It’s Getting Hot In Here

Students from across the state of California gathered in San Francisco this morning to kick off CALPIRG’s Climate Hero Tour. Instead of spending our spring break in Cancun or Florida, over 50 students are traveling around the state building support for global warming solutions. We finally have a President that believes in science and a U.S. Congress that is ready to take action. We are calling on Congress to pass legislation in the first 100 days that is based on science, and dramatically reduces greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2020. The Climate Hero Tour aims to push our champions in Congress to go “greener, cleaner, faster, stronger” in the midst of pressure from the oil and gas industry and other special interests.

At this morning’s press conference, we presented the “Climate Super Hero Award” to Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office for her work increasing renewable energy tax credits, strengthening CAFE standards, and investing billions of dollars in clean energy technology. Students collected photo petitions for members of Congress and staged a rally on the steps of San Francisco City Hall behind a backdrop of solar panels and a giant wooden wind turbine. Channel 2 KTVU was there to record the story for the evening news and a team of professional filmmakers are documenting the trip.

Students set up props in front of SF City Hall.

After a quick lunch, it was off to San Jose City Hall, where students in Captain Cooldown costumes collected dozens more photo petitions, pitched the story to reporters from San Jose Mercury News and dropped by Councilmembers’ offices to generate more support for comprehensive climate change legislation in 2009. It was an exciting day and a great alternative to the beaches of Mexico. For the next four days, students will be driving up and down the state building more support for legislation that will bring a new era of green jobs and environmental stewardship. Check back tomorrow for more updates!

First, there was the Campus Climate Challenge, building a base of action on campuses nationwide. Then, there was PowerVote, mobilizing youth across the country to vote for a clean energy future and shift America’s political landscape. Recently PowerShift 2009 escalated the call for bold climate policy with 12,000 young people convening in Washington DC. And now…

As the youth climate movement reaches for major policy goals, we start to catch a glimpse of the long-term struggle still ahead — the one in which we must innovate and implement climate and energy solutions that also revitalize the economy and empower communities. In this struggle, we must wrest control of the economy from the fossil fuel industry that has run our society and put that control in the hands of millions of local innovators around the world who are harnessing the power of the wind, sun, and land to sustain their lives and their local economies. We must figure out how to make our buildings efficient, our urban planning smart, our agriculture sustainable, our grid system renewable, and our industries green. This is the epic economic, political, and social project of our generation and those that will follow – it will take decades and be global in scope. It must be participatory and people-supporting not only to be fair, but also to succeed.

Let’s be frank: we have a pretty good idea of why this needs to happen, and a somewhat more vague idea of what needs to happen, but relatively little sense of how to achieve it.  More news: our political leaders, scientists, and economists don’t know either. We are embarking on a societal process of figuring out how to create this new future, and unfortunately, much of the current planning is being done by supporters of unsustainable and unwise options (such as “clean coal”, nuclear, tar sands, suburban sprawl, agribusiness, central station transmission, etc.) who prefer “solutions” that will recreate the same failing system we have today.

If you want to spend your summer building your capacity and career as a creative leader helping develop the solutions we need – figuring out the how -  please join us for the Summer of Solutions. In 2008, we piloted a program in St. Paul Minnesota with 25 participants, while a sister program started in Portland Oregon. Now we’re going nationwide.

Continue reading ‘The Summer of Solutions 2009: Join Us’

Blockades organized by Rising Tide Australia have closed down the Port of Newcastle for the day. The Port of Newcastle, 100km north of Sydney on Australia’s east coast is the world’s largest coal port, transferring coal mined in the Hunter valley for export.

Over 500 protesters launched kayaks, canoes and small boats to blockade the harbor. Newcastle Port Corporation cancelled all ships coming into the harbor for the day due to safety concerns.

Rising Tide spokeswoman Carly Phillips says restricting coal ship movements is a huge victory.

“We would like to show a strong message to the Government that everyday Australians are sick of politely asking for change,” she said.

“We’d like to see a just transition away from the coal industry towards a renewable energy future.”

Originally posted at WattHead – Energy News and Commentary

[Updated: 3/30/09 at 2:20 PM PST, see below]

I’m not sure how, but I missed this excellent editorial in the New York Times on Monday. The Times editorial board seems to have fully grasped the horror and tragedy of mountaintop removal coal mining. Remarking on an upsetting recent court ruling that paves the way for the devastation of more mountains, ecosystems and communities in Appalachia, the ed board writes in “Appalachia’s Agony:”

“The longstanding disgrace of mountaintop mining is now squarely in President Obama’s hands.”

Indeed it is. And it’s high time for President Obama, who said during the campaign that he “did not support” the dastardly practice, to direct his administration to take action and end Appalachia’s agony. Read on for the full editorial…
Continue reading ‘Obama Has the Power to End Appalachia’s Agony’

Rising Tide North America and its allies are calling for a day of action against the fossil fuel industry on April 1st 2009…FOSSIL FOOLS DAY!

Confronted with droughts, extreme weather, poisoned waterways and food shortages the fools at the head of the fossil fuel empire continue to plunder the earth, with the governments as court jesters at their side.

