----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, February 24, 2003 11:23 AM
Subject: Greenpeace Action happening now!

Please see below details of an action that is underway now with 115 Esso
Garages and Esso's headquarters in Leatherhead shut down.

Please GET ACTIVE!!

* Don't buy Esso
* Organise High Street info points and get the public to send messages to
Exxon Mobil
* Organise garage protests
* Pass this on to your friends
* Visit www.greenpeace.org.uk for the latest....



PEACE CAMPAIGNERS SHUT SCORES OF ESSO GARAGES AND BAR ENTRANCE TO COMPANY HQ
Greenpeace UK says oil giant is shoulder to shoulder with Bush on war and
global warming

Monday 24th February 2003 - Civil disobedience by peace campaigners has
this morning seen the UK operation of the world's most powerful company
severely disrupted across seventeen counties.

Greenpeace volunteers in small mobile teams are closing down scores of
Esso petrol stations across the UK, from Hampshire to Yorkshire, Wales to
Norfolk, with many towns and cities effected. Another one hundred volunteers
have peacefully blocked the entrance to the company's huge UK headquarters
in Surrey, where more than a thousand staff normally work.

The action comes in response to Esso's on-going campaign to keep the US
hooked on oil, fuelling war and causing global warming. The Texas-based oil
giant funds front groups that are aggressively advocating an attack on Iraq.
Top city analysts at Deutsche Bank have pointed to the 'huge political
weight' Esso wields over the White House and say the company 'may find
itself in pole position in a changed-regime Iraq.'

From dawn today the volunteers - some dressed in tiger costumes - began
shutting down power to Esso pumps and locking nozzles together before moving
on to the next garage. The handles from electricity switches have been
removed and posted to Esso board members in Texas. Volunteers in Surrey have
peacefully blocked the only road entrance to the company's UK headquarters
in Leatherhead by parking a lorry across the only access point. A container
has been lowered from the bottom of the vehicle and secured to the road.

Greenpeace campaigner Anita Goldsmith said: "This looming war is a barely
disguised attempt by George Bush to get his hands on Iraqi oil, and no
company has done more to fuel the crisis than his paymasters at Esso. They
have spent millions keeping the US hooked on oil, bank-rolling pro-war lobby
groups and fighting international action on climate change. If people want
to stop oil wars and global warming, one thing we can all do is refuse to
buy petrol from Esso."

A new Greenpeace report shows how oil is fuelling the drive to war and the
role Esso has played. THE TIGER IN THE TANKS, published today, details how:

Esso funds front groups that are aggressive and vocal advocates of an
attack on Iraq. Pentagon ultra-hawk Richard Perle is Senior Fellow at the
American Enterprise Institute, funded to the tune of hundreds of thousands
of dollars by Esso. Vice-chair at the Institute is Esso CEO and Chairman Lee
Raymond.

Esso has run a ten-year dirty tricks campaign to subvert efforts to reduce
US oil dependence and its impact on our climate. Documents procured through
the US Freedom of Information Act demonstrate the role Esso played in
removing the head of the UN's influential global warming panel.

Iraq is sitting on ten per cent of the world's oil reserves. In 1998
Washington hawks including Richard Perle, Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz
wrote to Bill Clinton calling for regime change in Iraq. Otherwise, they
argued, 'a significant portion of the world's supply of oil will be put at
hazard.'

Esso funded the election of George W Bush and other Republican
politicians. According to the Wall Street Journal, Vice President Dick
Cheney's staff invited Esso to discuss the Iraq crisis at an 'informational'
meeting. Esso's historic interest in Iraqi oil, along with its stake in the
wider Middle East, make it a prime and natural candidate for a post-war
carve up of Iraqi oil fields.

In October last year a US Department of Energy report stated that, 'Iraq's
oil production costs are amongst the lowest in the world, making it a highly
attractive oil prospect.'

The volunteers include a Baptist minister, a bank manager and a beauty
therapist. The Leatherhead protesters are handing copies of the report to
Esso staff, some of whom have expressed disquiet at the company's policies.
The lorry blocking the entrance to the building carries a huge picture of
George Bush and the slogan, 'ESSO, STOP FUELLING WAR'.

Only populated areas are effected by today's action, meaning alternative
garages are available to drivers. The mobile teams have used a simple
mechanical technique to close electricity to forecourt pumps. The switch
handles have been posted to Esso board members with a letter that explains
why Greenpeace has taken action today and urges the company to reverse its
destructive policies.

Esso front groups say a public aim of war on Iraq should be to 'ensure
that US and world energy markets have access to its resources.' The company
continues to deny that climate change is caused by the burning of fossil
fuels like oil, coal and gas.

Best wishes

Jill Phillips
Greenpeace UK

********************************************************

Eco-Activists GREENPEACE with partners people & planet & Friends of the Earth were today in Ely to protest against the No ! Global Warming Villain,
E$$O..!

Andrew, Anna, John, Martin & Rosi, a posse of Students from the Colleges of Cambridge descended on the town to protest outside Borland's E$$O Petrol Station on Cambridge Road.

This is part of an ongoing protest against E$$O and Ely was not the only "targeted" garage in the country.

Owner of the Station, local man Mr John Borland was soon on the scene destroying the GreenPeace signs and verbally threatening and intimidating the young Students..!

All 5 protesters were shocked and frightened by Mr Borlands aggressive behaviour but were still brave enough to point out that they were not on the property of the garage, but on the public footpath and therefore Mr Borland was out of order destroying their property and using such uncouth language against them.

Mr Borland left shortly afterwards..!
GreenPeace are considering suing Mr Borland for Criminal Damage and Threatening Behaviour, both of which can carry a jail sentence..!

It was maybe fortunate for Mr Borland that the official GreenPeace photographer was not on the scene at the time of outburst as this would have made for compelling evidence of a man who like E$$O, is not cornerned with the welfare of our Planet..!

However, the Protest goes on and the brave Students were soon making their valid point once again.

So, what is that point again..?
Click the links below to get the whole picture.
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TODAY IS STOPESSO DAY..!

Esso doesn't give a damn about global warming. It's doing more than any oil company to sabotage international action on global warming. Thousands of people boycott Esso. Here's why...
Three good reasons not to buy ESSO:

1. Esso Denies the Reality of Global Warming:
Unlike Esso, scientists and governments worldwide agree that burning fossil fuels like oil and gas cause global warming. The resulting floods, storms, droughts and rising sea levels will affect many millions of people.

2. Esso is not Investing in Alternatives:
Esso is making a fortune from destroying the planet. Unlike other oil companies, Esso refuses to invest one dollar of its $15 billion-a-year profits in clean, renewable energy like wind and solar power.

3. Esso is Sabotaging Global Action:
Esso has done more than any other company to undermine the Kyoto Protocol, the only international treaty to stop global warming. In fact, it's largely because of Esso that President Bush has washed his hands of the treaty. The USA is responsible for a staggering 25% of all the pollution that causes global warming.

Ab Fab actor Julia Sawalha, comedian Alan Davies and Faithless founder Jamie Catto have joined StopEsso Day today in Camden, central London. Julia said: "As an individual it's very easy to feel helpless in the face of huge environmental issues, especially global warming. But as I've found today, people are willing to boycott Esso... more

IT'S YOUR WORLD - SAVE IT FOR YOUR CHILDREN..!
Mail your protest to president@whitehouse.gov