Published: 01 September 2009

Last week I went to Climate Camp 2009, a temporary camp set in a secret location for environmental protesters. The camp offered various workshops on issues relating to climate change and taught practical skills in building and creating a green society.

On the 26th of August, I got to Hounslow Station, ready for the swoop, at about 12:15 to meet Stephen and Patrick. The text message detailing the location of the camp had not yet arrived, and after fiddling about on Twitter, I found out that the text message could arrive at any time that afternoon. So we took the tube to Hyde Park, a predictable central location, or so we thought. Eventually at about 14:30, the news of the location arrived almost simultaneously via text message and Twitter: Hare and Billet Road, Blackheath.

After working out where we were going, we set off. We arrived about an hour later after a ride on the London Underground, our first ever trip on the unique Docklands Light Railway and a walk though Greenwich Park.

After briefly getting used to our new surroundings, we were joined by Paddy, Layth and Tallulah in the evening, with Amelia, Cherie, Emily, Laura and Sian arriving the next day.

Image: kristianbuus.com

There was a good community spirit, something that I feel society lacks. People from a mixture of different backgrounds were there, all with different reasons for being there. It was amazing to see a group of people come together to build a such a big camp with running water, toilets, kitchens, a unique compost drainage system, a number of marquees, wind turbines, solar panels. And all within a couple of days. Health and Safety provisions were being put in to place. And all from a leaderless-group, it's pretty damn impressive.

Vegan food was the only food on offer, which was probably for the best really. But apparently eating meat while on site was frowned upon. The food was far from bland or uninteresting; some cheese would have been nice though! I even helped cook for two hundred people, but the food left me with little energy, and... hungry.

Events such as Climate Camp 2009 do help raise awareness and demonstrate what can be done if people work together without the need to go to extremes. However the group will be attempting to "shut down" a power station in October. Clashes will happen. Both the protestors and the police will get negative press. And change won't happen.

And at one point, a crazy woman shouted "together we can bring down Canary Wharf" to a mass set of applause. Some businesses are corrupt, others involved in carbon and arms trading, however such a generalised threat just seems a bit scary to me. I'm no eco-warror, but it still gives us all a bad reputation, which will make any form of change harder to achieve.

I did enjoy my stay at Climate Camp, and I would go again providing the group weren't trying to shut down a power station, which achieves nothing but anger authorities. But let's face it: anything that angers the police is a good thing, especially as a fair few of them are heartless bastards.

Thankfully, the police stayed off site during our stay; and disappeared completely after we left however they did seem to pounce upon a guy with a camera for no real reason on the first day. Old habits die hard, I guess.

Press Coverage Guardian: Climate Camp

BBC News: Activists gather at climate camp

Climate Campers Clean Up The Commons