Boiling Over Report
From 11th -14th June Glasgow was host to an energised and growing movement for climate action. Around the country people are talking about how climate change affects us, and how the system we live in is doing nothing to slow the tide of climate chaos. Despite government rhetoric little has been done to address the problem and the time has come to take matters into our own hands.
Boiling Over – Scotland’s Gathering for Climate Action provided a space for thought, analysis, learning, networking, training and creativity. It brought together community concerns and global issues, as well as providing a space to think more deeply about the aims of a loosely connected movement for climate justice and developing a strategy for stopping climate change from within Scotland.
Boiling Over was about connecting the dots – recognising that dangerous climate change will not be stopped by single issue campaigning, and that in order to truly take action against the root causes of climate change, we must create widespread positive social change.
From organising horizontally and anti-capitalism to discussions on class politics and the environment, from environmental refugees and No Borders to micro-renewable technology, from local community-based work in Glasgow to solidarity with indigenous struggles, from prisoner support to revolutionary song-writing, Boiling Over tried to cover it all. Workshops and discussions focussed on developing our collective skill-base, working with communities and high-emissions industry workers, and finally drawing everything together to inform a direction for climate action in the coming months and years.
Around 100 people took part over the four days with differing levels of attendance throughout. We feel that Boiling Over has raised the profile of climate action throughout Scotland and consolidated our power as radical grassroots groups. We hope that Boiling Over was a successful run-up to the Camp for Climate Action in Scotland 3-10 August and has built momentum and enthusiasm for it.
The August camp will take place somewhere around the Firth of Forth in central Scotland - surrounded by coal-fired power stations, gas and oil refineries, coal ports, open cast coal mines, corporate HQs, an airport, a nuclear power station, a cement factory and oil terminals.
This camp will cut carbon emissions and raise the profile of direct action in Scotland, showing that the nature of the climate crisis is such that we no longer have time to wait for our political and business ‘leaders’ to act for us. In addition, we aim to radicalise the political analysis of climate change and its solutions, placing it within a wider political context of social change.
Join us in August to take action against the root causes of climate change!
The Programme
Below is the final programme for the four days.
Workshop Descriptions:
Thursday
Facilitating Meetings – 14:00-16:00 – Workshop 1
A participatory workshop sharing tools and skills to help you and your group have successful meetings that make effective decisions and empower those taking part.
Reclaim Power! (film)
Is a short film made about the first Camp for Climate Action near Drax in Yorkshire that took place in the summer of 2006.
Wake up, freak out - then get a grip (film)
Is a short, animated film about climate change. It turns out that the way we have been calculating the future impacts of climate change up to now has been missing a really important piece of the picture. It seems we are now dangerously close to the tipping point in the world’s climate system; this is the point of no return, after which truly catastrophic changes become inevitable.
Friday
Direct Action Training – 11:00-13:00 – Main Hall
Stopping climate chaos and taking power away from those in charge will take more than going on a march or signing a petition – this workshop will look at ways to act directly against the systems of domination that keep society unequal and destroy ecosystems.
Cooking Big – 11:00-12:00 – Workshop 1
An introduction to cooking for large numbers of people, looking at ordering food, big kitchens and coordinating meals. This workshop includes helping to prepare lunch.
Biochar – 12:00-13:00 – Workshop 1
Biochar is charcoal created by burning biomass without oxygen and is being touted in high places as a way to reduce atmospheric CO2 levels. Ancient Amazonian tribes buried charcoal to improve soil fertility, creating rich dark soils known as terra preta, which can still be seen today. Proponenets of using biochar to tackle climate change say that it uses waste to generate energy and then the remaining ‘char’ can be buried to sequester carbon and improve soil fertility. Yay, sorted! Sadly not. As with everything green, it’s all about scale. Come to this workshop to find out more.
Introduction to Non-Violent Communication and Conflict Engagement – 11:00-13:00 – Workshop 1
For social change to become a reality, it is vital that we transform the way we deal with conflict, both with exterior forces and, possibly most importantly, amongst our own groups and movements. This workshop will introduce the basic techniques for non violent communication and effective conflict engagement and prompt exploration into how we deal with conflict at present and explore how this could be improved.
The Future of Food (film) – 11:00-13:00 – Cinema
The Future of Food offers an in-depth investigation into the disturbing truth behind the unlabeled, patented, genetically engineered foods that have quietly filled U.S. grocery store shelves for the past decade.
