It’s Getting Hot In Here

Rainforest Action Network Toronto activists took part in a nation-wide campaign against Royal Bank of Canada and set up a coffee shop in front of the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) at Yonge and Bloor in Toronto to protest the bank’s involvement in the tar sands. Activists served coffee and tea, providing a visual protest against the water contamination produced by the Alberta Oil Industry.

The tar sands are the top polluter of water resources in Canada. The industry has diverted water from rivers and streams, and contaminated lakes which once provided fish, a staple food for local people. RAN Toronto activists were joined by other anti-tar sands activists, as well as anti-Olympic activists. Continue reading ‘Serving Fresh Cups of Reality to Tar Sands Financiers’

If you’ve been watching the network news lately, you might have noticed the story about the Republican party eating its own candidates in the special election contest for New York’s 23rd Congressional District. The 23rd district is being given up by Republican John McHugh, who is now serving in the Obama administration. He was one of the 8 Republicans who voted for the Waxman-Markey climate legislation back in June. The contest for this moderate district has been a three-way race between Democrat Bill Owens, Republican Dierdre Scozzafava, and Conservative (tea-party) candidate Dan Hoffman. Continue reading ‘New York’s 23rd District and Clean Energy’

Yesterday, 13 people sat in while 50 rallied calling on the EPA to intervene at Coal River Mountain and end mountaintop removal.  Here’s the video.

As I mentioned in a previous post, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu is an energy efficiency geek and that’s why he is loved by anyone that has a rational view on energy policy.

Today he gave us efficiency geeks another reason to gloat by writing a fantastic piece on HuffingtonPost explaining in plain words the importance of home weatherization (or “saving money by saving energy” as he likes to say) and outlining new federal programs to help average Americans cope with the high upfront cost that comes with reducing residential energy use.

Read more here

(Photo Credit: Emmett McGregor)

Today we took our protests against mountaintop removal national.  Decision-makers from in New York and Washington D.C. have been getting the message loud and clear that mountaintop removal’s end must come soon.  Hundreds participated today with Mountain Justice, Rainforest Action Network, Energy Justice Network and other environmental groups in nationwide protests demanding an end to mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia.

Furthermore, activists raised the issue of Coal River Mountain, the last intact mountain in the Coal River Valley that Massey Energy started mountaintop removal operations on in recent weeks.  A national outcry has gone out over Coal River Mountain prompting many environmental groups to call EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and President Obama.

As part of the national day of, 13 people staged a sit-in at the EPA headquarters in Washington, DC. They were joined by 50 coalfield residents and allies who held a rally in front of the building.  The sit-in ended peacefully with no arrests after it was evident that the EPA is getting the message about mountaintop removal loud and clear. Continue reading ‘End Mountaintop Removal: Sit-ins, Zombies, Protests, Banner Drops Oh My!’

Photo Credit: Chris Eichler

Live blog (See release below for more details:)

2:02 All activists still sitting inside.  Outside protest marched under EPA archways chanting loudly and are still causin’ a ruckus outside in solidarity.  Activists aren’t leaving until blasting on Coal River Mountain stops

1:57 more great photos and accounts from around the country from Jeff Biggers at HuffPo

1:07 first video looking into the protest in the main lobby (photographers not allowed inside…)

1:04 from Scott Parkin’s twitter: “rally outside holdin strong while sit in still goin”

12:56 Photos uploaded here

12:50 Here’s the letter WV resident Bo and Chuck tried to deliver to the EPA today. Download PDF

12:20 pm After 45 minutes, all activists still sitting with arms linked inside EPA main entrance.

14 Activists Stage a Sit-In at the EPA to Spark Urgent Action on Mountaintop Removal

Environmentalists Ask EPA to Stop Recent Blasting on Coal River Mountain, WV; Site of Proposed Wind Farm
WASHINGTON– As part of a national day of action to stop mountaintop removal coal mining, 14 activists have staged a sit in at 11:30 the EPA. Dozens others are also holding a rally in front. They are asking the EPA to take immediate action to stop the mountaintop removal blasting that began this week on Coal River Mountain, WV, the site of a proposed wind farm.

