It’s Getting Hot In Here

Written by Will Fischer, student leader at Washington University in St. Louis

The students have spoken!

In response to demonstrated student outcry over the naming of the “Consortium for Clean Coal Utilization” and with momentum from last week’s flash mob protest, on Wednesday the Wash U Student Union Senate unanimously passed a resolution urging the administration to change the Consortium’s name. More details in the Wash U student newspaper Student Life article.

The vote came after a week of intense lobbying by students, during which senators received an extraordinary number of emails from constituents in support of the resolution. The resolution originated in last week’s session, but the vote was postponed until after a drafting session could be held to address senators’ concerns. Wednesday’s senate session was packed with supportive students who applauded after the resolution was passed in the first 15 minutes of the meeting. Continue reading ‘Viva La Resolution: Wash U Senate Urges University to Change Name of “Consortium for Clean Coal Utilization”’

Seriously, if you aren’t going to be in Copenhagen, ask yourself why won’t you be in West Virginia defending Coal River Mountain on Dec 7?

As climate justice movements turn towards the floundering talks in Denmark, people in Appalachia are in the fight of their lives to save Coal River Mountain and end mountaintop removal.  On Dec. 7, we’ll be rallying and protesting at the WV Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) demanding that they stop the blasting on Coal River Mountain.

For almost a year Climate Ground Zero and Mountain Justice have joined coalfield residents in taking direct action to stop mountaintop removal operations in southern West Virginia (with over a 100 arrests) because agencies like the WV DEP refuse to do their jobs.

A few weeks ago, 13 activists in Washington D.C. staged a sit-in at the EPA headquarters demanding that they take action to stop the blasting on Coal River Mountain.  On the same day in almost 30 cities, anti-mountaintop removal activists took action calling on the EPA and other entities to end mountaintop removal.

So please check your calendar and ask yourself: if you aren’t going to be Copenhagen, why won’t you be in West Virginia on Dec. 7.

CALL TO ACTION: Save Coal River Mountain Rally and Protest

West Virginia Dept. of Environmental Protection; Charleston WV; Dec 7 at 2pm

When:Monday, December 7, 2009; 2:00pm

Where: WV Dept. of Environmental Protection Headquarters – 601 57th Street SE, Charleston, WV

Contact:savecoalriver@gmail.com; www.savecoalrivermountain.org

Register Here on Facebook

In their insatiable quest to maximize profits Massey Energy has initiated mountaintop removal coal extraction operations on Coal River Mountain. The blasting has begun as the rumble of explosives and plumes of smoke coming from the mountain are being seen and heard. Continue reading ‘Save Coal River Mountain Rally and Protest; Charleston WV; Dec 7 at 2pm’

As President Obama wraps up his trip to China today, he and President Hu should be looking at Chinese and American civil society for an example of how their countries can work together in tackling the climate crisis. On the 350 International Day of Climate Action, over 300 events took place in China along with nearly 2,000 across the United States, making October 24 the largest day of climate action either country had ever seen.

It’s clear that the US and Chinese public are ready for climate action. Now, it’s time for our leaders to step it up. In case they needed some extra inspiration, here’s a collection of October 24 photos from both countries:

Read on for more images and some thoughts on US-China Collaboration.

Continue reading ‘China and US Youth Ready for Climate Action’

Today over 40 environmental ministers from countries around the world, including the biggest emitters US and China, wrapped up their final hours of talks before the United Nations climate negotiations in Copenhagen on Dec 7th. The meetings conclude two days after the Obama administration seemed to suggest strong support for Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen’s (who made this guy the mouthpiece of the climate plan anyway? It’s kind of like Gov Schwarzenegger wanting to manage Disneyland because it’s California.) delay proposal to push aside a treaty in Copenhagen.

As the final hours ticked town in the Pre-COP meeting the world is left to make sense of comments that a global climate treaty this December is out of reach. Yet, it seems now more than ever, that ‘impossible’ is not an option for leaders. DELAY KILLS!

Any further delay of a global climate treaty will only diminish the possibility of curbing climate change before it is too late. Every year over 300,000 people die due to climate change related events. Simply put – every day there is no treaty over 800 people die because of climate inaction. This is a grave problem and the solution is apparent, we only wait for the ambitious leadership to achieve it.

Continue reading ‘Delay Kills.’

I have an op-ed column out today that attacks the threat of a nuclear power plant in Maryland by looking at recent fruitless attempts to build plants, and the cost born by ratepayers.

A common perception of nuclear power is that it’s an affordable, carbon-free energy source that could meet a lot of America’s demand for electricity, if only those darn environmentalists would get out of the way. Unfortunately for nuclear power advocates and Maryland ratepayers, this statement crumbles upon contact with reality. Continue reading ‘Nuclear energy: Don’t believe the sticker price’

Wanted to share this insightful (and quite funny and fun to read) rebuttal of Thomas Friedman’s recent ignorant and shallow New York Times column. Chris Lang takes Friedman’s arguments apart, line by line. Cross posted from REDD Monitor. Enjoy.

Why did Conservation International invite Thomas Friedman to go to Brazil?

