The text (minus pictures) below is from a leaflet which we handed out during a protest outside a Shell petrol station in Aberdeen on 3rd February. We were aware that other groups in the UK were planning protests against Shell on the same day, although we only found out those details through Indymedia afterwards (
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/02/361451.html) Please take part in the email action at the end of the post! Many thanks.
SHELL STOP GAS FLARING IN NIGERIA NOW!Shell have just reported record annual profits of $25 billion - but insist that they can't afford to stop flaring gas and polluting vast tracts of Nigeria. And they refuse to pay the bill for cleaning up the 13 million barrels of oil which they have 'accidentally' spilled in Nigeria since they started their operations there.
They could capture and sell the gas, but instead they burn it on the ground, often right in the middle of farmers' fields.
It’s a disaster for the climate …Gas flaring in Nigeria emits more greenhouse gases than all the other emissions from sub-Saharan Africa combined, according to the World Bank. Furthermore, regular methane leaks have been reported from pipelines. Methane is 23 times as powerful a greenhouse gas as carbon dioxide. People in Africa already suffer disproportionally from the effects of global warming, caused largely by the industrialised countries and the fossil fuel companies, including Shell.
It’s a disaster for local people …For over 30 years, gas flaring has spewed a cocktail of toxic chemicals over vast areas of Nigeria. Some of the soil is now completely infertile, whilst pollution with benzene, dioxin, hydrogen sulfide and other toxins causes asthma, cancer, particularly leukaemia, respiratory diseases in children, and premature deaths. Oil spills have destroyed the livelihoods of fishing and farming communities.
Illegal …Shell continues to flare gas despite a Nigerian Court of Appeal judgment that this is unconstitutional and breaches fundamental human rights.
What you can do:1. Email Shell today and ask them to stop gas flaring in Nigeria and clean up the pollution they caused:
www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/corporates/press_for_change/email_shell/index.html
2. Ask the Director of the Natural History Museum, Michael Dixon, to stop working with Shell and to stop allowing them to sponsor the annual wildlife photography exhibition: send emails to m.dixon@nhm.ac.uk and copy them to feedback@nhm.ac.uk and
info@risingtide.org.uk.
Leaflet produced by
Aberdeen Campaign Against Climate Change.
Website: climatechangecampaign.blogspot.comEmail:aberdeen_climatechange@yahoo.co.uk
Why Shell?
