James Pearce Photojournalist, Par (2026)

28/09/2021

Greenpeace and Extinction Rebellion Protest Cornwall Council Offices:

Climate activists from Extinction Rebellion and Greenpeace staged a colourful protest outside the Cornish Council offices to ask gathering politicians about a commitment to net zero emissions made by the previous administration.

The May elections returned a majority Conservative council knocking the previous coalition of Liberal Democrats and Independents out of Cabinet positions. The coalition’s goal of Zero Emissions by 2030 was announced after declaring a Climate Emergency in January 2019. The plans included 8000 hectares of trees and hedges, a “Whole House Retrofit Project” which would see energy efficiency improvements made to council owned housing and the formation of a “Climate Emergency Planning Document” which would aid the council in mitigating Cornwalls role in the Climate Crisis and strengthen green policies for the “Cornwall Local Plan”.

In July this year Liberal Democrat Cllr Andrew George tabled a motion asking for support of the “Climate and Ecological Bill (CEE). The Bill would’ve committed the government to formulate strategies taking action against Climate Change that went above and beyond the “Environment Bill” that was making its way through the House of Lords. Devon County Council had debated and voted to support the CEE paving the way for Cornwall Council to follow suit.
An amendment forwarded by Conservative Cllr Louis Gardner removed support for the bill shifting the focus back onto Cornwalls Conservative MPs and the already in motion Environment Bill. Cllr Edwina Hanniford suggested an amendment that gave support to both the CEE and the Environment Bill. Cllr George accepted this, but even with Cllr Hanniford amendment it was ultimately defeated again, this time by a 39 - 35 majority.

The gathered protestors wanted to raise their collective anxieties about what will happen to the former councils commitments when it comes to the environment. Debacles like the one caused by Cllr Gardner have done little to ease the growing concern about Cornwalls environmental direction. They called for more information about what the council had planned as well as highlighting more specific environmental problems.

During my time there the protest went without any major issues and the gathered Police presence of three officers didn’t intervene at any point. The activists sat close to the roadside entrance to the county hall on grass verges and did not disrupt the busy flow of rush hour traffic passing them. Any photographs that appear to show the activists dangerously close to moving cars will be somewhat an exaggeration caused by long lens compression, both drivers and activists were as safe as possible so far as I saw.

13/06/2021

Outside the G7 media centre a Kill the Bill protest took place today. Around 50 protestors faced off with Police outside the various check points alongside the Cornwall media centre. It was an emotionally charged event with impassioned speeches that had a deep anti-police/government sentiment. Political activist attended the event listening to the protestors and talking with both them and the police. The event felt like it balanced on a knife edge, but when I left it was still a sit in with words. One protestor quipped that if nothing else their protest had succeeded in pedestrianising the high street in Falmouth!

Femi

11/06/2021

XR parade through the streets of St Ives raising awareness around issues relating to the global climate crisis.

09/06/2021

Boris Beds Big Oil

At daybreak of Boris’ arrival into Cornwall for the G7 Summit a troupe of enthusiastic and passionate campaigners staged a protest leaving a caricature of Boris hotter under the collar than the climate crisis.
Co-founder of Ocean Rebellion Rob Higgs comments that “ “We are tired of successive backhanded subsidies to the fossil fuel industry. Weak international shipping legislation allows ships to burn heavy fuel oil (HFO), an oil byproduct so toxic that one large ship creates as much pollution as one million car exhausts.”
Fellow Co-founder Sophie Miller added ““If ships did not burn HFO the fossil fuel industry would have to dispose of this byproduct themselves, costing them billions upon billions (maybe trillions) of dollars a year – yet another massive fossil fuel subsidy. Stop this madness now!”
The depiction could be considered vulgar and offensive to some. That said I can’t help but find myself asking which is more offensive a risqué portrayal of our Prime Minister being ‘used’ by “Big Oil” or continuing to talk of “Green New Deals” and “Nature Legacy Projects” while enabling “Big Oil” with tax payer funded bail outs and shady backhanders.
In my humble opinion the subject is far more offensive than Ocean Rebellions presentation of it, if we can’t afford to give NHS workers proper pay rises, but we can afford to throw billions at companies already raking in billions we have to ask some serious moral questions that dwarf these shenanigans.