A powerful vibrant climate justice movement is emerging world-wide. Coal plants are being shut down. Mountaintop removal is being challenged. Big oil in Canada and other parts of the world are feeling the effects of a new consciousness around global warming. Thousands are in the streets pushing the limits.

But more needs to happen. It’s time we ask ourselves, how serious are we about stopping climate change?

Climate change threatens our very survival, and weather chaos is increasingly upon on us — it is up to us to launch a global uprising against the fossil fuel industry.

Your good fight is coming soon, step right up! On April 1st, 2009 join thousands of people around the world and begin to unmask and disarm the fossil fuel empire. We would be foolish to act otherwise.

For over a century, they have been fooling with our lives. From oil extraction to coal combustion they have poisoned our air, polluted our water and ruined our climate. Now, we’re going to unmask these dangerous jesters.

Target a local fossil fool – See the clowns investing in coal? The carbon offset contortionist or the oily strong man? – and join with thousands around the world in taking one step closer to dismantling the fossil fuel industry.

Find a fossil fool in your community and pull a prank that packs a punch.

Need some ideas? We have LOTS of them for you…check out our 15 Actions to Bring Down the Fossil Fool Empire

Contact us at fossilfools (at) risingtidenorthamerica.org for info or support (media, outreach, etc)

Related Link: http://www.fossilfoolsday.org

Hi All,

This recession is hitting everyone hard, and I know there are talented organizers out there that need to plug back into the movement and get paid for it. Greenpeace is hiring right now, but the application is rolling, and closing TOMORROW. It’s really easy to fill out online and it’s an amazing opportunity! We need talented people working all over the country to organize grassroots supports for science-based federal policy.

Call or email me with any questions:

John Deans 207.319.6850

jdeans@greenpeace.org

OR apply online: http://members.greenpeace.org/survey/start/113

As seen at Powershift!

Only a few years ago, some companies were saying climate change wasn’t a problem. Now, as its impacts become apparent, many of the same corporations are suddenly scrambling to claim leadership on the issue. Desperate to avoid regulation that may hit their profits, they present a dizzying array of “false solutions,” quick fixes that perpetuate inequalities in our society while they cash in on the crisis. Upon closer examination, many of these technologies and policies are merely dangerous detours on the road to a just, livable planet, distracting us from the root causes of the crisis.

Rising Tide North America is pleased to announce the release of the first short yet comprehensive survey of these bogus climate change solutions.

The 20 page pamphlet — “Hoodwinked in the Hothouse” — covers topics as diverse as Clean Coal, Agrofuels, Geoengineering, Carbon Offsets and over a dozen other non-solutions to the climate crisis, all in concise, colorfully illustrated and information packed essays. Download It! (PDF)

Continue reading ‘New guide to bogus climate change solutions released’

 The Quick and the Ed has a brilliant post criticizing a recent Brookings paper on the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), an international scholastic performance test. Apparently Tom Loveless, the author of the paper, has a problem with the test’s bias in favor of environmental protection:

…[the statements in the test] embrace a superficial view of responsibility. None of the prompts asks students whether they are willing to take personal responsibility for sustainability. They ask whether someone else should—industries, car owners, factories, and society as a whole.

It’s wrongheaded to define seriousness about environmentalism in this manner. In what conceivable way could a student “take personal responsibility” for protecting the habitats of endangered species, regulating factory emissions, or disposing of toxic waste? It’s the equivalent of taunting someone who’s concerned about the national debt by asking if they’d be willing to tithe an extra 10 percent of their paycheck to the federal government. If you’re concerned about budget deficits, the best way to “take personal responsibility” for that is to vote for politicians who will promote policies that combine economic growth with spending restraint and sufficient levels of taxation. Just like if you’re concerned about carbon emissions, the best thing you can do is elect someone who supports CAFE standards and a real cap-and-trade plan. Or if you’re concerned about toxic waste, someone who will regulate toxic waste. The idea that your committment to the public policies that actually matter is ”superficial” unless you’ve also got a compost heap in your back yard is just a way to deflect attention from the real issues at hand.

Written by Tamara Evans, National Director for the Sierra Student Coalition

Our generation turned out in force in the historic November elections. We turned out by the thousands to Power Shift. Our representatives are taking notice that we are engaged and we aren’t going away. One of the early signs of this is that Wednesday March 18th, the House will debate the Generation Invigorating Volunteerism and Education Act (GIVE) which will create 175,000 new service opportunities by 2014 for young Americans.

Of importance to the youth climate change movement is that GIVE will create a Clean Energy Corps, broaden the scope of service efforts to include environmental and energy conservation, and create a fund for young people to apply for grants for social entrepreneurial programs that help meet their community’s challenges.

It is expected to be passed with bipartisan support in the next month in both the House and Senate putting it on track to be one of the next major initiatives President Obama signs into law. For more information about the bill, click here. Take some time to drop your congressperson an email, fax, or phone call (call the Capitol switchboard (202)224-3121 and ask for your member of Congress) and encourage their support for this bill. And be sure to follow up with them in April when you meet with them in-district!