The Camps for Climate Action are campaign gatherings (similar to peace camps) that take place to draw attention to, and act as a base for direct action against, major carbon emitters, as well as to develop ways to create a zero-carbon society. Camps are run on broadly anarchist principles – free to attend, supported by donations and with input from everyone in the community for the day-to-day operation of the camp. Initiated in the UK, camps have taken place in England at Drax power station, Heathrow Airport, Kingsnorth power station in Kent, the City of London and The Royal Bank of Scotland Headquarters, near Edinburgh. During 2009 camps also took place in Canada, Denmark, France, Ireland, Netherlands/Belgium, Scotland, Wales and Australia.
The Camp for Climate Action, first came into being in 2006, after activists at the 2005 G8 conference in Stirling in Scotland mooted the idea.[1]
One activist remembers: "We built a camp up in Scotland, and had about 4,000-5,000 people there, and after we pulled that off, we realised that actually, now we had the infrastructure to try something like this. We had marquees, mobile kitchens, and the ability to organise, and this really seemed to be the moment."