Campaign Planning & Strategy – 14:00-16:00 – Main Hall
Strategy is a word that makes most of us run a mile, but careful planning and analysis for any campaign will help it achieve its aims and chose the right tactics to use against the right targets.
Defending Yourself in Court - Reclaiming the Law – 14:00-15:00 – Workshop 1
An introduction to the procedure in Scottish Courts and how to use it to get your voice heard.
Agrofuels: The Cost to Communities, Climate and Ecosystems – 15:00-16:00 – Workshop 1
This workshop will look at some of the drivers behind the agrofuel (large-scale biofuel production) industry, and why this industry is bad for the climate, biodiversity and human rights. It will be shown that only through false accounting can claims be made that agrofuels produce less emissions than equivalent fossil fuels.
Theatre of the Oppressed: Exploring body movement and physical expression – 14:00-16:00 – outside
Theatre of the oppressed was developed in Brazil by Augusto Boal, based on the liberation philosophy of Paolo Friere. Boal believed in theatre and dramatic expression as a tool for personal liberation, and his techniques have used as such throughout the world. This session would be a quick introduction to some of the movement-based games from the TOTO repertoire. It will be fun and light-hearted. No dramatic experience needed at all (best if you don’t actually!).
The Garbage Warrior (film) – 14:00-16:00 - Cinema
What do beer cans, car tires and water bottles have in common? Not much unless you’re renegade architect Michael Reynolds, in which case they are tools of choice for producing thermal mass and energy-independent housing. For 30 years New Mexico-based Reynolds and his green disciples have devoted their time to advancing the art of “Earthship Biotecture” by building self-sufficient, off-the-grid communities where design and function converge in eco-harmony.
Consensus Decision Making & Structures for the August Camp – 16:30-19:00 – Main Hall
Consensus decision making is an anti-authoritarian and empowering decision making structure that aims to include everyone’s points of view and result in a decision that everyone is comfortable with and feels ownership over. Climate Camp Scotland uses consensus – what structures can work effectively in a much larger group, where hundreds of opinions need to be taken into account and decisions need to be made quickly?
Peak Oil - The end of modern civilisation? - 16:30-17:30 – Workshop 1
Peak oil refers to the point at which oil production reaches a peak after which production drops. Yet demand for oil continues to grow. Something’s got to give. We’ve built up this globalised, energy-hungry and wasteful society thanks to decades of cheap energy but without cheap energy, what will happen to transport, food production and a host of other things we’ve come to rely on? Come to this workshop to learn about peak oil and discuss the options for a low-energy future.
Climate Change and Tipping Points – 17:30-19:00 – Workshop 1
The workshop will look at some of climate feedback mechanisms, through which climate change can accelerate well beyond the level foreseen solely as a result of greenhouse gas emissions. It will also look at the way in which the climate crisis and the biodiversity extinction crisis are interlinked and compound each other. A presentation will be followed by discussion about what this means for climate campaigning.
An introduction to Permaculture - A tale of 2 chickens to illustrate permaculture principles – 16:30-17:30 – Workshop 2
Permaculture is about creating sustainable human habitats by following nature’s patterns. An ecological design system that inspires and empowers us to create our own solutions to local and global problems, it provides ways to design and create healthy productive places to work, rest and play.
Technofixes and False Capitalist Solutions – 17:30-19:00 – Workshop 2
This workshop investigates the large scale technologies that corporations and governments are putting on the table as ’solutions’ to climate change. It will look at what works, what doesn’t, the present state of these industries and where they’re heading, explaining why, even though many of the technologies do work, the corporate-capitalist model cannot deploy them effectively, and will go in search of more realistic and socially just solutions.
Songs of Protest and Revolutionary Songwriting – 17:30-19:00 - Cinema
A bit of creative voice exploration and a song or two, a bit of nattering about ideas and campaigning concerns leading towards some communal songwriting/ noisemaking/ improvisation based on our common concerns. No previous singing necessary.
Crude Impact (film) – 20:00-22:00 - Cinema
This feature film explores the interconnection between human domination of the planet, and the discovery and use of oil.
Saturday
Class politics and the environment – 10:30-13:00 – Main Hall
A discussion about how class shapes the debate on climate change, and its solutions. With a 20min film on “green bans”: strikes in defence of our environment.
Environmental Refugees Now and in the Future – 10:30-11:30 – Workshop 1
A participatory workshop exploring the issues and concepts surrounding environmental refugees and the responsibilities of everyone for the future. Focus will be on the politics surrounding terminology and responses to increasing migration with regard to culpability and capacity of northern resettlement.
