Why? Because fossil fuels have to stay in the ground
INSANE FACT
This deep mine is the first one in the UK for 30 years, and will create 9 million tonnes of CO2 every year.
We all know this, but let’s hear it from the experts.
James Hansen, the former head of NASA's Institute for Space Studies and the world's best known climate scientist: ‘Coal is the single greatest threat to civilization and all life on our planet.’
Mike Berners-Lee, the UK’s carbon guru says that the proposed mine ‘is a story of bogus analysis and terrible decision making.’
On 2 October 2020, plans for the enormous Woodhouse Colliery in Cumbria, got the green light from Cumbria County Council. Fortunately, it’s been paused by government, who want more time to consider it, but it’s by no means out of the woods.
A bit of background: This coal isn’t for heating or electricity, which the UK has to phase out. It’s ‘metallurgical coal’ for steel making, allegedly to serve hungry demand. But you can now make steel without coal and most of Europe’s steel plants are already activating their de-carbonisation plans. So not only would this mine have a staggering impact on the UK’s carbon footprint (a whopping 2% of the country’s total), but it will also soon be obsolete. One of the other arguments is that it will provide jobs and an economic injection in an area of the country that badly needs it. What’s needed, instead, is thousands of quality green careers with longevity, not a few hundred shorter term dirty-energy jobs. Whichever way the Cumbrian County Council spins it it just doesn’t stack up. In a world facing a climate emergency, there’s just no place for a new coal mine. Full stop.
Ok, what shall we do?
Sign this. 30 seconds and you’re done.
Nice work. We’ll keep you updated on progress.
Want to hear something cool? The more our community grows, the quicker we’ll be able to get things like this over the line. At 100,000 of us - which is our vision - one collective click and we’d have got this petition tabled in Parliament in seconds. Imagine that?!
Please invite your friends to join us.
We…
Aimee: This is one of the final bastions of the old way of life and we need to cut the cord. Doing things like this, especially in these crucial decades to avoid climate tipping points, is unthinkable. There are better, more sustainable ways, to create prosperity for all.
Sonia: It’s madness. This is why we’re all needed. Signed.
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“We say no, no, no”