It’s Getting Hot In Here

Today, Matt Wald at The New York Times wrote an article about “clean coal” that made King Coal very happy.

In the article, besides basically pulling language from press releases from coal companies about how environmentally friendly CCS will be and how it could be the greatest way to solve global warming, he also talks about the BILLIONS of dollars the same dirty energy companies received in the stimulus package to further promote this non-solution.

Luckily, our coalition partners had some things to say and fired off great letters to the editor. I’ve pasted a sampling below. You should write one too. Send your 150 word letter to letters@nytimes.com. Don’t let the Times be a mouthpiece for the coal industry in promoting lies and false solutions to the American public.

“Clean Coal technology is an expensive oxymoron and a dangerous concept to advocate on a prominent newspaper. The price of coal generated electricity was steadily rising before the recession and you can be sure it will continue to soar as soon as we dig ourselves out of this financial mess. Adding capture and sequestration technology to existing and new coal plants will only increase the price of coal generated electricity, burdening consumers and harming our competitiveness with other nations who are investing in renewable energy instead. All we are doing by throwing money at Clean Coal is propping up another failing industry that is unwilling to adapt to modern challenges. Why burden ourselves with expensive and dirty electricity when there are cheaper, cleaner alternatives like wind and solar?”

Tommaso Nicholas Boggia
Washington,D.C. Climate Advocacy Associate
Campus Progress, Center for American Progress

Continue reading ‘All the LTEs that’s fit to print’

I am from Queensland, Australia. Specifically, I am from Brisbane, in South-East Queensland. I am not an indigenous Australian, and so could never claim the intimate knowledge of Brisbane – or ‘Mianjin’ – that the Turrbul and Jagera people hold, but it is my home, my heartland, and my identity.

Brisbane is set on a wide river that falls from the hills of the Great Dividing Range and out to Moreton Bay, which is sheltered by two of the three largest sand-islands in the world – Mingerriba and Moorgumpin, or Stradbroke and Moreton. The region – particularly the coastal region – has incredibly unique ecosystems, being in the transition zone between the tropics and the temperate regions of Australia. In winter, temperatures gets down to around 10C (50F) at worst, and in summer we are drenched in glorious sunshine while spectacular tropical thunderstorms roll in off the ocean.

Continue reading ‘Oil Spill in Sub-Tropical Paradise’

Jake Blumgart conducted an excellent interview with Ohioan anti-coal activist Elisa Young that was recently published on CampusProgress.org. Check out the excerpt below:

[Elisa] Young attended Powershift ’09 late last month to speak on several panels, and Campus Progress caught up with her to ask her a few questions about the health effects of power plants, her local victories, and the fact that coal simply doesn’t lead to prosperity for the people of Appalachia.

Continue reading ‘Ask the Expert: Anti-Coal Activist Elisa Young’

This just in, three videos of the action demanding justice for coalfield communities and a Green New Deal from the Tennessee Valley Authority:

Even though change and hope has come to America, and we have friendly politicians who give us treats (when we act like obedient pups), the same federal police state (i.e. the FBI) that has been in place since at least the 1920′s continues to patrol and control us.

Of course, after the Bush years they are on the legal equivalent of steroids.

In February, four animal rights activists (Nathan Pope, Adriana Stumpo, Joseph Buddenberg, and Maryam Khajavi) were arrested by the Joint Terrorism Task Force under the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA).  AETA is a sweeping law passed in 2006 that labels and prosecutes animal rights and environmental activists as “terrorists.”  Congress argued when they passed it, that it would be used for underground groups that engage in property destruction like the Animal Liberation Front and the Earth Liberation Front. But the actual law has much wider interpretations linking “terrorism” to activism.

Continue reading ‘Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss’

As Congress comes closer to passing national climate and energy legislation, there will be groups calling on us to support specific proposals and leverage our entire grassroots force towards lobbying for their passage.  While this is an important role to play, it is not the entirety of our role as young people.

