Who’s Who in Green: Joss Garman

At 14 years old, Joss Garman read an article that detailed how the destruction of just a handful of a certain species of beetle could damage an entire ecosystem. That was enough to spur the young nature lover to seek ways that he could contribute to saving the environment, and when he sought out his local chapter of Greenpeace in Wales to begin volunteering only to discover that there wasn’t one, he set one up.

Since then, Garman has built a reputation as an environmental activist and co-founder of ‘Plane Stupid’, the climate change campaign group that recently stole the headlines when it protested the construction of a new runway at Heathrow Airport in London. He’s been arrested more than 20 times, honored by The Guardian as one of “50 People Who Could Save the Planet” and was nominated by George Monbiot and Philip Pullman as one of the activists of the future.

Garman has campaigned against power stations, worked toward awareness about genetically modified crops and protested the war in Iraq. As a teenager volunteering for Greenpeace, Garman met Richard George, who co-founded Plane Stupid with him in 2005.

Plane Stupid’s main goal is to highlight the issue of short haul flights, which they believe is the single fastest growing threat to the climate. Nearly half the journeys taken in Europe are less than 500km, and Garman says if those flights were eliminated there wouldn’t be a need to continue building new runways which encroach upon green space.

Plane Stupid’s tactics have been criticized for their boldness and perceived insensitivity to travelers. They gate crashed an aviation industry conference and released balloons with rape alarms attached to them, and have staged sit-ins at runways that have disrupted travel for thousands of people.

Garman has been a visible figure in Great Britain as Plane Stupid works to turn the tide of public opinion against a third runway at Heathrow, appearing on television and writing columns in major newspapers. He appears in this GreenpeaceUK video against the Heathrow expansion, below.

In a January 14th, 2009 commentary in The Guardian, Garman called for pro-runway unions to rethink their position.

Should Britain be building a sustainable economy with a green fiscal package centred on creating millions of green-collar jobs? Or do we plough on with the industries of the past irrespective of their impact on disadvantaged people all around the world? For example, do union leaders not think that the £10bn of tax breaks offered to the airline industry each year could not be better spent in other areas? Do they not think that Brown’s £11bn VAT cut, which has made no difference on expenditure whatsoever, could be better spent creating an army of green workers or insulating homes and thus reducing the bills of Britain’s fuel poor?

Garman has also recently turned his focus to coal, aiding in the defense of the six Greenpeace activists who went on trial for defacing the chimney at the Kingsnorth coal-fired power station in 2007. The British government is set to begin making decisions about coal fire stations, and Garman is working with Greenpeace to broaden the opposition to coal that already exists in the community.

At just 24, Garman is proving that he has the chops to become one of the most passionate and prominent environmental activists of our time. He’s already got a decade-long record of activism behind him and the years to come will undoubtedly bring many more victories for Garman and his causes.

Joss Garman’s Green Score: 48,678

Link [The Guardian] + [New Statesman]
Photo credit: Times Online

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