It’s Getting Hot In Here

The following was part of a press briefing at the US Climate Action Network Organized press conference in Pittsburgh, USA coinciding with the G-20 Summit.  International youth gathered together to voice concerns over the need to “green” the economic recovery of the planet–high on the agenda of the world leaders gathered there. Youth Press Advisory

Two years ago at the UN Climate negotiations in Bali, Indonesia, I happened to have the opportunity to attend as a member of the US youth delegation (because I was studying in the US). Upon arriving at the negotiations and after countless hours spent submitting our policy proposals to the UN Convention I realized that there is a growing and vibrant youth movement dedicated to the cause. These youth are actively trying to influence the negotiations. I became conscious of the fact that there were not any Indian youth in this growing international youth caucus present on the sidelines of the conference. I decided to introduce myself to the Indian Government negotiators as a “youth representative.” I was met with a cold and blank stare and then asked, “youth? Shouldn’t they have the same view as their elders?” I knew then that my life would never be the same again.

To be fair, I respect my elders and I know that there are many out there who are on the “far side of fifty” (age 50 that is) who have worked hard to make the world a better place. Generations have come and gone and nearly all of them have had a defining issue to tackle. My generation, labeled the “silent generation” by Thomas Friedman, is caught behind our computers and on facebook, having struggled to come to terms with the seemingly perfect world with an uncertain future of which we are not in control.Many in the climate movement are aware of the political deadlock between developed and developing nations over the issue of climate equity and historical emissions and responsibilities. Though we claim to be talking climate for the sake of future generations, nothing that we are doing is actually putting future generations in a better environment than that enjoyed by generations passed. So let’s get serious about generational equity because those in control sure aren’t.

While the climate crisis looms, we are currently consumed by a financial crisis that has gripped the planet.Just as financial institutions played with the public’s money, we are playing with the global commons that is our climate. We already know the impacts of unabated borrowing of money that does not exist. Can we play the same game with the lives of future generations as we borrow for our unsustainable growth today?

Global leaders are meeting at the summit in Pittsburgh and on the agenda is rebuilding the planet’s economy and hopefully, cooling down the planet. Let us turn this economic crisis into an opportunity of global proportions and usher a new era of genuine, sustainable development. I come from a young country—75% youth–that is facing many challenges. My own ancestral home in the desert sands of western Rajasthan only received electricity a year ago—electricity promised to my grandfather 25 years ago. Yet it is a land bursting with opportunity. Sure enough there is an army of youth in India that are ready to take that stand and that are dreaming of a clean, green country – one which will take this opportunity to build a green economy and support the growth of a green jobs movement. With 500 million people still in the dark, there are millions to be trained in sustainable energy enterprises alone. Let us not forget that this is a country that has half a million engineers graduating annually—a potentially potent force to engineer the country into the paragon of sustainable development.

While youth are 48% of the global population they are not an official part of the negotiation process at the international level. Though many of us are silent, many more are launching revolutions to transform our local communities. I was transformed by my experience in Bali and knew that in the labyrinth process of the negotiations all sense of urgency—of our future—is lost. This hopelessness was transcended through the creation of the Indian Youth Climate Network (IYCN) which has grown in waves and caught the attention of young people, civil society, companies and the same government that questioned the role of youth on the topic two years ago. Similarly youth movements for the cause are rising across the planet—daring governments to break the deadlock. We envision a future which ensures the survival of all peoples and all nations. The debate is old and it is time for some fresh air. A bail-out for the planet is a bailout we will not regret.

Environmental Groups Unite To Defeat Murkowski Amendment

Washington, DC—The Senate reached an agreement today on the additional amendments that will be considered as part of the FY 2010 Interior Appropriations bill (H.R. 2996), excluding an amendment sponsored by Senator Lisa Murkowski that would have substantially weakened the Clean Air Act’s public health and environmental protections.

“The good news is that a major effort failed to pull the rug out from under the Clean Air Act, one of the nation’s most successful environmental laws. But now, rather than just defending the status quo, the Senate must take a leap forward to repower America with clean energy—cutting pollution, making America more energy independent, and creating millions of clean energy jobs,” said Environment America Federal Global Warming Program Director Emily Figdor.

The final version of the Murkowski amendment would have blocked the Environmental Protection Agency from reducing carbon pollution from the nation’s biggest polluters, including power plants and passenger vehicles, undermining the Clean Air Act’s protections for public health and the environment and delaying America’s move to clean energy.

Below is a letter numerous national environmental organizations sent to the Senate today opposing the Murkowski amendment.

Text of the letter sent to the Senate today:

1Sky * Alaska Wilderness League * Alliance for Climate Protection * Center for American Progress Action Fund * Center for Auto Safety * Center for Biological Diversity * Ceres * Clean Air Task Force * Clean Water Action * Defenders of Wildlife * Environment America * Environmental Defense Fund * League of Women Voters of the United States * National Audubon Society * Natural Resources Defense Council * Oceana * Sierra Club * Southern Alliance for Clean Energy * Southern Environmental Law Center * The Wilderness Society * Union of Concerned Scientists

September 24, 2009

Dear Senator:

We are writing in opposition to Senator Murkowski’s revised appropriations amendment (No. 2530) to the FY 2010 Interior Appropriations bill, H.R. 2996, which concerns carbon dioxide pollution and the Clean Air Act.

