It’s Getting Hot In Here

There are BIG actions being planned in the Maldives this weekend to kick off the final week before the 350 International Day of Climate Action on October 24! Over 2,000 events are now planned in more than 150 countries for the day of action, with new events in Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Mongolia, Cambodia, Ghana, and more.

Stand by for loads of exciting coverage of the events in the Maldives.  But right now, check out this amazing promotional video some of the organizers there created … and help build the buzz. Thanks!

The Coal River Valley has been in the spotlight as of late. Coal River Mountain Watch has put it on the map as a model of communities working against mountaintop removal strip mining. More recently, the local to national alliances represented by Climate Ground Zero and Mountain Justice, through their campaign of non-violent civil disobedience, has made it into a flash point in the national movement to end mountaintop removal and rapidly and justly transition away from coal as an energy source.

Coal River Mountain Watch is getting ready to launch a new project in the valley – the Sustainable Economic and Energy Diversification (SEED) Program. Coal River Mountain Watch’s mission is to end mountaintop removal and create a sustainable economy in its place. SEED is working towards the second part of CRMW’s mission. The project will be directed by a council of community members. But, we need your help, please take a minute and vote for it to receive funding at www.brighterplanet.com

Continue reading ‘A SEED in the Coal River Valley’

I’m sure most of you are familiar with the long-standing deception campaign against global warming.  Although, you may think it’s over–just as Ross Gelbspan did in 2005 and Gwynne Dyer in 2008–but James Hoggan and Richard Littlemore’s Climate Cover-Up tells us it’s now going stronger than ever (at least in terms of funding).  Hoggan is a partner in a Canadian PR firm and, as a co-founder of the Desmogblog.com, he has been digging up dirt on climate deniers since 2005.

Although, I had some understanding of of this “climate cover-up” I liked to think of it as mostly over, too.  It was sobering and frustrating to learn more details about this ongoing campaign and its success in the minds of a majority of the public.  I think as someone fighting for bold climate action it is really helpful to better understand folks fighting against you and how they are organized.  I would definitely recommend the book, especially if you, like me and many others, felt like the climate denial campaign was mostly over.  Read on for more details about the book, my thoughts and links to recent related news.
Continue reading ‘Climate Cover-Up’

A group of 20 senior citizens, aged 50 to 88, concluded a 25 mile march to protest mountain top removal coal mining today. Read Coal Tattoo for the full story of this heroic journey.

What’s outrageous is the accusations made by Steve Walker, president of Walker Machinery, against two young activists who hung a banner from his building in solidarity with the senior marchers.

Start at 5 minutes in if you don’t want to watch it all.

The building’s huge sign reads, “CAT: Coal, yes coal – Clean, Carbon Neutral Coal”. It is an affront to the people of West Virginia and to reality. The climate activists took it upon themselves to correct the sign, by hanging a more truthful one on top of it, reading: “Yes Coal: Killing West Viginia Communities.”

Gabe and David were released “3:00 p.m on $100 personal recognizance” according to the Climate Ground Zero press release.

This gets outrageous when Steve Walker starts talking to a reporter from the WV Metro News. He says, “it’s very dangerous, what they did” and then goes on to compare them to suicide bombers.

I’m sorry Mr. Walker, but these kids hung a sheet off a roof. Mountain top removal is a dangerous practice of bombing our communities.

Continue reading ‘Steve Walker compares Climate Activists to Suicide Bombers’

Cross-posted from the Understory.

October 12-18 is World Rainforest Week. Every year, we take this opportunity to highlight rainforest destruction around the world – and what we are doing to stop it.

But I’d like to use this year’s World Rainforest Week to talk about a little-known threat that tar sands development poses to temperate (i.e. cold, not hot & sweaty) rainforests in British Columbia.

“Rainforests – in British Columbia??” you might say. That’s right: BC is home to the Great Bear Rainforest, an area of spectacular natural beauty and biodiversity, home to many species – like the “spirit” bear – that exist nowhere else in the world. Continue reading ‘Tar Sands Threaten Canada’s Rainforests’

Crossposted from the Understory.

Poor Big Oil. They’ve really been taking a hit lately. Between weak climate legislation that would marginally take a bite out of their mammoth profits, billion-dollar lawsuits accusing them of dumping wastewater in some rainforest somewhere, and direct actions blaming them for cooking the climate, oil companies have really been feeling the heat. And I’m sure that many of you, like me, have been saddened that this great American energy giant has been humbled by a bunch of Washington liberals and pinko commie hippie environmentalists.

But never fear: there’s a “grassroots movement” afoot to protect Big Oil’s American right to profit off of environmental destruction!

