A climate activist in New Zealand faces 10 years in jail after a court found her guilty of forgery for sending a fake letter to the speakers at an oil industry conference, telling them it had been postponed due to the climate crisis.
“I was trying to be creative,” said Penwarden, who is 64 and has been a climate protester since the birth of her grandson in 2011.
Five days before the conference, she sent the letter by email, purporting to be from oil industry organizers canceling the event until further notice.
It added: “Furthermore, despite our best efforts at secrecy, activists have discovered this year’s conference and were yet again planning noise and disruption.
But there is a silver lining to all of this: we will not be there to listen to that incessant chanting.”.
It was intended to be “satirical,” Penwarden said, to “ruffle the feathers” of the oil industry.
PEPANZ organizers told speakers that the letter was fake and the conference went ahead. »
