When aviation lobbyists wanted to expand London's Heathrow airport, an unlikely coalition of neighbors, climate justice / direct action groups, and fiscal conservatives banded together to defeat the industry responsible for 11% of national greenhouse gas emissions.

British organizers John Stewart (AirportWatch) and Dan Glass (Plane Stupid) will tell the story of how everyday Londoners built a powerful coalition, won over a future Conservative Prime Minister, and helped change the face of national climate and transportation policy. The event will include dispatches from local activists working on aviation and climate change, and will be moderated by bestselling author and activist Raj Patel.

UPDATE: British climate activist John Stewart was detained, interrogated for 6 hours by the FBI / Secret Service, and deported to the UK as he tried to come to the US to speak as part of this lecture tour. He'll be joining us via a live video link. Please come out and support John in the face of this shameful act of ideological exclusion. Read more in Mother Jones, the Independent, and Aviation Justice.

The event is of specific interest to folks thinking about environmental justice, climate policy, green travel, transportation justice, coalition-building, organizing strategy.

Co-sponsors include 350.org, KyotoUSA, and the Green Party of Alameda County.

This program is part of the national Aviation Justice Express tour, working for a leaner, greener, more just aviation system, and better alternatives to an unsustainable system.
www.AviationJustice.org

Top 3 reasons why Bay Area climate activists need to attend:

1. It's 5% of the problem. Aviation's responsible for 4.9% of manmade climate forcings (i.e. the cause of climate change), which is more than all but a few countries. But right now, the only people talking about this seems to be right-wing talk show hosts attacking Al Gore for flying.
2. The Obama administration's on the wrong side. The Obama administration's actively trying to prevent the EU from regulating aviation GHG pollution -- while the House wants to make it entirely illegal for US airlines to comply with EU GHG laws.
3. We can make a difference. Find out how your local advocacy for the Clean Air Act and on behalf of embattled airport neighbors might help force the dirty aviation industry to clean up its act.