FOSSIL FOOLS DAY is back for 2009! 

The International Rising Tide network and its allies are calling for a day of action against the fossil fuel industry on April 1st 2009.

On April 1st 2009, take aim at your local Fossil Fool

We are living through both alarming and amazing times: financial systems are creaking, climate change is being felt around the world, and the peak in fossil fuels fast approaches. Cracks are widening daily throughout the fossil fuel empire, and change is coming whether we like it or not.  

Q: What’s Fossil Fools Day going to do?

A: Speed up the end of the fossil fuel empire, and the beginnings of a more just and sustainable world.

On April 1st last year, people around the world celebrated Fossil Fools Day. Over 150 actions took place across four continents. Oil, gas, coal and aviation were all targeted. Fossil fuel extraction, production, financing, PR and greenwash all felt the jester’s wrath. Actions spanned the full spectrum from the simply subversive to the downright disruptive: office occupations, banner drops, street theatre, Big Carbon blockades, city centre parades, spoof product launches, subvertising, leaflets, lock-ons and even a laugh-in. The tentacles of the carbon web were exposed for all to see, more people saw the empire for what it truly is – a sinking ship awaiting abandonment – and here and there, the carbon machine even ground to a halt. This year Fossil Fools Day will be bigger, better and bolder.  

Our actions are amplified when we act in unison, so this year, in the build-up to the UN climate negotiations in Copenhagen in November, let’s see if we can reach over 1000 worldwide! Fossil Fools Day is about taking action in the name of carbon common sense – leave fossil fuels in the ground, abandon false solutions, and build real and just alternatives. Dismantling the fossil fuel empire is a massive task, but every action we take takes its toll, and there is no doubt that our resistance is growing and our struggles are uniting year by year. So whether you’ve been looking for a chance to dip a toe into the growing climate action movement, or have had your kick-ass action planned since last year, now is the time to do it – whatever it is. 

On April 1st, join the global day of resistance and pull a prank that packs a punch.

UK Contact: info@risingtide.org.uk

US Contact: contact@risingtidenorthamerica.org

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At 6:30 this morning, North Carolina residents locked themselves to bulldozers to stop the construction of Duke Energy’s massive Cliffside coal-fired power plant being built 50 miles west of Charlotte, NC. “In the face of catastrophic climate change, building a new coal plant is tantamount to signing a death sentence for our generation,” said local farmer Matt Wallace, while locked to a bulldozer. The concerned citizens also roped off the construction site with “Global Warming Crime Scene” tape and held banners that read “Coal Fuels Climate Change” and “Social Change, not Climate Change.”

We’re actively looking for donations to get people out of jail!

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Boston, MA – Copley Square, April 1, 2008. April Fools! As of 9:00AM, in conjunction with a downtown rally, four activists have locked themselves to the front entrance of the Bank of America branch in Copley Square. They are protesting the bank’s funding of coal and energy companies who are among the worst contributors to climate change, and directly responsible for innumerable human rights abuses in communities where coal is extracted and burned.

Update: Four arrests in Boston, some lock boxes were cut, but others were loaded into the police wagon still locked to each other.

Please support legal costs for this action!

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Earth First! UK activists today blockaded the UK’s largest off shore gas terminal at Bacton in Norfolk. 40% of the UK’s domestic gas comes ashore here, is processed and distributed by pipeline. Activists blockaded the main road outside the site at 6.30 am this morning, preventing construction workers and shift workers from arriving.

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Protesters Shut Opencast Coal Mine Direct action exposes ‘black hole’ in climate change policy Tuesday, 1st April, 2008: At 7am this morning, protesters halted work at one of the biggest opencast coal mines in Europe, on the outskirts of . They intend to remain on the site for several days.

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Climate activists from Eastside Climate Action blockaded E-on workers as part of International Fossil Fools Day.

At 7:30 this morning 30 people blockaded the entrances to E-on’s offices on Mount St, Nottingham City Centre. People covered in green paint to represent E-on’s greenwash, locked onto the front entrance to E-on’s office and stood in front of other entrances preventing E-on workers from getting to work.

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Countries around the world observed Fossil “Fools” Day yesterday - which is an international day of protest focused on climate change and energy issues.

In Durban, petrol giant Engen became the focal point for residents who have long focused their anger at the refinery, holding it responsible for causing various lung diseases among the community.

The protesters laid floral wreaths signifying deaths in this community due to lung infections. Asthma has been one of the main problems here. The general prevalence rate of the lung disease worldwide is between 10% and 12% and this area has over five times the norm.

See SABC News for more information.