Tuesday
Dec 9,2008

57 activists belonging to an environment organization called Plane Stupid were taken into custody by the Police after they broke on to the Stansted Airport runway area and caused trouble in the restricted region.

The protests lead to dozens of planes being canceled as the air traffic was halted for over 5 hours at the airport causing inconvenience to thousands of passengers who were eager to catch up with their holiday flights. The protesters are opposed to the government’s decision to allow the expansion of Stansted with a second runway as it would cause further damage to the planet, but the authorities refute their claim by saying that the aviation industry had become more fuel efficient in the last few years.

The protesters may be right, but the way they took action in their own hands, wasn’t the best option.

Source: Guardian

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Saturday
Jun 14,2008

South Korean truckers

On a lot of levels, this doesn’t make sense to me and probably you either, but South Korean truck drivers parked their trucks and let them idle away the fuel. They don’t seem to have any more sense about this than their European counterparts but anyway, who’s asking us?The truckers who want lower diesel fuel costs, higher fees for hauling freight and a standardized pricing system, were protesting the Korean government’s policy package dealing with record-breaking crude oil prices.

Let’s see, they want us to give them cheaper fuel, pay them more to haul it and give them a higher wage or, they’ll just paralyze the nation.

In 2003 South Korean truckers went on strike costing the nation some $540 million. This time they got a promise that the government is going to spend $9.77 billion over the next year to deal with these high prices.

In the end, who paid for that? People who went shopping to buy the food and other items they haul. People like you or me!

Tuesday
Jun 10,2008

Spanish and French truckers on strike, against high diesel prices

In the “that’s what happens when oil reaches new records” category (no we don’t have one) truckers from Spain and France went on strike on Monday to protest against high diesel prices. And they have damn good reasons : €1.30 for a liter in Spain ($7.71 a gallon) and €1.45 in France ($8.62 a gallon). This is 40-percent more than last year and 20-percent more than January.

For the record, these are not the highest prices for diesel in the European Union. The Brits are leading with ~ €1.65 for a liter.

Most of the big cities in Spain such as Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona suffered traffic jams because of the low speed driven trucks, while the two main borders with France, La Jonquera and Irun were blocked because no vehicle was allowed to pass, by the demonstrators.

The protests are expected to continue till the end of the week when Portuguesse truckers may join, too. Of course, one way to save gasoline/diesel fuel is to sit and let your trucks idle for a couple of days, right guys?

We’re still waiting for the mainstream electric trucks. How about you guys?