It’s Getting Hot In Here

Yesterday, over 40 people showed up at one of our convergence spaces for the Capitol Climate Action to spend the day building art and holding direct action preps for March 2.  Flags, banners and placards were all produced to help hold the visual space at the Capitol Power Plant.

The scene was part dance party, part class room, part art build and all creating community.  It reminded me of the global justice mass mobilizations at the early part of the decade with many of the same faces, plus dozens of new ones.

The climate crisis won’t be solved by governments and corporations (the same entities that got us into this mess), but by youth, artists, frontline communities and lots of other people from across the world elevating their voices and building their own power so that the power-holders can’t do anything but listen.

We’ll have a convergence space open all weekend from 10am-10pm for art build, non-violence trainings and legal briefings.  It’ll be across the street from the DC Convention Center at the Warehouse Theater (1021 7th St NW, Washington D.C.).

Action is beautiful.  Direct Action gets the goods!

By W. Ryan Wishart, R. Jonna, and Cade Jameson (the authors are doctoral students at the University of Oregon with interests in political economy and environmental sociology)

There is a great deal of well deserved excitement about the Power Shift conference this weekend and its potential as a springboard for an environmental and social justice movement. Even the name “Power Shift” is radical in its implication, in the literal sense of grasping a problem at its root. Who possesses power today and who needs to have more (or less) to reach our goals? Energy Action has a tradition of examining environmental problems in the light of racial and class-based power inequalities and oppression. In line with the conference’s stated goal to “Understand the magnitude of both the challenges and opportunities presented by the climate crisis and explore our own capacities to create transformative change,” we hope to contribute to this discussion of the nature of the current power structure and who must be the constituencies of a movement strong enough to “create transformative change.”

The current economic crisis has laid bare that power in society is political-economic and that the balance of power in Washington is steeply tilted in favor of hedge fund owners, not homeowners. The class struggle occurring in the fight over the big three automakers is illustrative of the “magnitude of the challenges” we face. This essay is divided into two parts. First, we examine the power structures and class struggles made more clearly visible by the crisis and introduce readers to critical political economic perspectives. Second, we use the auto bailout controversy to illustrate the importance and opportunity for interlinking environmental movements with the labor movement at the grassroots level.

Pt.1

Continue reading ‘Powershift! to whom and from whom? Pt.1′

Originally posted at the Breakthrough Institute

For those paying close attention, there was a nugget of critical energy and climate policy news buried at the tail end of a Saturday New York Times story focused on President Obama’s budget plans:

On energy policy, Mr. Obama’s budget will show new revenues by 2012 from his proposal to require companies to buy permits from the government for greenhouse gas emissions above a certain cap. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that would rise to $300 billion a year by 2020.

Since companies would pass their costs on to customers, Mr. Obama would have the government use most of the revenues for relief to families to offset higher utility bills and related expenses. The remaining revenues would cover his proposals for $15 billion a year in spending and tax incentives to develop alternative energy.

Many climate advocates will no doubt read this with excitement at Obama’s apparent commitment to move forward with a cap and trade proposal, even during these tough economic times. But if you’re looking closely at the public investments Obama plans to pair with his carbon pricing proposal, you’ve got to start worrying: if Obama remains committed to spending just $15 billion per year to spur a new energy economy, America will fail in that endeavor. Cap or no cap, I’m not sure you can find one energy expert that thinks the public investments required to build a new energy economy will cost that little.
Continue reading ‘Will Obama Put Real Money on the Table for Clean Energy?’

It doesn’t seem like news anymore when we hear new scientific findings that global warming is coming faster and will hit harder than predicted by the last scientific findings. That said, here are the new findings from MIT, indicating the probability of different degrees of warming under “no policy” and “policy” scenarios. Read more at the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change.

On March 2, the largest civil disobedience for the climate will be happening at the Capitol Power Plant in southeast Washington D.C.  People from around the world and across the nation have endorsed the Capitol Climate Action (CCA) and are risking arrest to send an urgent message that’s time to take direct action to stop climate change.

The organizers have put into place an infrastructure to make it as easy as possible for people to get involved.

Here are some ways to get into the loop

1.  Trainings and Convergence Center(s):  Beginning on February 27 until March 1, non-violence, legal observer and media trainings, along with legal briefings, will be happening through the day from 10am to 10 pm at the Warehouse Theater (located at 1021 7th St NW, Washington DC).  In the morning of March 2, they will be at the United Methodist Building (100 Maryland Ave NE, Washington DC).  During these trainings you will get briefed on the action.  It’s highly recommended that you attend.

