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Viewpoint: Laudato Si' inspires us to challenge HS2's destruction of trees

  • Ellen Teague

Hunningham Oak felled near Leamington

Hunningham Oak felled near Leamington

Do you know that HS2 - the new high-speed rail line currently under construction - is the largest deforestation project in Europe?

Images last week of a young woman weeping amidst the felled 300-year-old Hunningham Oak near Leamington, and tree protectors surrounding the 250-year-old Cubbington Pear this weekend, have been at odds with Prime Minister Boris Johnson's announcement a few days ago of his commitment to protect the UK's biodiversity. Doesn't he know that oak trees host more species - over 300 - than any other tree in Britain?

I have never been a fan of HS2 but have watched in increasing disbelief as protesters have been forcibly removed from ancient woodlands and London trees to make way for HS2 chainsaws. Hedgerows are disappearing along the route. A legal challenge is being mounted but nonviolent direct action seems to be the only path at the moment to slow the destruction, if not stop it.

I joined a webinar a few days before the National Day of Action on 9 October, 'Stand for the Trees'. It was incredibly moving to see people of all ages lament what is happening to England's countryside. Protests were planned in Colne Valley (Hillingdon), Euston (London), Cubbington (Warwickshire), Lichfield (Staffordshire) and Jones Hill Wood in Buckinghamshire, which inspired Roald Dahl to write 'Fantastic Mr Fox'. The maximum 100 participants had joined and so it was run again the following night for the excess people.

One person who lives on a boat near Denham reported that when he realised he lived near a main site, "HS2 crept into my thinking". He had walked Birmingham to London for what he called the 'rebel trail'. He reported that farmers who had pieces of their land bought up, now found that the track would cut right through it, making fields on other side of the track unfarmable. HS2 has given a percentage of promised compensation, with the rest coming later - provided they do not express anti HS2 opinions.

Farmers are among those feeling forced by gagging clauses to grieve silently for the destruction of the living world. "My family were farmers in Staffordshire for generations and my ancestors must be turning in their graves at what HS2 is doing to our green and pleasant land," one 63-year-old told his local newspaper; "the ordinary taxpayer is paying for a project that will allow a few rich people to get to London 20 minutes faster on trains they will not be able to afford to use." And he added, that "our MP voted against this project as did our local councils - democracy has failed us."

Yet, participants in the zoom were told that they must be nonviolent. "Nonviolence is very important, and we must be committed to it". Funeral marches near felled trees or public readings and poems about trees are all part of that. It contrasts with the catalogue of complaints of assault and rising calls for UK government action on the policing of environmental protests and heavy-handedness by bailiffs from the National Eviction Team. The zoom also highlighted a responsible call to remain socially distant, wear masks and bring hand sanitiser.

There was a plan at midday on 9 October to flood social media with Boris Johnson's own words, "Extinction is forever," and help hold him to account. This nonviolent action was something I could do, and I noticed that the topic did trend on Twitter. Let's hope the government noticed …. and cared. The HS2 Office was also flooded with complaints, and MPs' offices. Unfortunately, media coverage was sparse, except for the Guardian newspaper and social media. Not very surprising when billionaire ownership of much of the media seems to go hand in hand with failure to cover radical protest. And, in addition, crimes against wildlife and trees are hardly recognised by mainstream society and the suffering of local communities tolerated. Go to twitter where sites like 'Boots on the Ground News!' and 'HS2 Rebellion' give a running account of their nonviolent direct action, including climbing into targeted trees.

The Government project of HS2, by its own admission, will never be carbon neutral in its 120-year lifespan. "Any transport system that destroys irreplaceable habitats such as ancient woodland can never be called 'green'," says the Woodland Trust, and yet, 108 ancient woods are facing the axe to make way for HS2. At a time of climate crisis and biodiversity collapse HS2 is not a solution but part of the problem. And we see that existing trains between London and Birmingham have plenty of empty seats due to new working and meeting practices in the light of Covid. The virus has drastically changed our economy and how we travel. We still don't know exactly what the project will cost and what the demand will be. It shows every sign of being a white elephant. David Attenborough is amongst those saying that all deforestation must be halted immediately, and that we must find a way to live within the planetary boundaries. He has backed a campaign to have a HS2 threat estate at Walton Hall, West Yorkshire, designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It throws a spanner into HS2's Phase 2 plans. But Phase 1 needs attention right now. Only 2.4% of ancient woodland is left in Britain.

Last Friday's walk to the Cubbington Woods and the site of the Cubbington Pear Tree and mature Oak trees which are in the way of HS2 started from St Mary's Church in Cubbington. The petition to protect the Pear tree now has over 100,000 signatures. The Church of England, over the past five years, has expressed dismay at the destruction of consecrated burial grounds. HS2 took over a public garden behind Euston station in October 2018, and knowing that it was a gravesite started excavating to remove the dead bodies - around 50,000 of them - for reburial elsewhere. The excavation featured on a recent BBC2 documentary series, which I found disgusting. Needless to say, the garden is no more.

And what of the Catholic Church? Are there voices out there willing to challenge HS2, inspired by Laudato Si'? The encyclical says in Para 195: "The principle of the maximisation of profits, frequently isolated from other considerations, reflects a misunderstanding of the very nature of the economy. As long as production is increased, little concern is shown about whether it is at the cost of future resources or the health of the environment; as long as the clearing of a forest increases production, no one calculates the losses entailed in the desertification of the land, the harm done to biodiversity or the increased pollution."

I have signed this petition: www.change.org/p/department-of-transport-stop-hs2


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