Just Stop Oil facts for kids
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Just Stop Oil slow walk up Whitehall, May 2023
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| Formation | 14 February 2022 |
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| Type | Coalition |
| Purpose | Climate change mitigation Fossil fuel non-proliferation Policy change Social change Environmental protection Sortition |
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| Methods | Civil resistance, direct action, vandalism |
| Fields | Environmental movement Climate movement |
| Affiliations | A22 Network Youth Demand |
Just Stop Oil is a British environmental activist group primarily focused on the issue of human-caused climate change. The group aims to convince the British government to commit to ending new fossil fuel licensing and production using civil resistance, nonviolent direct action, traffic obstruction, and vandalism.
The group was founded in February 2022 and began protesting at English oil terminals in April 2022. The group has received criticism for its disruptive and often illegal methods of activism.
Views and methods
Just Stop Oil opposes the United Kingdom government granting new fossil fuel licensing and production agreements; on its website, it calls for the government to stop all future consents and licensing agreements related to the development, exploration, and production of fossil fuels in the country. The group supports investment in renewable energy, and says that buildings need to have better thermal insulation to avoid wasting energy.
The group describes itself as decentralised and non-hierarchical, with activists in the group operating in autonomous blocs that share resources but have no formal leadership.
The group favours nonviolent direct action and civil resistance and follows an approach of general social disruption, similar to the methods of climate activist groups Extinction Rebellion and Insulate Britain, although favouring cultural institutions as protest targets.
In January 2024, at a meeting at the Old Print Works in Birmingham, Just Stop Oil was constituted as one of four groups under a central coordinating group called Umbrella. The other three groups under 'Umbrella' are: Assemble, Robin Hood, and Youth Demand.
Funding
Just Stop Oil reports that all their funding is through donations, with the group accepting both traditional currency and cryptocurrencies. In April 2022, it was reported that Just Stop Oil's primary source of funding was donations from the US-based Climate Emergency Fund. Through that fund, a notable donor to the group has been Aileen Getty, a descendant of the Getty family which founded the Getty Oil company. In response, the Climate Emergency Fund stated that Getty did not work in the fossil fuel industry herself.
See also
In Spanish: Just Stop Oil para niños
- Climate crisis
- Environmental direct action in the United Kingdom