09/06/2021

Mount Recycle More

Popular pre-loved e-commerce site Music Magpie have commissioned the renowned sculptures Joel Rush and Alex Wreckage to create a giant tech mirror for the world.

Across from the G7 summit a rendition of Americas famous Mount Rushmore has been created using tons of ‘old tech’ to depict the seven world leaders heading up the summit.

The piece was commissioned to raise awareness for the chronic and unsustainable amount of ‘e-waste’ that contributes to our Carbon Footprint each year.
A study by Material Focus found that 500,000 tonnes of e-waste was thrown away, stolen or hoarded by people in the UK in 2020 alone. It’s believed the cost per year for the UK runs to £370 million. This loss comes from the array of metals (Gold, Steel, Aluminium and Steel) used in modern tech appliances that go to waste when not recycled and reused.

Recycling and re-using these goods keeps a useful device in circulation or means the metals can be extracted and used again in other tech products. This would have a positive impact on the environment as fewer mines would be needed to source the raw material.

An official ‘opening’ of Mount Recycle More is expected later today with the sculpture turning heads in news outlet around the world.

26/05/2021

Little bit of Flower Moon action for tonight :) It was very peaceful listening to the waves and watching the moon rise steadily through the indigo sky, I might have to make a habit of seeing it ;)

29/04/2021

For the first time since February ships have left the iconic Charlestown Harbour.

February' Storm Darcy left a section of Charlestown Harbour damaged and in need of major repair works. The team at Charlestown, as well as the many contractors involved, have managed to restore and strengthen the damaged section so that today for the first time in two months ships have been able to use the harbour again.

While still closed off to the public seeing the harbour running as intended again is a reassuring sign that despite the many trials things are beginning to return to normal.

Boats pictured are Anny white two masts, Old Dog blue with two masts heading into the harbour and Mascot with a single mast seen leaving the outer harbour mouth.

25/04/2021

At around 15:00 yesterday a Gorse fire broke out around the base of Roche Rock in Cornwall. Firefighters were called and responded from multiple local stations bringing a water tanker and the expertise needed.
A Police Officer on the scene said that the blaze wasn't started deliberately and wasn't caused by kids. It spread quicker than usual owing to the high winds and long dry spell that Cornwalls experienced.

Later on in the evening a separate Gorse fire broke out near Redruth. Firefighters from across the southern edges of Cornwall attended and dealt with the large and fast spreading fire around the Wheal Uny area of Redruth.

16/02/2021

Storm Darcy Tears Through World Heritage Site In Cornwall

Storm Darcy raged on in Cornwall for the best part of four days. It was a strong South Easterly gale bringing sustained winds of force 8-10 gales and a swell to match.

Residents, fans, the harbours owner and management team looked on fretfully as a section of Charlestown' outer harbour wall collapsed early on in the storms onslaught. Low tide brought little relief as the icy wind and rain prevented any maintenance work from being carried out.
Yesterday morning (15/02/2021) brought a long enough break in the weather to properly survey the site and enact plans that were decided while Darcy did her worst.

A Facebook and Instagram post from the harbour team also said that "the entire team cares deeply about Charlestown Harbour, so this has been a difficult few days for us all. We have a team of expert contractors who will first make the wall safe and secure. Once this is complete work then commences on the heritage aspect of the harbour" adding that "Our priority is to ensure the team can all work in a safe environment, and while COVID-19 remains a threat we politely urge people to stay away from the area. The Harbour remains closed to the public, and will remain so until it is safe to re-open" and that "We will restore our beautiful Harbour and look forward to being able to share it with you again as soon as we can".

More storm fronts look to be heading towards Cornwall in the coming days, but hopefully the quick actions of the Harbour team will see Charlestown weather these storms without further incident.

James

19/12/2020

Seen as the news about Christmas has come as a bit of blow, I thought I'd post something bright and colourful from beautiful Charlestown.

This week we went to the Shipwreck Treasure Museum for the Christmas light event. Over 50,000 lights and more than 5 kilometres of cable adorn the tunnel walls beneath the Ship Wreck centre creating a visual spectacle that's been enjoyed by so many people in the past few weeks.

James
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03/11/2020

As hurried shoppers raced against Covid lockdown 2, Extinction Rebellion set themselves up outside two major banks with an action to highlight the plight of rainforests around the world. With megaphones and leaflets they spoke of major banks acting “Certainly immorally, but maybe illegally causing immense destruction thats adding to climate change and damaging the indigenous lives in the rainforest”.

