Hai, ca asta fu tare!!!    

Astept cu interes sa vad cum romanii recupereaza banii pentru "combaterea 
efectelor inundatiilor si alunecarilor de teren" de la aceia care taie 
paduri!!!    

Codruta     
---   

Cleared: Jury decides that threat of global warming justifies breaking the law  
 

http://www.independent.co.uk:80/environment/climate-change/cleared-jury-decides-that-threat-of-global-warming-justifies-breaking-the-law-925561.html
      


The threat of global warming is so great that campaigners were justified in 
causing more than £35,000 worth of damage to a coal-fired power station, a jury 
decided yesterday. In a verdict that will have shocked ministers and energy 
companies the jury at Maidstone Crown Court cleared six Greenpeace activists of 
criminal damage.


Jurors accepted defence arguments that the six had a "lawful excuse" to damage 
property at Kingsnorth power station in Kent to prevent even greater damage 
caused by climate change. The defence of "lawful excuse" under the Criminal 
Damage Act 1971 allows damage to be caused to property to prevent even greater 
damage - such as breaking down the door of a burning house to tackle a fire.

The not-guilty verdict, delivered after two days and greeted with cheers in the 
courtroom, raises the stakes for the most pressing issue on Britain's green 
agenda and could encourage further direct action.

Kingsnorth was the centre for mass protests by climate camp activists last 
month. Last year, three protesters managed to paint Gordon Brown's name on the 
plant's chimney. Their handi-work cost £35,000 to remove.

The plan to build a successor to the power station is likely to be the first of 
a new generation of coal-fired plants. As coal produces more of the carbon 
emissions causing climate change than any other fuel, campaigners claim that a 
new station would be a disastrous setback in the battle against global warming, 
and send out a negative signal to the rest of the world about how serious 
Britain really is about tackling the climate threat. 

But the proposals, from the energy giant E.ON, are firmly backed by the 
Business Secretary, John Hutton, and the Energy minister, Malcolm Wicks. Some 
members of the Cabinet are thought to be unhappy about them, including the 
Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, and the Environment Secretary, Hilary Benn. 
Mr Brown is likely to have the final say on the matter later this year. 

During the eight-day trial, the world's leading climate scientist, Professor 
James Hansen of Nasa, who had flown from American to give evidence, appealed to 
the Prime Minister personally to "take a leadership role" in cancelling the 
plan and scrapping the idea of a coal-fired future for Britain. Last December 
he wrote to Mr Brown with a similar appeal. At the trial, he called for an 
moratorium on all coal-fired power stations, and his hour-long testimony about 
the gravity of the climate danger, which painted a bleak picture, was listened 
to intently by the jury of nine women and three men. 

Professor Hansen, who first alerted the world to the global warming threat in 
June 1988 with testimony to a US senate committee in Washington, and who last 
year said the earth was in "imminent peril" from the warming atmosphere, 
asserted that emissions of CO2 from Kings-north would damage property through 
the effects of the climate change they would help to cause. 

He was one of several leading public figures who gave evidence for the defence, 
including Zac Goldsmith, the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Richmond 
Park and director of the Ecologist magazine, who similarly told the jury that 
in his opinion, direct action could be justified in the minds of many people if 
it was intended to prevent larger crimes being committed.

The acquittal was the second time in a decade that the "lawful excuse" defence 
has been successfully used by Greenpeace activists. In 1999, 28 Greenpeace 
campaigners led Lord Melchett, who was director at the time, were cleared of 
criminal damage after trashing an experimental field of GM crops in Norfolk. In 
each case the damage was not disputed - the point at issue was the motive. 

The defendants who scaled the 630ft chimney at Kingsnorth, near Hoo, last year 
were Huw Williams, 41, from Nottingham; Ben Stewart, 34, from Lyminge, Kent; 
Kevin Drake, 44, from Westbury, Wiltshire; Will Rose, 29, from London; and 
Emily Hall, 34, from New Zealand. Tim Hewke, 48, from Ulcombe, Kent, helped 
organise the protest.

The court heard how, dressed in orange boiler suits and white hard hats bearing 
the Greenpeace logo, the six-strong group arrived at the site at 6.30am on 8 
October. Armed with bags containing abseiling gear, five of them scaled the 
chimney while Mr Hewke waited below to liaise between the climbers and police.

The climbers had planned to paint "Gordon, bin it" in huge letters on the side 
of the chimney, but although they succeeded in temporarily shutting the 
station, they only got as far as painting the word "Gordon" on the chimney 
before they descended, having been threatened with a High Court injunction. 
Removing the graffiti cost E.ON £35,000, the court heard. 

During the trial the defendants said they had acted lawfully, owing to an 
honestly held belief that their attempt to stop emissions from Kingsnorth would 
prevent further damage to properties worldwide caused by global warming. Their 
aim, they said, was to rein back CO2 emissions and bring urgent pressure to 
bear on the Government and E.ON to changes policies. They insisted their action 
had caused the minimum amount of damage necessary to close the plant down and 
constituted a "proportionate response" to the increasing environmental threat.

Speaking outside court after being cleared yesterday, Mr Stewart said: "This is 
a huge blow for ministers and their plans for new coal-fired power stations. It 
wasn't only us in the dock, it was the coal-fired generation as well. After 
this verdict, the only people left in Britain who think new coal is a good idea 
are John Hutton and Malcolm Wicks. It's time the Prime Minister stepped in, 
showed some leadership and embraced the clean energy future for Britain."

He added: "This verdict marks a tipping point for the climate change movement. 
When a jury of normal people say it is legitimate for a direct action group to 
shut down a coal-fired power station because of the harm it does to our planet, 
then where does that leave Government energy policy? We have the clean 
technologies at hand to power our economy. It's time we turned to them instead 
of coal."

Ms Hall said: "The jury heard from the most distinguished climate scientist in 
the world. How could they ignore his warnings and reject his leading scientific 
arguments?" 

By Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor
Thursday, 11 September 2008 



---
"Let me, at least, to know that she'll try
Then she'll be a true love of mine".

Puteti dona 2% din impozitul pe venitul Dvs. pentru combaterea defrisarilor - 
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