Budding Airplotter, and Prospective Parliamentary Candidate Jo Shaw (Lib Dem), arrived with boundless enthusiasm, keen to get straight out and start digging despite the downpour outside. Her Tory counterpart George Lee joined her soon after and with three trees to plant and about as many minutes until sunset, we set about getting the trees in.
Les and Dylan from Maiden Lane Community Enterprises led the way to the community centre’s new orchard. The Northern Celts, a local folk band, provided the musical inspiration, and we set to work. Once Jo Shaw started digging, there was no getting the spade from her. She commented that she was “delighted to have been invited to take part in Greenpeace's treeplanting event at Maiden Lane, to support the Airplot campaign. It's a great way of reminding people about the Airplot and climate change, and a really fun way of doing something positive to mark the most serious issue we face for our future. The Airplot is an effective campaign and I was really glad to be able to sign up as an Airplot owner in January this year.
The third runway at Heathrow would have a disastrous effect on the chances of meeting the level of reduction of carbon emissions that we need. Some people have said the third runway won't happen, but we can't afford to be complacent about climate change. We've seen some of its effects this week in Cumbria. More runways (whether in Heathrow or in East London) aren't the answer.”
George Lee added, “Climate change is the greatest challenge facing us all at the moment and air travel has a hugely detrimental impact on carbon emissions in this country. I'm a father of two young children and I want to leave a sustainable legacy for their generation. I was pleased to support the campaign and I'm hopeful that together we can kick the third runway proposals into the long grass. The Conservatives have promised to abolish the scheme if they win the next election and encourage people to take up more green friendly alternatives such as high speed rail.”
Local MP Frank Dobson (Labour) was unable to attend, but commented by phone, “I voted against the 3rd runway, and I believe that the success of St Pancras International shows that high speed rail links can replace short haul flights.”
Exhausted, we returned to the community centre with Les and Dylan to pack up and prepare for a visit to the local pub for a well earned drink.
You can see the photos of this treeplanting here
There's also another video that you can see here
And have a look at our other tree planting here
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