This month, six campaigners were sentenced following adirect action at Manchester Airport in May 2010, where they breached airside security and locked themselves ina human circle around the wheel of a Monarch Airline jet. Their actions were an attempt to prevent some of the 5 million tonnes of carbon emissions the airport is responsible for annually, as well as an opposition to Manchester Airport’s expansion plans which will demolish local homes and increase both flight and passenger numbers by around one third over the next 20 years.
Facing charges of aggravated trespass the six pleaded not guilty. During the two day trial they defended their actions with a panel of expert witnesses on the grounds that they were proportionate and necessary in the face of climate change, in order to prevent death and serious injury by stopping emissions from the airport.
At the start of the trial the court heard from leading scientist Kevin Anderson, from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, who outlined the severity of the climatic changes we face and the role of aviation within this. He said “every year we have an exponential increase in CO2 embedding us in a future of dangerous climate change. If aviation continues to grow that means we’re heading for 4 degrees, but that would only be a transient temperature on the way to an equilibrium rise of 6 to 8 degrees. A rise of 4 degrees is dire, above that it gets worse and worse- it is a future that we contemplate at our own peril.”.
The full implication of what these rather abstract numbers mean was brought into the courtroom by Dr Robin Stott, a medical doctor and specialist on the impact of climate change on public health. He spoke of how a World Health Organisation (WHO) figure of 150,000 deaths a year due to climate change was “a conservative estimate”. We can be under no doubt that the more global temperatures increase the higher the number of deaths caused by difficulties accessing food and water, more extreme weather events and changing geographic spreads of infection such as malaria will be.
If aviation expansion plans are allowed to go ahead unchanged then our concerns should not just be limited to the impact of emissions on the climate, but also extend to the serious implications through air pollution and noise experienced by those who locally to airports. Academic studies have shown a proven link between aircraft noise and heart attacks, increasing the risk of those who live near to airports by as much as 30%. This increase has been linked to the heightened stress levels, disrupted sleep and high blood pressure associated with continual exposure to aircraft noise.
For both the defendants and supporters of this campaign, the threat the expansion of the aviation industry is not just an environmental concern, but a human rights one. We can be certain that if the aviation industry is allowed to continue expanding at its current rate then by 2050 it will account for the UK’s entire projected emission allowance. Therefore, if we are to maintain any likely hood of reducing emissions to below dangerous levels then the burden will fall to other industries and individuals to reduce their emissions further in order to subsidise aviation expansion.
The judge recognised the “sincerity” and “laudable motives” of the protesters and handed down lenient sentences of 2 year conditional discharges and £310 court costs and one defendant received 80 hours of community service. Despite the outcome the defendants are more certain than ever in light of the evidence presented during the trial that their actions were proportionate and necessary. They have been spurred on by active support from academics and professionals, including Dr Stott, who asserted during the trial that the Climate and Health Council, an organisation of health professionals which he is chair, would “support the action of those who take non-violent direct action to reduce carbon emissions.”.
For more information on the trial, the expansion of Manchester Airport, the impacts of aviation or to give a statement of support to the campaign check www.ManchesterAirportOnTrial.org
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