It’s Getting Hot In Here

Check out the highlights reel from the DC Action Factory’s work in Pittsburgh!

Big props to Sarah Murphy for her hard work on pulling this together.

US President Barack Obama inspires millions with a message of eventual peace

Cross-posted from @ash_anderson’s blog

Many feel that a Nobel Peace Prize was a bit hasty

“Mr. Obama has been persistent in his message, from the beginning of his career in the Senate, through his historic election, and now in the early days of his presidency,” Said an international peace activist spokesperson. “His eloquent talking points and lofty promises have roused the hopes of all peace-loving people of the Earth.  Today we honor that ambition, and say, “Sounds GREAT! Now get to it!”

The US president has come under fire recently from some of his own supporters for what they perceive to be inconsistencies between Mr. Obama’s message and actual policy decisions he has made.  The increasingly disillusioned base points to Obama’s effort to escalate the war in Afghanistan, maintain Bush-era military spending, reauthorize the PATRIOT act and perpetuate secret CIA prisons as examples of why they believe a Nobel Peace Prize may be premature.  His lack of commitment to attending the Copenhagen climate negotiations look a bit out of place now as well.

“I woke up today to the news that Obama had won the Nobel Peace Prize,” said Jamie Salt, a self-described “American progressive” that campaigned for Obama last fall.  “My immediate reaction was, ‘Obama won the Nobel Prize?  That’s like someone getting a first place trophy for a marathon by talking about how fast they can run.’  In my opinion, Obama still has 20 miles to go.”

“Then I heard that he was getting the Go Get ‘Em Tiger! Award,” Jamie continued. “and that makes more sense.  Indeed, Mr. President.  We believe you can win.  You’ve got the overwhelming majority cheering you on.  Now quit shaking hands and hit the pavement.”

Hm, So I’m listening to National Public Radio today and I hear that our illustrious President has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. As I listen, I learn (ignoramus that I am) that the committee for the prize is located in Norway as opposed to Sweden, home of the other Nobel Prizes. Interesting. As I listen to the story, surprised that a man with few global accomplishments is getting the award, I remember all the way back to yesterday when news broke that Norway upped it’s emissions reductions to 40% below 1990 by 2020 at the Bangkok session of the climate talks.

In their statement on the prize, the Norwegian Nobel Committee gave their reasons, along with seeking to end nuclear proliferation, for choosing President Obama:

“Thanks to Obama’s initiative, the USA is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting.” –Nobel Prize Committee

And they also endorsed President Obama’s statement that:

“Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges.”

Indeed, now IS the time for a global response, a global response led by the United States and other industrialized nations to arrive  at a treaty in Copenhagen that is fair ambitious and binding. And just so you know, Mr. President, Copenhagen isn’t too far away from Oslo where you will be accepting your award on Dec. 10, so how about you hop over and save the negotiations after you are awarded ‘Mr. World Peace.” This isn’t global pageantry, this is survival.

It’s way past my bedtime, my body is screaming for sleep, and I am in utter unrest.

“6.3 degrees, 6.3 degrees, 6.3 degrees”…it keeps racing through my head.  According to a Washington Post article in late September, 6.3 degrees Fahrenheit is how much the planet will warm by the end of the century… even if the nations of the world pass the most ambitious climate policies currently on the table (http://bit.ly/6_3degrees).

6.3 degrees carries us twice past the point of what the world’s scientists call “catastrophic climate change.”  And I can’t help but wonder, what does that even mean?

I can barely even think straight, I’m so stunned and panicked.  What will the world look like by the time we finally stumble away from our addiction to fossil fuels?  What will I tell my children when they ask, “what took you so long?”  What will any of us have to say?  It’s so much grief, I just want to shut down altogether.  But a few questions occur to me:

What really matters to me about climate change?

If we’ve locked ourselves in for some degree of climate chaos, no matter what we do…well, then what do we want to do??  What becomes important at that point?

And what does this mean for my life’s work?

Continue reading ’6.3 Degrees: What Really Matters?’