While President Obama spent the week trumpeting his administration’s support for clean energy, Massey Energy began dynamiting Coal River Mountain in West Virginia, which is the site of the proposed 328-megawatt wind farm. Coal River Mountain gained national notoriety after a study showed that its peaks and ridges have enough wind potential to provide 70,000 households with electricity, support 700 long-term green jobs and give back $1.7 million in annual county taxes. Massey Energy began dynamiting those peaks this week in preparation for a massive mountaintop removal project. Continue reading ‘Breaking: EPA Sit-In to Spark Urgent Action on MTR’

Washington, Oct 28-Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) yesterday sent a letter to the President and CEO of American Municipal Power Ohio (AMP) at AMP’s annual meeting in Cleveland, requesting a delay in the final decision on proceeding with a proposed coal-fired power plant to serve the municipal-owned power companies in Ohio.

In the letter, Kucinich says to AMP CEO Marc Gerken:

As you gather for your annual conference, I strongly urge you to defer any final decision which would commit AMP to moving forward with large-scale coal-fired power generation and place your member municipalities at risk. At a time when the need for legislative action on climate change has never been greater and Congress and the EPA are more poised than ever to take action, the regulatory landscape remains in flux. Now is not the time to put cities, and the people who live there, in greater financial straits. I urge you to not issue a final notice to proceed.

Full text available here.

The CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation), Canada’s largest news service, asked this question yesterday on their Power & Politics program. My answer is below, and you can add yours or ‘agree and disagree’ with posted comments by clicking here.

No and yes.

The federal government knows, and agrees with, what the science is saying. The sticking point is it is acting in a manner that assumes Canada deserves to pollute more than other rich and industrialized countries.

The government should step up to the plate and commit to doing our part. Canada is now among the top 10 greenhouse gas polluters in the world and is among the top 3 polluters per capita. Yet, every single G8 country is doing more than Canada on global warming. The US, for example, is investing 14x more in renewable energy per capita this year than Canada.

[Read: It's like showing up to a world pot-luck where every one else has cooked a meal and Canada thinks it's appropriate to show up with a bag of potato chips.] Continue reading ‘“Do you think the government is serious about climate change? Should it be?”’

Hey Bonner & Associates- here’s what astroturf looks like!

Today’s Congressional hearing shone light on the fraudulent letters sent to three congressmen on behalf of Bonner & Associates just days before the vote on the House energy bill (ACES) this past summer.  In short, we investigated astroturfing. The unfortunate tactics employed by the opponents of clean energy to blatantly co-opt and misrepresent members of already marginalized communities- the NAACP, seniors, and women, amongst others – and undermined genuine grassroots efforts.

In the same way that big tobacco once masqueraded the toxicity of cigarettes, Bonner & Associates led elected officials to believe that the groups most effected by the unjust realities of climate change and dirty energy were against passing provisions in the House to stop climate change and create clean energy jobs.

While politics have never been pretty, there are certain lines you just don’t cross. Until today.

Three action factory fellows showed what today was really about: the coal lobby and their astroturf operation.  The few supporters of Bonner and Coal were sitting just to our right, undoubtedly sweating as Jack Bonner and Steve Miller (President of American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity) were tirelessly grilled by Sen. Ed Markey and Rep. Jay Inslee. Continue reading ‘Blowing the Whistle on Astroturf’

Written by Chris Connolly and Amara Possian.

The media response to the youth protest that disrupted Question Period in the Canadian House of Commons on Monday has completely missed the mark. As participants of Power Shift Canada, last weekend’s climate change summit that brought together over 1000 young Canadians to engage legitimately with our democratic institutions, we feel obligated to respond.

It would be easy to discredit the media’s representation of our fellow youth as an unfair caricature, but that would be beside the point. What’s striking is not that there was an eruption of overt civil disobedience. What’s striking is why. Continue reading ‘It’s time to listen to the youth climate movement’