Climate change activists at Kingsnorth protest prepare for jail

This year's climate camp will be set up after protesters arrive having set off from last year's site at Heathrow. Peter Macdiarmid/Getty

A group of environmental campaigners will risk jail next week when they breach a court ruling to join thousands of activists at this year's climate camp.

The five, who could become the first environmental protesters to be jailed in the UK according to activists, say they are prepared to break the law to highlight the severe threat posed by climate change.

"I have written letters and gone on marches but it isn't working," said ­Mooness Dararian, 24, from Lincolnshire. "The prospect of going to prison is very scary but the government is not ­listening to us and time is running out. They are defending the corporations and profit rather than the needs of the citizens so … I don't feel like I have a choice."

The group were among the more than 20 protesters arrested in June when they helped stop a train outside Drax, Britain's biggest power station. Their bail conditions prevent them from attending next week's climate camp at Kingsnorth, Kent – the proposed site for Britain's first coal-fired power station in 30 years. But the three men and two women say although they realise the seriousness of breaching bail they have a duty to stand up for their beliefs, and the right to protest.

Paul Morozzo, 41, said: "I have kids so of course this is not something that I take lightly at all. But we are at a really crucial junction: the threat from climate change is profoundly serious."

He said the government and public had to be prepared to make sacrifices. "If that involves going to prison – and I really, really do not want to go – then that is what I am prepared to do."

The group say they will turn themselves over to the police on Monday afternoon and lawyer Phil McLeish, who is working for the group, said it was "very likely" they would be remanded in prison until their hearing in mid-August.

Today, a report from the New ­Economics Foundation said there may be just 100 months left before greenhouse gas emissions pass a tipping point, triggering runaway global warming. Greenpeace predicted that the increasing urgency of climate change would mean more people would be prepared to go to jail to draw attention to environmental issues.

Sarah North, from Greenpeace, said: "I think many more people will now follow in the footsteps of these five and be prepared to go prison to get the message about climate change across."

The climate camp protests started last Sunday when environmentalists gathered at Heathrow airport before travelling across London in a "green caravan", stopping off each night to highlight their objections to the proposed power station. The caravan is expected to arrive at Kingsnorth on Sunday along with hundreds of other protesters.

There will be about 200 workshops and protesters at the Kingsnorth site next week where activists say there will be a "rolling programme" of action. One group says it aims to infiltrate the existing power station by digging under fences, or dropping in by air. Another, dubbing itself the Great Rebel Raft Regatta, is planning to enter the site on pirate ships and boats.

Last year's event at Heathrow was accompanied by other protests across the country which saw activists chain themselves to the Department for Transport in London and hijack a wing of a jumbo jet at a factory in north Wales.

Organisers of this year's event say they expect similar protests. "Last year the focus was air travel. This year it is coal, so I think we can expect a lot of activities around the country drawing attention to the issues around energy," said one.

The £1bn plant, which has been proposed by the German-owned gas and electricity provider E.ON, has already been given approved by Medway council. The final decision rests with the business secretary, John Hutton, who is expected to make an announcement later this year.

E.ON argues the plant will produce power from coal more cleanly than ever before in Britain, leading to a cut in CO2 of almost 2m tonnes a year.The project has received the backing of the Institution of Chemical Engineers, which said Medway council had made a "commonsense" decision. But green groups are oppose the plans, arguing they are at odds with the government's commitment to reduce emissions by 60% by 2050.

Arthur Scargill, the former leader of the National Union of Mineworkers will join the camp to discuss the coal industry's impact. He will give a speech at an event on Monday afternoon.The camp has also attracted a number of politicians including Labour's John McDonnell and the Green Party's MEP Caroline Lucas. Among the messages of support is one from Chris Davies a Lib Dem MEP who said: "It is my job as a parliamentarian to help make law but in this instance I welcome the fact that there are people prepared to break the law."