2.  Text Communications:  We’ve started a text loop to message to people in the streets of the Capitol Climate Action, what’s going on as quickly as possible.  All you need to do is send a text from your mobile phone to 40404 with the message “follow capitolclimate” (no quotation marks) and you will be in the loop.  We’ll be sending messages out throughout the next week.  This is a quick and easy way to get info about the CCA.

3.  Live blogging and Website:  On March 2, we’ll be live blogging with action updates at http://capitolclimateaction.org.  Check it regularly.  Our website is a wealth of information on training, logistics, communications and continuing updates.  Continue to check out it out.

4.  Powershift Outreach Groups and CCA Table:  CCA organizers will be doing outreach throughout the Powershift weekend.  We’ll have a CCA designated table and groups of people moving through the conference with information.  Also look for some creative activities promoting the CCA in Powershift.

5.  CCA Greeters and Orientation Teams: As you gather at Spirit of Justice park, you will see CCA greeters and orienteers.  The greeters will be directing you towards the rally point, handing you copies of our CCA Handbook and helping you gather into orientation groups.  The orienteers will be giving quick briefings on the plan for the day and ways in which we are supporting you.  Look for orientation groups forming throughout Spirit of Justice Park.

6. CCA March Leaders: We’ll be breaking the overall march into four color coded “contingents” (red, blue, yellow, green).  There will be teams of march leaders for each contingent with flags, placards and banners to lead each contingent.  They will lead groups down to the plant for the civil disobedience at it’s various gates.

7.  Affinity Groups:  The CCA organizers are strongly encouraging groups coming together to form affinity groups.  In recent history, people have formed affinity groups to resist the war in Vietnam, nuclear power, U.S. wars in Central America and the Middle East and corporate globalization.  Affinity groups are groups of 5-20 friends bound together by similar values, tactics and strategies to serve as a support system.  They are the basic organizing blocks of our various movements.  They can be formed from your group of friends, people you are traveling with or people you meet in the CCA’s weekend trainings.  It’s always good to have buddies at an action.  Form your affinity group today!

8.  When and Where: Gather at 1:00pm on March 2nd, at the Spirit of Justice Park in Washington DC (C St SW & Capitol St SE). It is near the Capitol South Metro, and there will be greeters available to direct people.

Anyone can actively participate in the action and choose not to risk arrest. While nothing is ever guaranteed in an action scenario, we have a very high degree of confidence that this will be a controlled, intentional, safe environment and people will be able to chose their own involvement levels.

We’ve pulled together a tremendously talented and energetic team of people to make history with the Capitol Climate Action.  It’s going to be a beautiful thing, don’t miss it.

And don’t forget to “Dress to Impress.”

See you there.

This powerful letter has been criss-crossing its way across the internet–and I wanted to make sure folks got a chance to read it. This letter comes right before Powershift — where folks will have a chance to lobby for the Clean Water Protection Act — which would ban the dumping of mountaintop removal waste (aka exploded mountains) into streams.  For more information on Bo’s community visit www.crmw.net and to support the Clean Water Protection Act and find out if your community uses mountaintop removal mined coal, visit www.iLoveMountains.org

Dear President Obama,

 
As I write this letter, I brace myself for another round of nerve-wracking explosives being detonated above my home in the mountains of West Virginia. Outside my door, pulverized rock dust, laden with diesel fuel and ammonium nitrate explosives hovers in the air, along with the residual of heavy metals that once lay dormant underground.

The mountain above me, once a thriving forest, has been blasted into a pile of rock and mud rubble. Two years ago, it was covered with rich black topsoil and abounded with hardwood trees, rhododendrons, ferns and flowers. The understory thrived with herbs such as ginseng, black cohosh, yellow root and many other medicinal plants. Black bears, deer, wild turkey, hawks, owls and thousands of [other] birds lived here. The mountain contained sparkling streams teeming with aquatic life and fish.

Now it is all gone. It is all dead. I live at the bottom of a mountain-top-removal coal-mining operation in the Peachtree community.

Mr. President Obama, I am writing you because we have simply run out of options. Last week, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court in Richmond, Va., overturned a federal court ruling for greater environmental restrictions on mountaintop-removal permits. Dozens of permits now stand to be rushed through. As you know, in December, the EPA under George W. Bush allowed an 11th-hour change to the stream buffer zone rule, further unleashing the coal companies to do as they please.

