<https://extinctionrebellion.uk/2021/11/26/breaking-amazon-crimes-will-cost-t...> From 5am this morning, Extinction Rebellion has blocked a total of 15 Amazon fulfilment centres in the UK, Germany and the Netherlands on Black Friday, the major global discount day. In the UK, people from all across the country are taking part, with 13 blockades in Doncaster, Darlington, Newcastle, Manchester, Peterborough, Derby, Coventry, Rugeley, Dartford, Bristol, Tilbury, Milton Keynes and Dunfermline. These sites account for just over 50% of Amazon deliveries in the UK. The group is blocking the entrances using bamboo structures, lock-ons, and banners with the words ‘AMAZON CRIME’, ‘INFINITE GROWTH, FINITE PLANET’ and ‘BLACK FRIDAY EXPLOITS PEOPLE AND PLANET’ on them. In Tilbury, a rocket part blocked the entrance with an eager Jeff Bezos sat riding it, and the words ‘TO EXTINCTION AND BEYOND’ written on its side. The group intends to stay for at least 48 hours. The action is taking place on Black Friday in order to confront the exploitative and environmentally destructive business practices of one of the world’s largest companies. Amazon is known for a long list of widely recognised “crimes” – from tax avoidance to the exploitation of workers, to rampant wastefulness and ecological destruction – while making its founder and largest shareholder Jeff Bezos one of the richest men on earth. The action aims to expose Amazon’s crimes, while holding it up as an example of the wider economic system, which is designed to keep us hooked on buying things we don’t need, at a price the planet cannot afford. [...] AMAZON’S CRIMES: 1. The company said activities tied to its businesses emitted 60.64 million metric tons of carbon dioxide last year — more than a medium sized country and the equivalent of burning through 140 million barrels of oil. Amazon’s carbon emissions grew by 19% in 2020 and have risen every year since 2018, when it first disclosed its carbon footprint after employees pressured it to do so.[4][5] 2. Not only does Amazon’s business emit more carbon than a country the size of Denmark, but it is actively helping fossil fuel companies such as Shell, Exxon and BP to drill for more oil via its Amazon Web Services.[6] 3. While scientists tell us that companies must rapidly decarbonise, Amazon continues to lobby the US Government to fight against climate legislation, despite pledging to reach Net Zero carbon emissions by 2040. This target also does not include its supply chain which contributes 75% of its overall emissions and so far it has published no plan on how it intends to meet this target. They are committing the very definition of greenwash.[7][8] 4. Amazon has a historic record of treating its workers “like robots”, with a report just released on Wednesday this week stating that ambulances have been called out to UK warehouses 971 times since 2018, with the company threatening to fire employees in the US for speaking out about its climate impact.[9][10] An employee died at the site in Tilbury just last month. 5. Amazon routinely destroys millions of items of unsold stock and returned items. Many of the products – including smart TVs and laptops – are often new and unused. The Prime Minister called it “an indictment of a consumerist society.”[11] This wasteful practice epitomises the view that the natural world is expendable. 6. Governments are subsidising the growth of this massive monopoly by allowing the e-commerce giant to legally report billions of pounds of sales in a tax haven, meaning they are stealing from the general public in order to grow. This helps Amazon to undercut more responsible businesses and is depriving governments of tax revenue that could be used to fund essential public services.[12] /This list is not exhaustive./ These business practices have helped Amazon’s founder and largest shareholder, Jeff Bezos,0 to become the world’s richest man, while keeping many workers on the poverty line. According to Forbes, Bezos personal wealth amounts to $177bn.[13] [...]