Environmental direct action in the United Kingdom

After this success, the environmental movement then took on local struggles such as fighting a quarry at Stanton Moor and opposing a new runway at Manchester Airport.

It grew to include different groups such as Camps for Climate Action, Plane Stupid, Reclaim the Streets, Rising Tide and The Land is Ours.

The Earth First (EF) movement in the United Kingdom started in 1991 with a protest at Dungeness nuclear power station in Kent.

Alongside the need to save money and several reports criticising the original plans, the environmental direct action movement could claim a large role in this reduction.

[6] The focus of Earth First broadened over time to include protesting against the Manchester Airport second runway and fighting the use of genetically modified organisms.

The squatters, including George Monbiot, stated they had occupied the land fifty years after the successes of the post World War II squatting movement.

[11] At a later climate camp, undercover police officer Mark Kennedy encouraged activists to commit aggravated trespass at Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station and the trial of six people subsequently collapsed when this was revealed.

[citation needed] On 8 December 2008, the group breached the perimeter of London Stansted Airport, causing a runway to be closed for three hours and the cancellation of 56 Ryanair flights.

[16] Following on from these groups, Extinction Rebellion was set up on 31 October 2018, after a letter was published in The Guardian voicing concerns about the ecological crisis which was signed by 94 scientists.

Four woodlands in Warwickshire were immediately destroyed, despite the recommended advice being to only carry out felling in autumn to minimise damage to flora and fauna.

In January 2020, HS2 Limited began evicting a series of camps in the Colne Valley Regional Park which had been occupied since October 2017.

Activists, including some connected to Extinction Rebellion and the Green Party had been monitoring the work on HS2 and contested the evictions, claiming that HS2 did not own the land.