If you want to take a break from all the PowerShift, climate bill, and Copenhagen craziness, you should check out Extreme Green Neighborhood Makeover, a plan initiated by Carbonfree DC in partnership with Green DMV (District, Maryland, Virginia) to retrofit and weatherize 20 deserving homes in Washington D.C. This great program will help D.C. residents reduce their climate emissions, utility bills and improve their quality of life while providing much needed jobs for the community.

“Another great part of this project” said Rhon Hayes, one of the co-founders of Green DMV, “is that some of the certified and trained technicians doing the work are right from the Southeast DC community. They were part of a green job training program funded by stimulus dollars and now they are using their newly acquired skills to help DC residents.”

Education is a key component of this project and they are using innovative new media to show the nuts and bolts of an energy audit. Check out Kenny, one of their auditors at work:

The residents of the 20 houses will also receive free trainings on energy efficiency, composting, recycling, and other sustainable life-choices. Programs like these are essential to make the clean energy revolution more tangible for people throughout the nation that haven’t had access to environmental education. Young people play an essential role in helping to push for these programs, convening the community, and recruiting volunteers.

Carbonfree DC and Green DMV were lucky enough to receive a money prize that will allow them to organize this program. Have any of you had any luck securing that type of money from your schools, local governments, or other sources for similar projects? Leave a comment and share your experience!

Cross-posted from the ACE Blog

No no, we’re not talking about the candy now and later – we’re talking about now OR later!

On the heels of the Consequence 09 Campaign, this post by Osa Igiede – a high school junior at Prospect Hill Academy in Cambridge, MA – seems especially relevant!  The rest of this post is authored by Osa Igiede.

“Well I wrote this poem after hearing about An Inconvient Truth and seeing the movie so many times it inspired me to write something about it that kids can relate to on their own level. Because it’s either we strive and do all the hard work now or suffer later when we no longer have snow on the ground.”

I’m so mad
I’m so mad that people don’t believe
that our world is being destroyed
till their is nothing left a null void
But this is something that can’t be ignored

That so many people have died
The sun is like instant death Carbon Monoxide
There is no more need for proof
I don’t care how many times you’ve seen an Inconvenient Truth
This isn’t something to do alone
We’ve got this sun tearing our ozone

Don’t you want to help save our home?
We’ve got cute polar bears clinging to ice cubes
Wind generators conducting electricity and do nothing but spin
I see solar homes and panels reach up to the sun just to soak it in
Creating energy Continue reading ‘Now OR Later?’

CHARLESTON, W.Va.- Fifteen movement elders between the ages of 50 and 83 set off on a Senior Citizen’s March to End Mountaintop Removal at 10 a.m. this morning.  The march was preceded by a rally and press conference in front of the State Capitol building, and is sponsored by a coalition that includes Climate Ground Zero, Mountain Justice, Intergenerational Justice and Christians for the Mountains. It is part of an ongoing civil disobedience campaign against mountaintop removal in West Virginia.

The seniors are walking five miles each day for five days, ending at Massey subsidiary Mammoth Coal on Monday, Oct. 12. In a statement issued by the US Mine Safety & Health Administration yesterday, Mammoth Coal was named as one of ten mining operators that need to improve performance or face tougher enforcement.

The mountaintop removal mine and processing plant, formerly operated by Cannelton Coal, was bought out by Massey in 2004. Massey cut the United Mine Workers of America contract and reopened the site, located east of Charleston on Route 60, as the non-union Mammoth Coal Company. The decision was met with a UMWA-organized picket and lawsuits.

“Mountaintop removal is closing in on our home place in Coal River, destroying the ridge up and down the river,” said Julian Martin, 73, a coal miner’s son and Vice President of the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, “I see mountaintop removal as probably the world’s worst environmental disaster.” Martin’s grandfather fought in the largest organized labor uprising in United States history, the Battle of Blair Mountain.
Continue reading ‘Senior Citizens Embark on 25 Mile March Against Mountaintop Removal’

The first regional Power Shift Summits are around the corner, building steam, and making news!

I just arrived in Michigan to help out the organizers here, and as I walked into their office, sitting on the doorstep was copies of the Lansing State Journal and the Detroit News.  We opened it up to find two prominently placed articles featuring this weekends Summit!

