BP stations across London put out of action by Greenpeace volunteers

Posted by jamie — 27 July 2010 at 5:58am - Comments

This morning, starting at  5.30am, teams of Greenpeace volunteers have been shutting down BP stations across London. We aim to close dozens down this morning.

Watch the action as it happens - pictures, video and text updates from the teams.

The teams - each named after an animal threatened by BP's reckless oil exploration - fanned out across the capital in their electric and hybrid cars, going station to station and disabling the pumps.

Why today? Because BP is expected to announce later the appointment of Bob Dudley as the company's new head to replace the gaffe-prone Tony Hayward, who led BP during the disastrous Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

We want to send a strong message to BP's new boss to ditch the spin and actually move 'beyond petroleum'.

But there's more. This is also about realizing what we can achieve if we set our minds to it.

We can end the oil age. We already have the tools we need to leave it behind and move towards a clean energy future. All that's missing is the determination to make it happen fast.

Over the coming months we'll be calling together to "go beyond oil". There will be many actions to get involved in, from lobbying politicians to transforming our local communities.

Today we're asking you to take a first step, and help push for the strongest possible European law on fuel quality.

BP and other oil lobbyists are hard at work trying to water down the Fuel Quality Directive which hopes to set limits on how much of the dirtiest, most polluting fuels can be imported here and put in our tanks.

So while teams of volunteers are out on the streets of London stopping BP selling its fuel, we can all help curb the company's ability to cause further damage to the environment - whether in the Gulf of Mexico or the Tar Sands of Canada.

Write to transport minister, Theresa Villiers, to make the UK support a European law which restricts imports of the most damaging fuels. Together we are louder than the BP lobbyists.

Great job Greenpeace! Actions speak louder than words. Maybe BP will listen when their profits are at risk. This is an excellent non-violent direct action with a clear message. Keep it up!

To those who seem confused about the aim of the action - it's to highlight the dangers of BP investing in Tar Sands, and other 'marginal' sources of oil (such as deep oceans which led to the Gulf spill). BP don't avoid responsibility by subcontracting the work out...

Oh dear I think a lot of people have missed the point, Greenpeace are just pointing out that BP are trying to make themselves look nice and green with their pretty green logo, but they are not investing in any clean technologies, in fact they are investing in Tar Sands in Canada, which is a very dirty way to produce oil.

How easy is it to forget the cost of human life that BP have ruined - the first nation people of Alberta now suffering agonizing death by cancers caused by toxic poisoning caused by the Tar Sands mining process - the irredeemable damage to one of the most beautiful regions of Canada - the death of millions of animals, birds & fish - the years of environmental destruction & the earth laid to waste - Oh Yes and the 11 lives lost in the BP oil spill caused by the neglect of a company driven by mass profits - I'm not suggesting they did this on purpose - the real crime is that they did nothing for months - and how very un-British of GP activists to actually do something other than sit on their fat asses & write a whingeing email/blog - If all you BP employees / supporters are going to make assumptions & sweeping generalisations at least research something more intellectual than yahoo news!

We here in the United Kingdom have no idea of the scale of the disaster in the gulf of Mexico. Which has undoubtedly cost thousands of people their lively hoods. Not to mention all the environmental damage that which will not just go away, or be simply cleaned up by BP, it has ruined ecosystems that cannot simply be undone. Then there are the TAR SANDS if you do not know about this I recommend that you find out, as there is more of the above with the added bonus of people contracting rare forms of cancer and huge forests being uprooted.
All this is happening because we are running out of conventional sources of oil and the oil companies are turning to the stuff that's harder to get to.

Thank you to all who took part!

Great job Greenpeace! Actions speak louder than words. Maybe BP will listen when their profits are at risk. This is an excellent non-violent direct action with a clear message. Keep it up!

To those who seem confused about the aim of the action - it's to highlight the dangers of BP investing in Tar Sands, and other 'marginal' sources of oil (such as deep oceans which led to the Gulf spill). BP don't avoid responsibility by subcontracting the work out...

Oh dear I think a lot of people have missed the point, Greenpeace are just pointing out that BP are trying to make themselves look nice and green with their pretty green logo, but they are not investing in any clean technologies, in fact they are investing in Tar Sands in Canada, which is a very dirty way to produce oil.

How easy is it to forget the cost of human life that BP have ruined - the first nation people of Alberta now suffering agonizing death by cancers caused by toxic poisoning caused by the Tar Sands mining process - the irredeemable damage to one of the most beautiful regions of Canada - the death of millions of animals, birds & fish - the years of environmental destruction & the earth laid to waste - Oh Yes and the 11 lives lost in the BP oil spill caused by the neglect of a company driven by mass profits - I'm not suggesting they did this on purpose - the real crime is that they did nothing for months - and how very un-British of GP activists to actually do something other than sit on their fat asses & write a whingeing email/blog - If all you BP employees / supporters are going to make assumptions & sweeping generalisations at least research something more intellectual than yahoo news!

We here in the United Kingdom have no idea of the scale of the disaster in the gulf of Mexico. Which has undoubtedly cost thousands of people their lively hoods. Not to mention all the environmental damage that which will not just go away, or be simply cleaned up by BP, it has ruined ecosystems that cannot simply be undone. Then there are the TAR SANDS if you do not know about this I recommend that you find out, as there is more of the above with the added bonus of people contracting rare forms of cancer and huge forests being uprooted. All this is happening because we are running out of conventional sources of oil and the oil companies are turning to the stuff that's harder to get to. Thank you to all who took part!

About Jamie

I'm a forests campaigner working mainly on Indonesia. My personal mumblings can be found @shrinkydinky.

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