Next month's Camp for Climate Action will put Heathrow airport at the frontline of direct action on climate change. Hundreds of people, including many from the local community, will be camping there.

The industry calls its planned airport expansion "sustainable development", but it seems to be contradicting all the demands of science and common sense: the UK-wide proposals are equivalent to a new Heathrow every five years. At this rate, aviation will by 2050 account for more than the government's target of 60% emissions reduction. That is before we turn on a single light bulb.

The government is facilitating this growth. The UK aviation sector already enjoys a unique zero-tax regime on everything from fuel to tickets to in-flight meals. With the majority of flights being taken by the wealthiest 20% of the population, the rest of us are paying for the perks of the rich, and the cruel effects will be felt by the poorest people in the world.

As individuals, we are not off the hook. It is time to take responsibility. More than 150,000 people will die this year from climate change. Their right to life beats our right to the break of our choice.

We can all help stop the demand for this hugely emitting industry right now by deciding not to fly. Although, as travelling by air is a fraction of the cost of taking a train or boat, it takes a particularly devoted environmentalist to turn down taking to the skies.

But this problem is not just about consumer choices, it is about the choices given to consumers. So lifestyle changes, though important, are not enough. We have to take collective action to demand the political change needed to allow people to make greener choices. A shift to a lower carbon lifestyle means not only cutting back on the amount we consume but also struggling free of our role as passive consumers.

This will require a social change that is as much psychological as technological. We have to ask some fundamental questions and put our collective genius into creating a society that can live within the planet's limits.

This needn't be about self-punishment. Relocalising means less commuting and a regeneration of community. We can transform our lives into something we do not feel the need to escape from. We can spend less time working so we do not squander 48 weeks a year dreaming of four weeks off. It does not mean the end of holidays and adventure; quite the reverse. The slower you travel, the bigger the world is.

All the fine words about climate change will remain just that without a movement to animate them. Collective action has to be more than 60 million guilty individuals changing light bulbs at the behest of rock stars. It is essential that those of us who know that BP, Branson and the Beastie Boys are not going to save us make ourselves heard before the corporate stampede drowns us out.

Next month's camp at Heathrow is for anyone who wants to stare this issue in the face and find a way forward. The Camp for Climate Action runs from August 14 to 21, and we will take a big step towards catalysing the change we know is so urgently needed.

Heathrow expansion will happen unless we stop it, and it is a fight that belongs to us all.

· Claire Fauset is an environmental activist. More on the Camp for Climate Action at climatecamp.org.uk

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