Whitstable Pearl: Eco mum Emma Gibson
Eco-mum Emma, 39, of Station Road, Whitstable, says she wants her children to have a chance to beat global warming.
The Greenpeace campaigner has also chained herself to a Land Rover, pulled up genetically modified crops and tried to stop a boat full of tanks leaving for Iraq.
She lives with her artist husband Steve, six-year-old daughter Rosa and two-year-old twin boys.
James Scott asks...
What made you interested in Greenpeace?
I started reading about the Brent Spar oil rig campaign 14 years ago. It was a huge, old oil platform which Shell wanted to drag out and dump in the North Sea. Greenpeace campaigners used a helicopter to landed on it and eventually managed to stop Shell. I thought that was amazing.
How did you join?
I applied for a job advertised in the paper. I started working with their volunteers, helping run training events and sending them out with leaflets.
What did you want to do when you were younger?
I wanted to be a nurse when I was at Simon Langton Girls' Grammar School in Canterbury but I ended up an au pair in New York. That opened up a new world to me. When I came back to Britain I went to Liverpool University to study psychology. Afterwards I worked in London with a women's rights movement before applying to Greenpeace.
What other protests have you been on?
A lot of stuff in various roles. I'm not always in the thick of the action. But I chained myself to a Land Rover on a factory conveyor belt in Solihull. There were 40 in orange overalls. I had butterflies in my stomach on the bus on the way. We wanted the company to stop making gas-guzzlers and make energy efficient cars instead.
Do you always protest about climate change?
No I was also a campaigner to stop the war in Iraq. We went to Southampton and the Greenpeace boat Rainbow Warrior tried to block a ship full of tanks leaving for Iraq. I felt really strongly that the war was wrong. Although we didn't stop the war I was proud we tried to make a difference.
Were you involved in the Kingsnorth protest where protesters wrote "Gordon" on a chimney?
I had just had the boys then so I was on maternity leave. I watched it from the comfort of my own home. But I went to the courts to hear the case against the protesters for criminal damage. It was amazing when they were found not guilty.
Do you take your children to protests?
We went to the Kingsnorth Climate Camp as a family last year and stayed in one huge tent. The whole camp was well organised. It had running water and electricity. There were kitchens running three times a day and even a cake tent with people making vegan cakes. We had a mixed experience from police. Some were very intimidating. At about 4am riot police came in to raid the camp. It was really over-the-top, considering it was just people camping in a field. But they were quite pleasant when we left.
Are you a vegetarian?
Yes, I've been one for 20 years. When I was a teenager I saw a documentary on Channel 4 about pig farming. That was pretty influential.
What do you think of Whitstable?
I love it. We moved here from Walthamstow, east London three years ago. I'm a Canterbury girl though so I don't know if I'm a DFL (Down From London) or not. I saw someone with a sticker on their car which said 'If you're lucky enough to live in Whitstable you're lucky enough'. I thought that was great. Commuting to London is a bit of a hassle and it can be pretty miserable here when it's grey. But as soon as the sun comes out it is one of the nicest places to be.
What does your family think of your protests?
My mother worries about me but she is also very proud of me. If she had found out I had swum in front of a 70,000 tonne ship I don't think she would have been too happy. My husband Steve is also supportive.
Are there any protestors who have influenced you?
My daughter is named after Rosa Parks. She was a black woman on a bus in Alabama in the American South and she sat down because she was too tired to stand. The driver told her to stand because black women were not allowed to sit down but she refused and was arrested. Her actions sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott which led to the Civil Rights Movement.
Sometimes you do something really little like that and it can inspire people.
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