it gave the impression that TotalEnergies is part of the solution to climate change, despite the company continuing to promote and sell more fossil fuels.

Legal Challenge to PA Proscription Goes Ahead!

The Home Office has lost its appeal against a High Court decision to grant permission to the legal challenge to the proscription of Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation.  The case challenging Palestine Action’s proscription was granted permission to go ahead in August. The Government appealed against that decision but has been unsuccessful, meaning the legal case will go ahead.  

We welcome the fact that a court will have the chance to scrutinise whether the government acted lawfully when it proscribed Palestine Action as a terrorist group. Liberty is intervening in the case alongside Amnesty International UK to assist the court in this decision, particularly on whether it was a proportionate use of the UK’s counter terror laws.

In their application to the court, they criticised the UK’s definition of terrorism as being “extremely broad” and said it “extends beyond international definitions”. Broad counter terror powers and a lack of clarity on where the line is drawn on criminal liability have discouraged people from engaging in protest due to the risk of incurring sentences of up to 14 years in prison.

We have seen thousands of arrests of protesters related to the proscription of Palestine Action so far, with hundreds of people charged under the Terrorism Act. The vast majority of arrests have been due to holding signs or placards deemed as supportive of Palestine Action. The hearing is set to take place from Tuesday 25th November. We will be sure to keep you updated on any developments.

Trust the People – next course begins in November

Trust the People is a grassroots community building movement, originated by XR, sharing democratic tools to help people support their communities in the face of local and global crises. They offer a free four week online course that takes you through different aspects of community building – from connecting with people one-to-one to running community assemblies, which harness the wisdom and power of the community. The next course begins on Monday 3rd November, sign up here.