Climate Action and Anti-Capitalism – 11:30-13:00 – Workshop 1
This workshop will discuss the socio-economic roots of the climate problem and some examples of where social movements have taken action globally.
Defending Wilderness - Saving Iceland and the global struggle against heavy industry – 10:30-11:30 – Workshop 2
The campaign to defend Europe’s greatest remaining wilderness continues. For the past four years direct action camps in Iceland during the summer have targeted *aluminium smelters, mega-dams and geothermal power plants. With the recent explosion of radical activism and anarchy in Iceland, the collapse of the government in the winter and the fall of global aluminium prices, this summer’s mobilisation will be action-packed. But Iceland is just one place with unique and fragile ecosystems being threatened or destroyed by heavy industry.
Plane Stupid - Bringing the aviation industry back down to earth! - 11:30-13:00 – Workshop 2
Plane Stupid Scotland stands in the way of aviation continuing the fastest growing cause of global C02 emissions through bright, attention grabbing direct action. In this workshop we will discuss the scale of what what we need to do and focus on how direct action can change policy, challenge injustice and opinion and what composes an effective action.
The Carbon Connection (film) – 11:30-13:00 - Cinema
This new documentary examines the impact of carbon trading. Two communities affected by one new global market – the trade in carbon dioxide. In Scotland a town has been polluted by oil and chemical companies since the 1940s. In Brazil local people’s water and land is being swallowed up by destructive monoculture eucalyptus tree plantations. Both communities now share a new threat.
The Coconut Revolution (film) – 10:30-11:30 - Cinema
This amazing documentary is the modern-day story of a native peoples remarkable victory over Western Colonial power. A Pacific island rose up in arms against giant mining corporation Rio Tinto Zinc (RTZ) - and won despite a military occupation and blockade. When RTZ decided to step up production at the Panguna Mine on the island of Bougainville, they got more than they bargained for. The islands people had enough of seeing their environment ruined and being treated as pawns by RTZ.
No More Coal – Communities against open cast coal mines and power stations – 14:00-19:00 – Main Hall
No More Coal will bring communities affected by open cast coal mines and new coal fired power stations, campaigners and activists together to share their experiences and build links. There will be updates and talks from campaigns against new power stations at Longannet and Hunterston and communities opposing open cast mines in South Lanarkshire. Discussions will focus on how resistance to new coal can be strengthened throughout Scotland.
Tomorrow’s Radical Politics – 14:00-16:00 – Workshop 1
This workshop will explore some contemporary problems of ‘the movement’, in particular the lack of a coherent sense of direction and a ‘post-1917′ model of revolutionary change. It will involve a discussion of our existing situation, an analysis of some of the problems, and a look at some potential ‘lines of flight’ or ways to escape our current impasse.
Down2earth - Community organising against the impacts of the aviation industry – 14:00-16:00 – Workshop 2
Down2Earth Scotland is an arm of AirportWatch Scotland. Its focus is to empower and assist communities affected by the planned expansion of Scotland’s airports, raising their profile, highlighting the adverse community impact of airport expansion and link communities with national environmental organisations. In this workshop we will be utilising popular education techniques and common problem based approaches to look at how best to combat airport expansion from a community perspective.
The No M11 Story (film) – 14:00-16:00 - Cinema
Presents the inside story of the No M11 Campaign, recounting 15 months of direct action against one of the most controversial schemes in the history of British road-building. Drawing on personal testimony and nearly 200 hours of front-line footage, features the battle for Wanstead’s George Green, and the subsequent eviction of its 250 year-old Sweet Chestnut tree. Against a backdrop of growing resistance to the Criminal Justice Act, charts the emergence of Claremont Road as a symbol of cultural defiance, and tells the story of what became the most expensive eviction in British history.
Games Monitor - Unmasking the myths of Commonwealth Games 2014 – 16:30-18:00 – Workshop 1
The Games Monitor is an emerging group of people raising awareness about the impacts of ‘regeneration’ via the Commonwealth Games 2014, and the Clyde Gateway Initiative (CGI). They are influenced and inspired by the people behind the Games Monitor in London, who have successfully debunked many of the myths surrounding the Olympic Games 2012.
