THE CARBON WAR

Chapter 7
Duty, bubbles and neuroscience
Brighton, 25 th March 2014
A British Member of Parliament is in court today, charged by the police with
endangering the public at the Balcombe anti-fracking protests. On August
19 th last year Caroline Lucas sat down in the road outside the main gate to the
Cuadrilla drill site with several fellow protestors. The police told her to move on,
she and the others refused, saying they were exercising their right to protest a
dire threat. They were arrested, charged with obstructing a public highway. The
highway had been closed by the police earlier, for the duration of the protests.
I saw this myself. I passed the roadblocks on the Balcombe road at both ends.
Activity had also stopped at the drill site. No vehicles were coming or going.
Caroline is the only Green MP in the British parliament. She has represented
the Brighton Pavilion constituency since 2010, and done so with skill and
verve. In her first year, she was voted Newcomer of the Year at the Spectator’s
Annual Parliamentarian of the Year Awards. The Spectator is a conservative
organ not known for its appreciation of matters green.
Caroline has asked me to come to the court house today and make myself
available for interviews about fracking. She is not able to speak to the media
herself, under the conditions of the court case. I am happy to comply. I stand in
my suit and tie among less traditionally dressed and much noisier supporters
of the Green heroine. A Dutch TV film crew, following me around on a supposedly
typical day in my life for a film about my views and their implications
for Shell, adds another dimension to the colourful and diverse scene.
ITV News decide they want an opinion on fracking from the man in the
suit. First, the protestor with the mobile disco has to be asked to turn it off.
Where do I start, I wonder, standing before a very young journalist keen
to emphasise that she has no knowledge of the issues whatsoever. I could talk
about the miserable implications of fracked gas and oil for climate change,