Check out the articles:

Lansing State Journal – “Up to 1,000 expected at ‘green’ summit in Lansing
Detroit News – “Youth unite for green summit in Lansing”

By organizing this massive mobilization, young people across Michigan are making their voices heard and demonstrating demand for their vision of a clean energy economy. As Michigan Student Sustainability Coalition organizer Scott Meloeny said in one the articles, “by the end of the summit, Meloeny said participants will be equipped to ‘”organize and work with communities and the media to run successful campaigns in their communities.”‘

“We will focus on local and statewide issues such as getting Michigan back to work with green jobs, clean energy and community infrastructure,” he said.

cross posted from Grist.
Video below.

Today marked one of the final days of the Bangkok UN Climate Negotiations. With the end of this intersessional in sight, the International Youth Delegation (IYD) has officially declared “No Confidence” in the road to Copenhagen.

With youth delegates from over 30 countries engaging in the Bangkok process, the IYD cited pathetically weak targets from the North, alarm that a second commitment period in the Kyoto Protocol will not be secured, and a lack of guarantees for protection of Indigenous peoples’ rights and interests, in its Declaration. The current text of the draft climate deal is so weak and so full of “false solutions” (measures like offsetting that actually make the problem worse) it is unacceptable.

Youth delegates representing each continent addressed the U.N. today, detailing the urgency of the crisis as it affects their communities currently, telling stories of their hope and organizing alongside their denunciation of the state of play in the UN Negotiations.

This week the Annex 1 (rich countries), attempted to kill the Kyoto Protocol (KP). We are nearing upon the end of the current KP term, and a lack of renewing it means that the world would lose the few legally binding international climate agreements it has (as insufficient as they are). The excuse is that the United States will not sign, and therefore the whole thing should be scrapped and an entirely new deal can be struck on its own. It is lunacy to think that this will yield a stronger outcome, and the G77 (the rest of the world) countries are furious. We have always known the US wont sign the KP; the world cannot continue to wait for the US to get on board. In Bali, the U.S. already committed to setting comparable targets to other Annex 1 countries, so the world could deal with the U.S. in the LCA (Long Term Cooperative Action).

This all amounts to a shell game: more dirty delaying tactics from self-interested countries who are content to strip away basic attempts at an international agreement (for example “compliance” – meaning that the U.S. would have international oversight of its targets, or “top-down target setting” – meaning the international community sets carbon targets together based on science, rather than each countries independently setting their targets based on what their fossil fuel extraction industries dictate).

Allowing the U.S. to drag the world out of existing legal obligations is disgraceful. These negotiations are going backwards.

Make no mistake: Our future is being held hostage to interests that have consistently thumbed their noses at the international community and their obligations to the rest of the world. This process has been polluted by self-interested corporations and nations looking to profit off of our crisis. They have been pushing false solutions that exacerbate rather than fix the problem. Not only are the targets set by rich countries weak, but they are deceptive. Rather than representing actual emissions reductions, they contain unacceptable proportions of offsets, which do not reduce emissions, and displace the burden back onto the developing countries of the world.
Continue reading ‘Bangkok: Rich Countries try to kill Kyoto, International Youth declare “No Confidence” in Road to Copenhagen’

Don’t let anyone EVER say Direct Action does NOT get the goods.

This was the site of many UK protests, direct actions and climate camps.  Big victory for people powered NVDA movements in the UK.

Kingsnorth power station plans shelved by E.ON

Kingsnorth power station site has been the scene of many protests including Camp For Climate Action last year.

E.ON, the energy group, tonight effectively threw in the towel on its plans to build a new coal-power station at Kingsnorth, blaming the recession.

In a heavy blow to the government’s plans to promote energy from coal, E.ON said lower demands for electricity due to the recession had pushed the need for the new plant in the UK to around 2016.

The company said, however, that it remained committed to the development of cleaner coal and carbon capture and storage “which we believe have a key role to play alongside renewables, gas and nuclear in tackling the global threat of climate change while ensuring affordability and security of energy supplies”.

While the company described the decision as a postponement, the announcement effectively scuppers the whole project, green groups said.

Kingsnorth has been shrouded in controversy ever since inception, with protests over several years including a high-profile Climate Camp protest. Continue reading ‘Direct Action DOES Get the Goods;UK’s Kingsnorth Power Station Stopped’