Forthright Alliance – Campaigning against a second Forth road bridge – 18:00-19:00 – Workshop 1
The Scottish Government has confirmed plans to build a Second Forth Road Bridge, despite widespread concern from environment and transport campaigns and The City of Edinburgh Council. A new bridge would cost up to £4,200 million. It would starve investment into sustainable alternatives, and plunge Scotland into greater oil dependency and higher climate emissions.
Micro-renewables and living off-grid – 16:30-18:00 – Workshop 2
Learn about decentralising power by generating energy using micro-renenwables such as wind and solar, and living off-grid.
Militarism and the Environment – 18:00-19:00 – Wksp 2
The environmental impact of the military, and why the fight against the military industrial complex and against climate change has to be linked. Includes information about the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Edinburgh this November.
Rocking the Foundations (film) – 16:30-19:00 - Cinema
An outstanding historical account of the Green Bans first introduced by the New South Wales Builders Labourers Federation in the 1970s in response to community demand to preserve inner- city parkland and historic buildings. One of the first women to be accepted as a builders labourer, filmmaker Pat Fiske traces the development of a quite singular union whose social and political activities challenged the notion of what a union should be.
Darwin’s Nightmare (film) – 20:00-22:00 - Cinema
A documentary on the effect of fishing the Nile perch in Tanzania’s Lake Victoria. The predatory fish, which has wiped out the native species, is sold in European supermarkets, while starving Tanzanian families have to make do with the leftovers.
Sunday
Stopping Climate Change from the Grassroots Part 1 – 10:30-13:00 – Main Hall
What are/should be the aims of a radical and grassroots movement against the causes of climate change? What are our short term goals and what would we consider victories? What are the strengths and weaknesses of our movement, and how can we build on the strengths and improve on the weaknesses?
Stopping Climate Change from the Grassroots Part 2
Picking the right targets can be important in any struggle, but what are they and how do we chose them? This will include a presentation on Scotland’s top 10 climate criminals. What tactics are most effective when it comes to acting on the slogan “social change not climate change”?
Stopping Climate Change from the Grassroots Part 3 and closing plenary – 16:30-19:00 - Main Hall
And finally, we’ll look at how we can build on what we’ve got to strengthen climate action networks across Scotland and look at strategies for reducing carbon emissions and ecological destruction in socially just ways.
Global Action for Climate Justice – Copenhagen Mobilisation ‘09 – 10:30-13:00 – Workshop 1
This workshop will be an update on the climate justice mobilisation around the COP15 climate convention in Copenhagen this December.
Rossport Solidarity and the fight against Shell – 10:30-13:00 – Workshop 2
Since 2000 the small rural community of Rossport in North West Ireland has battled to stop Shell building and operating a potentially devastating onshore raw gas refinery and high pressure pipeline in their remote and environmentally sensitive region. Despite Shells multinational status and private army protecting the construction and its full support of the Irish state, the spirited resistance of the local community has meant that 5 years after the refinery was meant to be fully operational, the project is still in its infancy. Come along for an update on the situation and to discuss ways we can show solidarity in Scotland.
Meat the Truth (film) – 10:30-12:30 - Cinema
Meat the Truth is a high-profile documentary drawing attention to the fact that livestock farming generates more greenhouse gas emissions worldwide than all cars, lorries, trains, boats and planes added together.
Devouring the Earth – 14:00-16:00 – Workshop 1
Climate change and animal farming is deeply inter-linked - the deforestation of the Amazon forests to make grazing lands, the methane and nitrous oxides released by the farmed animals, the fossil fuels used up in processing, packaging, refrigeration, transportation, the water and food crisis. Yet the issue continues to be ignored. The best way to reduce your carbon foot print is to go vegan. Animal farming causes more emissions than all the transport sector – that includes all the air travel as well! Using your bike instead of your car is good – but a vegan on a bike is better!
The Spiritual Challenge of Climate Change: Facing the Come-what-may of the Come-to-pass – 14:00-16:00 – Workshop 2
An hour long talk by Alastair McIntosh about facing a dark and uncertain future, living with certain inevitabilities, understanding areas of agency and standing strong and rooted in the face of a gathering storm. We’ll talk about community, love and hope, whilst remaining eminently practical in activism. A central idea is that the core of the environmental crisis is due to a loss of spiritual connection to the wider web of existence.
Pickaxe – the story of Cascadia Free State – 14:00-16:00 – Cinema
An eclectic mix of activists take a stand to protect an old growth forest from logging at Warner Creek in Oregon, blockading the logging road and repelling the State Police.