Thomas Friedman’s most recent column for the New York Times comes from Tapajós National Forest, Brazil. His trip was organised by Conservation International and the Brazilian government (Friedman doesn’t say who paid). Conservation International could not have chosen a better journalist to back up their pro-carbon market ideology. Friedman, author of The World is Flat and Hot, Flat and Crowded, firmly believes that markets are the solution, regardless of the question. Even better, Friedman is incapable of putting forward an argument. He doesn’t even try. He simply makes statements and assumes that because he’s made them they must be true. His latest offering “Trucks, Trains and Trees“, reveals his genius for taking a complex issue and rendering it as complete gobbledygook.

Friedman’s story is straightforward enough: Man flies from the USA to the Brazilian rainforest. The rainforest is full of trees. Saving the rainforest will allow man to continue flying.

Matt Taibbi, the journalist who recently described Goldman Sachs as “a great vampire squid“, points out that Friedman doesn’t actually do anything except write books and newspaper columns. “So in my mind it’s highly relevant if his manner of speaking is fucked,” Taibbi writes. Taibbi has taken apart Thomas Friedman’s manner of speaking on several (very entertaining) occasions.

“No matter how many times you hear them, there are some statistics that just bowl you over,” Friedman starts his article. The statistic he’s talking about is the “roughly 17 per cent” of global emissions coming from deforestation. That statistic doesn’t bowl me over. It became a cliché several years ago. Clearly, Friedman hasn’t heard this statistic very often, which perhaps indicates how much research Friedman did before writing this article. Last week, Friedman’s friends at Conservation International signed a statement that states “The best current estimate would be about 15% if peat degradation is included.” Without peat degradation (Friedman does not mention peat in his article) the figure is more like 12%.

Friedman continues:

“It is going to be a long time before we transform the world’s transportation fleet so it is emission-free. But right now — like tomorrow — we could eliminate 17 percent of all global emissions if we could halt the cutting and burning of tropical forests.”

To Friedman, then, “right now” is the same as “like tomorrow”. Perhaps he’s never had to negotiate with a five year old child who is threatening to throw his wallet down the toilet. Otherwise he would recognise the difference between “Give me the wallet, right now” and “Give me the wallet, like tomorrow”.

Friedman can see no way to change the world’s transportation fleet overnight, so he suggests we forget that inconvenient source of emissions. But stopping deforestation? Easy. So why don’t we do it “right now – like tomorrow”?

Continue reading ‘Why did Conservation International invite Thomas Friedman to go to Brazil?’

I was wide awake until 3am last night watching President Obama take questions from students in Shanghai, China, after announcing over the weekend that the expectations for the United Nation’s climate meeting in Copenhagen next month will be significantly scaled back.

Seeing a president who wants to be a part of the solution to the negative effects of harmful pollution and dirty energy address a crowd of young people should have been rewarding. Instead, I couldn’t help but feel disappointed that he has yet to engage with the young Americans in the youth climate movement in the same way. Especially since we’re here, rallying around these essential issues using the grassroots organizing skills he championed during the election, trying to underscore the “fierce urgency of now” he encouraged us to believe in.

Maybe if the president had engaged with us more deeply, he would understand that young people know we can’t put politics before progress on climate and energy.

Sadly, President Obama isn’t showing the leadership on the climate crisis that millions of young people expected from Candidate Obama. It’s game time, but instead of making the winning basket, he’s called for a delay of game.

We’re not going to sit back and watch that happen. Continue reading ‘Young Americans Won’t Let Obama Waste Copenhagen Opportunity’

I wanted to share this piece from Bill McKibben with you all. I’ve also been torn up about Obama’s lack of leadership over the last few days, especially since we’ve seen so much great leadership from the grassroots over the past weeks. Curious to see what you all think:

Mr. President: Time to Quit Fibbing and Spinning
by Bill McKibben, (cross posted from Mother Jones)

Two caveats. First, early in the primary season, when I was asked to join Environmentalists for Obama, I signed on immediately. I knocked doors, made phone calls, gave money, and celebrated his victory—I think he’s the best president of my lifetime.

Second, Obama has done much that’s right about climate, including surround himself with a stellar staff of advisers. From auto mileage to green stimulus spending, he’s done more to deal with global warming than all of the presidents combined in the 20 years that it’s been an issue.

But that’s a pretty low bar. And the announcement yesterday from the APEC meeting in Singapore that next month’s Copenhagen climate talks will be nothing more than a glorified talking session makes it clear that he has, at least for now, punted on the hard questions around climate. The world won’t be able to get started on solving our climate problem, and the obstacle—as it has been for the last two decades—is the United States.

Continue reading ‘Mr. President: Time to Quit Fibbing and Spinning’

There are just over three weeks to Copenhagen and the term “boy-scout” has come up several times. “We’re always the Boy Scout in the room,” said Sandra Pupatello, Minister of Economic Development and Trade. Days earlier, Jim Prentice “wants the world to know he’ll be no Boy Scout when crucial climate-change talks convene in Copenhagen a month from now.”

Who ever thought of Canada as a boy scout? Boy scouts cooperate, right? Boy scouts respect others, right? Boy scouts do not go to international negotiations to repeatedly stand in the way of international cooperation only to receive a colossal fossil award…right?

If the Canadian government was a boy scout, a number of events in the past months would have unfolded a little differently: Continue reading ‘Sorry Canada, You Ain’t No Boy Scout’

Aside from statisticians rejecting global cooling, this has got to be one of the most damning sets of temperature data that I’ve ever seen. This kind of information should be forwarded widely. Article is re-printed below.

Record High Temperatures Far Outpace Record Lows Across U.S. Continue reading ‘Record High Temperatures outpace Record Lows’