HSBC and Barclays are two such banks that are “Pouring literally billions of pounds into companies that you have to regard as corporate criminals” according to Chris Bird organiser of todays action. Unearthed, an investigative journalism arm of Greenpeace, found that HSBC had been financially backing JBS, the worlds largest meat company through companies such as Minerva and Marfrig as well as a host of other financial backers from across the globe.

Mat, who I’ve spoken with at a similar action on Swanpool beach in Falmouth, gave an impassioned speech telling first hand accounts from tribes people and the sad reality of life for the indigenous people. Since being elected and taking office President Jair Bolsonaro has overseen 1,330sqft of rainforest depletion, thats a 39% rise over the same time period from previous years. The Far Right president ran a campaign with promises to open up the rainforests resources for trade. In a now famous speech he told world leaders “you have to understand that the Amazon is Brazil’s not yours”. Bolsonaro also appears to have emboldened people who have little regard for the tribes people and forest land. The brutal stabbing of a 15 year old boy and a drive by shooting of tribal leaders from the from the Guajajara tribe are among examples of increased hostility to those who will stand in the way of the rainforests continued destruction.

Chris said there is something we can do though. We can “move our accounts to banks who don’t invest in industries that are causing such destruction” and that by banking with the likes of “Co-op, Triodos and others that have ethical policies and are not lending to industries that are causing such immense destruction”. We can also join the lobbying process behind the CEE bill, according to the website it has the potential “to become the most significant move forward since the Climate Change Act 2008” (https://www.ceebill.uk)

I asked Chris what they would like the government to be doing. “You know we've seen how inept they’ve been with the Covid pandemic and we think they are equally inept at controlling the activities of these Banks that are funding fossil fuel companies.” adding that “The government says they are committed to reducing carbon emissions but they are actually funding industries that are planning to extract more oil, mine more coal, destroy more rainforest all things that are contributing to Climate Catastrophe.”

Megaphone Mat closed his speech with a jarringly poignant “We can pretend to ourselves that this is all happening a long way away. The amazon rainforest acts as the lungs of the planetoid without it global temperatures will rise further and this will effect all of us and our children futures in particular, wherever they will live.”

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/deforestation/?fbclid=IwAR0EH94Jz6lshUP3xbV8ZbPUREPXP2P_0oyt9esuy7K4NIf72Xes7I0PAIw

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/08/amazon-indigenous-leaders-killed-in-brazil-drive-by-shooting

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/amazon-brazil-indigenous-eriscan-soares-guajajara-amarante-do-maranhao-a9247121.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/28/world/americas/brazil-deforestation-amazon-bolsonaro.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/05/world/americas/amazon-fires-bolsonaro-photos.html

https://unearthed.greenpeace.org/2020/06/04/amazon-deforestation-banks-investors-meat-companies/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/19/jair-bolsonaro-brazil-amazon-rainforest-deforestation

02/11/2020

In a bid to give the children of St Blazey a Halloween to remember Tech Smart and All Connections Electrical Ltd , a newly revamped mobile phone and electrical supply shop laid on a giant spooky display, Covid safe sweets, a magician and a fabulous prize for the best fancy dress.

Ghostly projections were spotted in the days leading up to Halloween by surprised residents. Simon Moss co-organiser of the evening said “It’s been a tough year for kids and this is a way of giving them something to look forward to” adding “we wanted to try, so many business’ can’t do things as they did before so they don’t. We wanted to put something on because we have the space, its outdoors, people can social distance and we didn’t want to take the easy way and not do anything”.

Around 50 children attended with adults in tow. Magic Matts Funshow, a local entertainer, wowed the kids with magic tricks and had everyone laughing at his antics.
The projections, which took hours to prepare and edit, ranged from singing pumpkins and dancing skeletons to an incredibly realistic looking group of silhouetted hands grasping against the corrugated shutters of the shops shutters.

Social distancing was adhered to and the event proved very popular with both children and adults alike.

Please note the camera angles used will have the potential of distorting perspectives and may make people appear closer together than they really were.

James Pearce Photojournalist

28/09/2021

13/06/2021

11/06/2021

09/06/2021

09/06/2021

26/05/2021

29/04/2021

25/04/2021

16/02/2021

19/12/2020

03/11/2020

02/11/2020

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