Climate Change, Feral X, Guerilla Projection, Guerrilla Projection, Heathrow Expansion, No New Runways

#Heathrow13

In January 2016, the Heathrow 13 had been found guilty of aggravated trespass and entering a security restricted area of an aerodrome (the north runway at Heathrow airport) resulting in the cancellation of 25 flight, in an action responding to the contribution that the airport made to life-threatening climate change and in opposition to future airport expansion.

Due to be sentenced  at the end of February, with a strong possibility that they would receive custodial sentences, Feral X projected this video, onto the House of Parliament and the BBC’s Broadcasting House as a sign of support.

12662530_912839238815277_4808022069395744881_n

Standard
Climate Change, Guerilla Projection, Guerrilla Projection

The C words

12654444_915377478561453_8127484709189430181_n

12646693_915377521894782_688600728478292032_o

12646634_915377621894772_6068321270013477952_o

12633493_915377695228098_4411681091759631975_o

 

Climate Change. The C words. The concept of climate change is all too often relegated to a brief mention unless there is an international conference or extreme weather event and even then, it is limited to factual reporting of the event.

Too often the media fails to join the dots, delve into the causes, consequences and solutions and instead relegates climate change to a concept. Something that can be pushed to one side like a tin of beans at the back of a cupboard and ignored.

Feral X at the beginning of February responded to this failure at the BBC with a visit to Broadcasting House to project our message across the BBC’s London head quarters.

Standard
Greenwash, Guerilla Projection, Guerrilla Projection

Do What I Say, Not What I Do

As 2015 slipped into 2016, Feral X began looking for new opportunities for projections and we didn’t have to wait long! Whilst the Fourth Estate incorporates multiple examples of individuals and companies propping up the fossil fuel industry, sometimes it is those that you least expect that can surprise you the most.

Incorporating some of the best of environmental journalism available and having launched their Keep It In The Ground campaign in 2015, The Guardian has been a significant partner in the fight against climate change, instigating campaigns with 350 to encourage the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust to divest from fossil fuels, whilst divesting their own commercial board from coal, oil and gas.

Yet, whilst campaigning for others to divest from fossil fuels, when it comes to advertising, the Guardian is more than happy to take the fossil fuel industries, less than carbon friendly, money. Through providing an avenue for these industries to promote a veneer of acceptability, the Guardian undermines its own good actions whilst facilitating an acceptability of fossil fuel companies continued exploration and extraction of fossil fuels against a backdrop of continuing breaking global climate temperature records.

In this instance, Shell was sponsoring the Shell and Working Mums partner zone within the Guardians Women in Leadership section.

Shell

Feral X, in response, paid a visit to the Guardian’s London offices with the following message.

12573007_905860486179819_6703697012260476144_n12549129_905860649513136_2071513428071575392_n

Standard
Guerilla Projection, Guerrilla Projection

What’s black and white and supports false climate solutions?

At the end of October, with the COP21 climate talks due to start within weeks, it came to Feral X’s attention that the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) were sponsors of the ‘Solutions COP21‘expo being held in Paris to coincide with the climate talks.

Re-branded ‘False Solutions COP21’ by the climate movement, this expo provided big business with the opportunity to promote market based technological fixes to try to address climate change with sponsors including amongst others Engie, Suez Environment and Avril / Sofiproteol.

Engie, owner of 30 coal power plants, Suez Environment lobbyist for shale gas and agribusinesses and Avril / Sofiproteol, a biofuel and biotechnology company all took this opportunty to ‘greenwash’ their image whilst contributing to the problems facing the planet.

The WWF through agreeing to sponsor this event provided a veneer of credibility to these companies and in consequence Feral X paid a visit to WWF‘s offices in Woking.

 

On the opening day of the Solutions expo, activists from around the world joined visitors to the event where they protested at the inclusion of companies who were using the event to promote their false solutions. This resulted in the removal of the activists from the building along with many journalists covering the protest.

Standard
Uncategorized

Feral X hits the street

Having tested the equipment out a few weeks previously, the stage was now set to carry out our first projection.

In May 2015, Pope Francis had made his encyclical on climate change, Laudato Si’, in which he had linked destruction of the environment with the exploitation of the poor. Now in September 2015, Pope Francis was in New York to address world leaders at the United Nations about the rights of the environment, ahead of the global climate talks due to take place in Paris later that year.

Whilst Pope Francis recognises the threat of climate change, the Vatican Bank’s holdings stand at $8 trillion and unless fossil fuels are explicitly excluded, parts of these holdings will inevitably be invested in fossil fuel companies. Feral X recognising that actions speak louder than words, took the opportunity to visit Westminster Cathedral with the following message.

12027272_858154784283723_3292107319708887072_o

Standard
Guerilla Projection, Guerrilla Projection

Inception

Feral X was inspired by the work of the New York based arts collective, The Illuminator whose website incorporates a helpful tip sheet on the equipment needed to set up your own guerrilla projection project.

Having purchased a projector, caravan battery, inverter and linked them up to a laptop and messed around with the equipment until it worked , it was now time to try it out on the street.

Feral X’s first projection took place on a lonely country lane under the M25 where we were unlikely to be interrupted and the capabilities of the set up could be determined.

Feral X M25
Standard