Friends of the Earth Northern Ireland took part in a mass rally on Saturday ahead of the G8 summit this week to draw attention to the threat that fracking poses to local communities.
The environmental campaigners took part in a mass march in Belfast City Centre with trade unions, anti-poverty groups and other civil society organisations under the banner ‘Another World is Possible.’
Anti-fracking activists created 4m high ‘frack pads’ and then decorated 100m of blue cloth to represent a river polluted by fracking. The river contained messages from communities across Northern Ireland showing both images of destruction and the special places which they called on leaders to protect.
Speaking from the rally, James Orr, Friends of the Earth’s Northern Ireland Director, said: “G8 nations should be taking the lead in tackling climate change, instead of driving forward policies that keep their economies hooked on dirty, damaging and increasingly costly fossil fuels.
“People across the UK, including Northern Ireland, are rightly concerned about the threat fracking poses to their communities, local environment and the global climate.
“It’s time to put the long term future of the planet first – and develop a clean energy future we can all afford.”
On the eve of the G8 summit in Fermanagh, Friends of the Earth also issued a briefing on the impacts of G8 economics on Northern Ireland. [1]
Friends of the Earth Northern Ireland believes that there is a direct connection between the Executive’s consensus on G8 economics (or free market economics) and policies that will permanently damage Northern Ireland’s environment and future prosperity. The briefing calls for new economic imagination for Northern Ireland.
James Orr, added: “We are tired of hearing the excuse of, ‘the economists made me do it,’ from our Executive ministers when they make decisions that please big business at the expense of Northern Ireland’s people and environment.”
“In order to please the enthusiasts of G8 style economics, our politicians are dragging us along on their race to the bottom.”
