South West Extreme Energy Gathering

[Nicole Vosper]

For anyone interested in energy & land use...


South West Extreme Energy Gathering, 30th March 2013, 10 – 4pm

A gathering is taking place at Hamilton House, Stokes Croft in   
Bristol to bring together people interested in or active around   
resisting extreme energy developments in the South West.

The day will be an opportunity to:

*Find out about different campaigns in the South West
*Understand the concept of Extreme Energy & connect local campaigns to
the bigger picture
*Build relationships & solidarity between groups
*Share strategies and skills

The event takes place a month before the national Extreme Energy
Gathering <http://extreme-energy-gathering.org.uk/>  that is taking
place in Manchester 26-28th April.

What is Extreme Energy?



Extreme    Energy is the process whereby energy extraction methods grow
progressively more intense over time, as easier to extract resources are
depleted. The process is driven by unsustainable energy consumption  
and  is important because extraction effort is strongly correlated with
damage to both society and the environment.

Examples of new extreme energy methods include Tar Sands, Deep Water   
and Arctic Drilling, Open Cast Mining and Fracking, but even   
conventional fossil fuel exploitation is becoming more extreme. The   
intensity of extraction effort needed translates pretty directly into   
the fraction of the economy that must be devoted to energy extraction,
and therefore dictates what is left over for the rest of society.

The course our society is on leads to a world where energy   
corporations (Exxon, BP etc.) hog an ever growing fraction of human   
activity while everyone else is starved of resources. The local and   
global environmental impacts of energy extraction are also growing at a
frightening rate and these new methods are also often accessing fossil
fuels which would previously not have been left in the ground.

What about the UK?

In the British Isles a large number of new extraction methods   
threaten to devastate communities and the countryside, while increasing
our contribution to the global ecological crisis.

In addition to a surge in open cast coal mining and onshore   
conventional oil and gas extraction, entirely new methods such as   
fracking for shale gas and coalbed methane (CBM) looks set to coat large
areas of the countryside with thousands of wells.

Beyond  that underground coal gasification (UCG) threatens to  bring 
vast  industrial devastation, similar to the tar sands in Canada,  much 
closer  to home. A new batch of even more dangerous nuclear power  
stations and  large number of biomass power stations are also on the  
cards.

However there is a silver lining to these forbidding clouds. Across   
the globe communities are organising to counter extreme energy   
extraction. Where once such threats seemed distance (other people's
problems), now they are creeping into people's back gardens.
Empowering    and connecting communities to resist this destruction is
crucial.

Who is involved in the Gathering?

Groups are coming together from across the South West, including   
Biofuelswatch, Frack Free Somerset, Bristol Rising Tide, Frack Off,   
South West Against Nuclear, Stop Hinkley, Safe Energy Wales, Frack Free
Wales, Frack Free  Dorset and more. The gathering welcomes anyone  
resisting harmful energy  developments in their community. To get more  
involved before the day  please email info at frackfreesomerset.org
<mailto:info at frackfreesomerset.org>  or one of the groups listed.


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