During your presidential campaign, you declared: “We have to find more environmentally sound ways of mining coal than simply blowing the tops off mountains.”

That time is now. Or never.

Continue reading ‘From West Virginia to Obama: STOP MOUNTAINTOP REMOVAL’

Breakthrough Institute Seeks Nation’s Top Young Writers & Thought Leaders

Application Deadline: March 15, 2009

The Breakthrough Institute, a public policy think tank, is seeking up to ten of the country’s top young writers and thoughts leaders for a paid fellowship in Summer 2009 as part of its young leaders initiative, Breakthrough Generation. Fellowships are highly competitive — in 2008, 10 percent of applicants were accepted — and involve cutting-edge writing, research, and analysis on energy/climate, national security, the economy, health care, and other issues. Previous Breakthrough Fellows have published in the Harvard Law & Policy Review, San Francisco Chronicle, Baltimore Sun, Huffington Post, and Alternet.

In 2009, Fellows have a unique opportunity to be closely involved with the Breakthrough Institute. Over the next year, Breakthrough will work to seize today’s historic moment to establish a new era of progressive governance that prioritizes major, long-term government investments in clean energy technology innovation, as well as a new social contract. But major obstacles lie ahead, including severe economic recession and an unpredictable global landscape. To seize the moment, our leaders will need bold ideas backed by sharp thinking and clear analysis.

The Breakthrough Institute has a history of reinventing older political paradigms with big ideas. In 2002, Breakthrough co-founded the Apollo Alliance and the new Apollo project for clean energy, which President-elect Obama recently announced is his number one priority alongside stabilizing the economy. We succeed by tapping cutting-edge progressive thinking, sharp analysis, and superb communication to create and advance ideas capable of achieving the broad social and ecological transformations America and the world need.

Continue reading ‘Calling all young intellectuals: Apply for a Breakthrough Fellowship’

By Bruce MacKinnon, Halifax Herald Ltd.

Little re-cap: When PM Stephen Harper took office, 80% of climate change funding in Canada was retracted. Little of that has been replaced or redistributed. Since then, the summary of the last two years has been, “Until the U.S. does something, why should we?”  Recommended motivation: Canadians have the largest carbon footprint per-capita in the entire world.

This week was a big one for Canadians – President Barack Obama made his first foreign visit, a quick jump across the border to Canada. Canada is traditionally the first country that the American President visits, a tradition altered by President Bush who went south to Mexico.

Obama’s tight itinerary included meetings with Canadian Prime Minister, Foreign Affairs Minister, Finance Minister and Environment Minister. A quick press conference and a meeting with the Leader of the Opposition and that’s a wrap. 

I’m most interested in the lunch conversation with our Environment Minister, Jim Prentice. Turns out that a “U.S.-Canada Clean Energy Dialogue” is what came after the Pacific coast tuna, prairie bison and Acadian wheat berries. Here’s the low-down.

Continue reading ‘Oh Obama. We stand on guard for thee.’

BioTour is an environmental education non-profit that traverses the country on school buses that have been converted to run on waste vegetable oil and solar paneled electrical power. This fall, on BioTour’s fourth national tour, thirteen young people hit the road in two converted school buses. We visited 41 states and held dozens of educational events at universities, K-12 schools, and community gatherings. The BioTour bus is working towards building a national movement for Sustainability–through both smart policies and realistic practices in renewable energy.

Co-Founder Alan Palm writes to us…

We are totally psyched for Power Shift and having the bus on the convention center floor is going to be a lot of fun.

peace and grease

Alan

With just 9 days until Power Shift 2009 kicks off, staff, volunteers, and supporters are doing some pretty crazy things to raise funds, bring more students, and prepare for the biggest youth climate conference yet.

The Nation: Power Shift 09
CMJ.com: Maybe She’ll Change It To Santigreen?
Rosenberg Ditches His Razor for a Cause

Just this afternoon in our overcrowded hallway our field staff sang a rewritten version of the Proclaimers I Will Be(500 Miles) to celebrate our recruitment progress thus far. Here is an excerpt (lyrics credit goes to Josh Tulkin)…

When I wake up yeah I know I’m gonna be
I’m gonna be the man who phonebanks another youth
When I go out yeah I know I’m gonna be
I’m gonna be the man who registers youth
Continue reading ‘Power Shift ’09 Exposed: The Media Uncovers a Movement’