Let’s take a step back: in order to avoid the worst effects of global warming, emissions will need to be cut massively.  Exactly how massively is the subject of debate, but the real target should be zero emissions by as soon as possible.  At the recent Copenhagen Climate Congress this week, Lord Nicholas Stern, author of the widely acclaimed Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, said he had underestimated the risks of global warming:

“The reason is that emissions are growing faster than we thought, the absorption capacity of the planet is less than we thought, the probability of high temperatures is likely higher than we thought, and some of the effects are coming faster than we thought.”

Joining Stern at the Copenhagen Climate Congress, Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, Chairman of the IPCC, said that the focus of international action to fight climate change should be on sustainable global development and clean technology transfer, not simply emissions cuts.

How we put our first few steps forward is more critical than where we go in 2050.  Just imagine trying to predict what the world would look like in 2009 in 1959!  So what do we do?

Continue reading ‘How We Win’

Close to two hundred students and community members came from across Massachusetts to rally for 100% Clean Electricity in 10 Years outside the Massachusetts State House in downtown Boston yesterday.

The Massachusetts Power Shift-sponsored event had a celebratory mood, after the Massachusetts State Senate passed a RePower America Resolution on Thursday, calling upon the federal government to RePower America with 100% Clean Electricity in 10 Years.  

The resolution, drafted by members of Massachusetts Power Shift, will head to the Massachusetts State House sometime next week.  Assuming it passses as expected on the house side, copies of the joint resolution will be sent to Massachusetts’s Congressional Delegation, relevant cabinet members, and President Obama.

The RePower America Rally was co-sponsored by several community organizations, including the Massachusetts Climate Action Network, the Massachusetts Coalition for Healthy Communities, the Massachusetts Green Jobs Coalition, the Massachusetts Chaper of the Sierra Club, and Clean Water Action.

Continue reading ‘Hundreds Rally for 100% Clean Electricity in 10 Years’

See More Images

The water poured off my hood and splashed on my lens, frustrating my attempts to clear the drops of Tennessee rain. Documenting the International Youth Climate Movement, had brought me to Knoxville, Tennessee. However, the raindrops, otter like hair and foggy glasses I had to deal with were minor issues compared to what I photographed today.

This afternoon, the March in March, an action organized by Mountain Justice and coinciding with the Mountain Justice Spring Break took place in front of the TVA headquarters here in Knoxville.

From the Mountain Justice website: “Local residents joined dozens of activists from across the country today in a demonstration at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s headquarters, which resulted in the arrest of 14 individuals, after participating in a “die in” in front of the building . This event was held in solidarity with communities affected by the destructive impacts of Mountaintop Removal coal mining and the survivors of the recent coal ash disaster in Harriman.”

The rain stops, the sun shines, the clothing dries and the cameras survive to shoot another day. What won’t survive is the coal industry.

See more of the images here (All images © Robert vanWaarden)

Whats next? We saw the power of thousands taking the streets to say no to coal in Washington. Now its time to take the fight against coal from DC to NC!

Cliffside Climate Action

Mass Rally and Nonviolent Civil Disobedience

To Shut Down Duke Energy’s Cliffside Coal Plant

April 20, 2009 – Charlotte, NC

www.stopcliffside.org

This Earth Day join hundreds from across North Carolina and beyond as we converge on Duke Energy’s headquarters to demand that they cancel their climate change time bomb; the new 800 megawatt Cliffside coal plant. If built, Cliffside would emit 6 million tons of CO2 each year, and would be fueled by coal from mountaintop removal mines.

It is clear that coal is killing us. We cannot stand by as Duke poisons our air, destroys the Appalachian mountains, and fans the flames of climate change for the sake of profit. We demand a sustainable, livable planet, free from dirty energy. Honor the Earth this year by coming to Charlotte, NC to take action to stop Cliffside, mountaintop removal, and all new coal plants. The future is up to us. We will stop this plant!

The convergence starts Sunday, April 19^th with a day of trainings in nonviolent direct action, strategic organizing, and other skills. On Monday April 20^th, we will hit the streets and take direct action at Duke Headquarters. Continue reading ‘Mass Rally and Civil Disobedience to Stop the Cliffside Coal Plant. Join the Cliffside Climate Action April 20 Charlotte, NC’