AW@L SHUTS DOWN LOCAL SHELL STATION FOR FOSSIL FOOL’S DAY.

For Immediate Release
April 1, 2008

AntiWar@Laurier declares Blockade targeting Shell a Success, says “Keep the Tar Sands Out of Ontario.”

WATERLOO?Just before rush hour today, student and community activists from AntiWar@Laurier (AW@L) blockaded the Shell gas station at the corner of Westmount Road North and Father David Bauer Drive. AW@L’s “Climate Change Containment Unit” deployed to address the gross violation of the environment constituted by the planned increase in production of the Albertan oil sands, by shutting down Shell’s primary outlet in Waterloo. Shell is a leading offender with regard to profiteering from climate change causing activities, especially in the tar sands.

The Containment Unit wrapped up the gas pumps with caution tape and a crowd of activists that included, in addition to established AW@L members, a group of students from Fanshaw College in London, blocked driveways with large banners reading: “Stop Fueling War and Climate Change,” “No Tomfuelery, No Tar Sands,” and “No War, No Warming.” There were thirty people in attendance. However, after police arrived and the local branch owners agreed to close down the store for the evening, the Containment Unit and their supporters were “attacked” by a group of Shell Executives in business suits wielding hockey sticks. The Executives destroyed a large model of the earth that had been erected at the scene by activists. The destruction of the world at the hands of Shell Executives seemed to embody their greed and ruthless disregard for the planet.

The Shell Executives and AW@L’s “Climate Change Containment Unit” decided to settle their dispute through a series of contests that included both a ‘tug of war’ and a ‘street hockey’ match. When asked why there was such heated conflict between the two parties, Containment Unit Agent Winnie Small said that, “the Executives at Shell are destroying the world and fueling war and climate change as they try to extract every last drop of oil, putting profit before the planet.” Today’s action was part of the international “Fossil Fools Day” campaign.

AW@L was focusing attention on Shell’s proposed Sarnia Manufacturing Extraction Project, a plan to build a heavy oil refinery in the community of Sarnia, Ontario. In a pamphlet distributed by AW@L, information was presented regarding the Tar Sands’ “attacks aboriginal health and land rights,” impacts on “global warming,” “energy insecurity,” “water depletion,” links between oil and global militarization, and “environmental and Public health consequences” for the community of Sarnia. AW@L representative Kendra Foord explained “how important it is for citizens of Ontario to be informed about the potentially devastating consequences for the environment and for communities, and for people to engage with their political representatives in order to oppose tar sands expansion and keep the tar sands out of Ontario.”

Fossil Fools Day started a few years ago, and the goal is simple: to identify, mock, disrupt and make fun of corporations that are foolish about climate change and continuing to use and develop fossil fuels. “Truly, there is nothing more foolish than the whole tar sands development” claims Laurier student Laird Herbert, adding “we aim to make that point very clearly.”

AW@L is a student activist group in the Kitchener-Waterloo community and is an official chapter of the Rainforest Action Network (RAN). Adam Lewis, a member of the group, states that “the tar sands are not an environmentally viable option to meet Canada's energy needs and serve only as a means of further environmental destruction and increased profits for the companies that continually abuse the earth and marginalized communities around the world.”

Fossil Fools Day is an International Day of Action, with protests happening in Canada, the US, Australia, New Zealand, China, Africa and Europe. _____________________________________________________________________________________

For more info about Today’s action, contact: Laird Herbert (226) 220-1616
Send email enquiries to antiwar@peaceculture.org.
For more info about AW@L visit www.peaceculture.org
For more info about Fossil Fools Day visit www.ran.org, www.energyactioncoalition.org, and www.fossilfoolsdayofaction.org