Continue reading ‘Clean Air Act Withstands Major Attack’

A Senator from Alaska is moving to sabotage US efforts to create meaningful climate legislation before Copenhagen.

Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska has proposed an amendment to EPA’s fiscal 2010 spending bill that would strip EPA of the ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from coal plants and polluting industries.  Such an amendment could seriously undermine the US’ leverage in negotiating a sufficient climate treaty in Copenhagen.

On Monday, 32 environmental groups sent a letter urging the Senate to reject Murkowski’s draft amendment. Among the letters’ contentions:

“The Murkowski amendment seeks to exempt from the Clean Air Act the biggest global
warming polluters. The amendment would let Big Oil, dirty coal, and other big polluters off the
hook for their carbon dioxide emissions, undermining the Clean Air Act’s protections for public
health and the environment. These sources are responsible for the lion’s share of U.S. carbon
dioxide emissions.

The Murkowski amendment delays the transition to clean energy. Exempting the biggest
sources of carbon dioxide from the Clean Air Act will delay our nation’s transition to efficiency,
solar, wind, and other sources of clean energy – sources that won’t run out, will only grow
cheaper over time, don’t harm our environment or public health, and will create millions of
clean energy jobs.” Continue reading ‘Sen. Murkowski Proposes Disastrous EPA Amendment on Behalf of Dity Energy’

Environmental activists, some dressed as “Trillionaires for Bad Math” today delivered a “climate bill” to Copenhagen, ahead of schedule.  The mock “bill” was delivered at a 3 pm lecture at Columbia University’s School of International Public Affairs hosted by Danish Climate and Energy minister Connie Hedegaard. Hedegaard is the chairperson of the UN climate summit to be held in Copenhagen this December, where many hope that a strong global climate agreement will be signed.

Representatives of groups including Climate SOS and Rising Tide North America presented a 14-foot banner representing the climate bill currently being debated in the US Congress, which many consider essential for strong US participation in Copenhagen. The banner depicts a two trillion dollar note, representing the size of the new market in carbon dioxide emissions allowances that would be established by the Waxman-Markey climate bill that passed the House of Representatives in late June.

The centerpiece of the banner is an image of a bewildered Al Gore, who introduced the concept of tradable emissions allowances into the UN process in Kyoto in 1997. Hundreds of environmental groups are critical of the current US climate bill. Many view the bill’s cap and trade provisions as a dangerous false solution, that is inherently unstable and ultimately incapable of reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

Continue reading ‘Climate Justice Activists Interrupt Danish Minister to deliver “US Climate Bill” in Advance of Copenhagen Negotiations’

Pittsburgh, United States — Greenpeace activists rappelled off of a Pittsburgh bridge with a massive banner displaying our message to G20 leaders gathering for tomorrow’s summit. The banner takes the form of stylized “road sign” that warns of the political maneuvering and delay that have put a international climate treaty in jeopardy as the world enters the final stretch on the road to Copenhagen.

This is cross-posted from 350.org:

We have an exciting announcement today! One of the world’s greatest leaders on climate change, President Mohammed Nasheed of the Maldives, has issued a statement calling on citizens around the world to take action on October 24 as part of the International Day of Climate Action. President Nasheed has been a vocal advocate for 350 ppm, the only climate target that can protect the survival of his island nation. Please take a look at the video below and read Nasheed’s endorsement of the 350 target and the October 24 Day of Action. But most important, pass it on, and help build this movement to protect the survival of all nations and peoples.

Climate Change Requires a Real Movement
by Mohammed Nasheed, President of the Maldives

From the Mobilization for Climate Justice:

Pittsburgh, PA–As groups protest the Pittsburgh International Coal Conference days before the G-20 arrives in the city, additional actions against U.S. climate policy and the fossil fuels industry took place on both the east and west coasts.

In New York City, Climate SOS, New York Climate Action Group and Rising Tide North America protested what they called “a greenwashed U.S. climate agenda” at the opening of NYC Climate Week.  Activists distributed their version of the ACESA (American Clean Energy and Security Act) bill to event attendees and media in the form of fake $2 trillion bills [1] which subtly depict a collusion of prominent Green NGOs (NRDC, the Nature Conservancy, Environmental Defense Fund among others) with corporate backers of the bill (BP, Shell, Dow, and others). Climate SOS organizers Dr. Rachel Smolker and Dr. Maggie Zhou engaged ceremony patrons with a pointed critique of the bill’s corporate-friendly implications.