Recently, Greenpeace leaked a memo from that valiant defender of the oil industry’s rights, the American Petroleum Institute, to “API Member Company CEO/Executives.” The memo showed that a grassroots movement is afoot – led by API’s Executive Committee, with help from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, and “a highly experienced events management company” – to fight for Big Oil’s right to profits! This grassroots citizen-led movement (after all, the API are citizens, right??) will be organizing “Energy Citizen rallies” in 20 states across the country!

The objective of these rallies is to put a human face on the impacts of unsound energy policy and to aim a loud message at those states’ U.S. Senators to avoid the mistakes embodied in the House climate bill and the Obama Administration’s tax increases on our industry. … It’s important that our views be heard.

That’s right! After all, spending $700 million on lobbying over ten years – and billions more on advertising – can only get you so much publicity. It’s time for ordinary citizens to stand up and publicly demand justice for the oil industry!

Continue reading ‘“Grassroots” Movement Demands Justice for Big Oil’

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Secretariat, Yvo de Boer,  just issued its 18 page instruction letter to governments to help them prepare for the Copenhagen negotiations.

What was our buddy Yvo de Boer‘s last message to governments before signing off on the letter?

Give youth a voice on your delegations.

Specifically, his letter says:

Finally, I would like to bring to the attention of Parties a recent resolution (47/1) which was
adopted at the United Nations Commission for Social Development [CSocD] at its session in February 2009, which urges Parties ‘to consider including youth representatives in their delegations as appropriate, bearing in mind the principles of gender balance and non-discrimination, and emphasizes that such youth representatives should be selected through a transparent process which ensures that they have a suitable mandate to represent young people in their countries.’

(emphasis is mine)

That’s due to efforts at the Comission on Social Development (CSocD) by some countries, particularly Mexico, and many years of youth activism at the United Nations, including SustainUS’s, to push for more youth representation at these important meetings.

It’s not a binding resolution, and youth representatives on government delegations are not a substitute for independent youth voices. It also raises the question of whether other constituencies should get government spots if youth do.

Still, it’s one more way for youth to gain representation (and sometimes influence) when their governments try to speak for them and for their future.  So far, only a few governments actually include a youth representative on their delegations to United Nations meeting. Spots for youth reps to the climate negotiations are particularly sparse.

Maybe Yvo’s letter will start to change that.

Join Mountain Justice, Energy Justice Network and Rainforest Action Network as We Mobilize to End Mountaintop Removal.

SIGN UP:http://ran.org/endmtrdoa
WHAT: Actions at the EPA and across the country calling for an end to mountaintop removal
WHEN: Friday, Oct. 30
WHERE: Your Town, USA CONTACT:dirtymoney@ran.org;fossilfuels@enerjustice.net; or Mountain Justice at http://mountainjusticesummer.org/contact.php; or call 1-800-989-RAIN
INFO:http://dirtymoney.org;http://mountainjusticesummer.org; http://energyjusticenetwork.net

Join the National Day of Action to End Mountaintop Removal.

This is an American tragedy that we have the power to stop it.

The end of mountaintop removal is almost here. Political and financial decision-makers in New York, Washington D.C. and across the country continue to hear our message.

• Obama’s EPA has made some good first steps, but they need to continue getting our loud and clear message- End Mountaintop Removal! They ultimately have the power to veto the permits that allow mountaintop removal to exist.
• JPMorgan Chase is now the largest funder of mountaintop removal coal mining on Wall Street. Bank of America and Citibank both heard your voices and adopted policies to cease financing the worst coal companies. Chase’s financing keeps these mining companies in business and needs to stop.
• On the ground in Appalachia, coalfield communities and their allies have been taking action to stop mountaintop removal. Over 100 people have been arrested in Appalachia this year. We need to continue this fight in the hills and hollers, but also into the cities and streets of the entire country. Continue reading ‘End Mountaintop Removal Day of Action; October 30, 2009′

SHARE THIS VIDEO: Join @GreenpeaceUSA and @350 for a day of Action on October 24 http://ow.ly/tXId

http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/getinvolved/102409

All over the country and world on October 24th, people will be taking action to demonstrate our global collective desire to see a change in the politics and see urgent action to rescue the climate. We need world leaders to go to the international negotiations and achieve a treaty that is fair ambitious and binding, and we need out local leaders to help spur on our clean energy future and end fossil-fuel-based energy. Here in the US we need to send a strong message to president Obama to be our leader and fulfill the hope of the world that the US will lead the fight to save the climate.  Join us, or register your own event.

http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/getinvolved/102409

Cross-Posted from: here

I knew as soon as I read the Op-Ed in the NY Times Sunday co-authored by South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham and John Kerry.

As Energy Smart Now concludes “Let us hope that that “legitimate bipartisan effort” emerges and is reality-based. If it does, again, this might well go down as the most important OPED to appear in an American newspaper in 2009 … and perhaps even longer.” Continue reading ‘Landmark Op-Ed Means Climate Legislation’