Beanpole Day, Saturday April 22, 10am – 3pm
in Caversham Court Gardens
On what was forecast to be a wet and windy day, but was less wet than was promised, we staffed our regular stall at this exhibition for gardeners and nature loving attendees, with beanpoles also on sale. We focussed on The Energy Charter Treaty, as part of trade deals, which gives foreign fossil fuel investors the power to sue governments who enact legislation to curtail future fossil fuel extraction and so negatively impact potential investors’ profits through secret courts run by three arbitrators. The outcome is usually positive for the investors’ bank accounts to the tune of millions or billions of pounds, paid for by the taxpayers in the country being sued. Often it simply leads to governments withdrawing such legislation thus allowing climate change emissions to increase. Passersby engaged with us on the issues and signed our petition to withdraw from the Energy Charter Treaty and requested more information. A very successful day.