Meanwhile on the west coast, the Mobilization for Climate Justice also took action in San Francisco against Chevron and the corporate-driven U.S. climate bill. Activists blocked four lanes of traffic with a parachute-shaped banner which read “Climate Justice or Climate Chaos.”  “If Congress wants to protect the public interest, they would never consider adopting the current climate bill (ACESA) that was written by big oil and energy corporations in the first place,” said Carla Pérez of the Movement Generation Justice & Ecology Project. “Cap and Trade legislation coupled with direct subsidies to oil, coal, nuclear, bio-fuels and incinerator industries will only serve to add hundreds of toxic smokestacks in our backyards, she added.” Continue reading ‘Actions Spreading Across the U.S. Against Corporate-Driven Climate Policy’

Actually I didn’t vote for him. But that is beside the point. The point I HOPE to make here is that not much has CHANGED when it comes to the repression of dissent in this country since Obama came into office.

Sitting here on the hill in Schenley Park I watch no less than 4 military  helicopters constantly buzz the Pittsburgh Skyline. Police vans from Philadelphia and beyond patrol the streets of downtown creating a state of fear, a state of occupation. Over 4000 police, including 2000 national guard troops, some fresh from Iraq, are on call to ensure that Obama’s G20 party goes without a hitch.

Already the police have been going out of there way to create a state of fear before the summit starts. Seeds of Peace, a group that provides free food for activists, has been repeatedly harassed, their bus impounded, and a member arrested without reason. The Landslide Community Farm has also been raided and illegally searched by over 20 cops. No warrant was provided, the only reason given is that it was a matter of “national security.” Meanwhile the police raided several activist homes overnight, drawing guns on people, and towing cars. And after being told that the 3 Rivers Climate Convergence could leave tents setup overnight, low and behold, they have all disappeared by morning. Continue reading ‘I voted for Obama and all I got is this lousy police state’

Many climate advocates (including me) tuned in this morning to listen to some of the world’s most influential political leaders chip in their two cents about the need for a strong, science-based international climate treaty coming out of the Copenhagen negotiations this December. President Obama, President Hu Jintao of China, and more spoke at the UN General Assembly in New York City this morning and, for the most part, stuck to the talking points they’ve been stressing for the last few months. “We need to act,” they seemed to say, “just don’t make me say how, when, or where.”

President Obama went first and, while his presence at the meeting is certainly historic and influential, his speech was actually a bit dull. As Emily Gertz over at Change.org says, “The president’s remarks were, perhaps predictably, long on generalities and short on substance.” Many climate advocates and international diplomats were hoping Obama might lay out a his strategy for pushing clean energy legislation through the Senate (after all, it was just over a week ago that he went to Wall Street to call on Congress to enact financial reform at some point in the future), but instead he opted to continue his standard refrain, “I look forward to engaging with others as we move forward.” The full text of Obama’s speech can be read here. I don’t mean to sound distraught or upset at Obama’s remarks — after all, we’re leaps and bounds ahead of where we were eight months ago and his speech was a sort of global coming-out party for him in the international climate arena — but I am nervous that without Obama’s trademark spunk and enthusiasm, the global climate talks could sputter a bit. This morning, Obama needed to sound like the “Be the Change, Get up and Go, Yes We Can” man that inspired me and so many people of my generation. I’m sorry to say that he fell a little bit short. Continue reading ‘World Leaders Call for Action at UN Climate Summit, Offer Few Commitments’

IndyACT Slams Arab Heads of State for Lack of Action on  Climate Change

Last night  in Beirut, Lebanon more than 100 environmental activists sounded the alarm in Ein El-Mreiseh square.  This is where activists will also erect a Climate Change Countdown Clock to mark the short time line we have to reach a strong equitable global agreement at the UN Climate Negotiations (COP15). Most Arab Heads of State missed the  climate summit today in New York, so the action made sure to call on them to’wake up’ and engage in the negotiations.

Members, supporters and partners from the global league of independent Activists, IndyACT, sounded the alarms of their clocks and mobile phones, honked their horns and banged their musical instruments, making a tremendous noise in a symbolic action, part of a global ‘Wake-Up call’. The activists also held up a banner saying “it is time for climate action”, and another sign that says “Wake UP 12:18” to mark the 18th of December when a new global climate agreement is supposed to be reached.

This global call  took place simultaneously with over 2000 similar events in more than 120 countries, is a joint effort of the “TckTckTck” Campaign; an international alliance including IndyACT, 350.org, Greenpeace, Oxfam, WWF, and many others.  The action comes amid expert warnings that the UN climate pact in Copenhagen in December risks failure unless world leaders revive bogged-down negotiations at today’s UN Heads of State climate summit, ahead of the UN General Assembly.

“Again Arab leaders missed yet another opportunity to defend the survival needs of the region from climate change impacts.” said Wael Hmaidan, Executive Director of IndyACT. “While today’s climate summit is attended by Presidents of the US, France, China and many others, only Algeria participated at the Presidential level from the Arab region”, added Hmaidan. Continue reading ‘Arab Leaders Wake Up!’