It was a beautiful morning, if a little muggy, as I passed through the Kent countryside to Strood yesterday on my way to Climate Camp. I had to find out for myself what it was really like at the farm opposite Kingsnorth coal fired power station, where E.On wants to build the first new coal plant in the UK for over 30 years.

Joined by fellow climate campaigners, we received friendly smiles from local people who pointed us in the direction of Kingsnorth, egging us on our journey. (After all, not everyone wants to live next to a coal fired power station.)

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This summer's Camp for Climate Action takes place next week at Kingsnorth in Kent, where German utility company E.On aims to build the UK's first coal-fired power station for decades. If the government gives the go-ahead, which could happen in October, the CO2 emissions from this one new plant would equal that of the 30 lowest emitting countries in the world combined.

Coal is the most polluting of all fossil-fuels, and if Kingsnorth is built then plans for six similar plants are likely to be approved, emitting a colossal 50 million tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere each year. So this decision is crucial, which is why activists from all over the country and around the world will be coming to make their voices heard.

Stop Climate Chaos activists were at Kingsnorth in Kent this morning to urge the Prime Minister to abandon plans for a new generation of coal-fired power plants. They planted flags outside the existing power station as a symbol of opposition to Kingsnorth 2, a new development which, if it gets the go-ahead, will be the first new coal plant to be built in the UK for 30 years.

Developer E.ON UK plans to demolish the existing plant and replace it with a new coal-fired unit that is 20 per cent cleaner. But coal is the dirtiest, most carbon-intensive fuel known to mankind, and despite the industry's efforts to talk up 'clean coal' technologies like carbon capture and storage (CCS), such developments are in their infancy and would not be available for at least a decade, even if they can be made to work.