It’s Getting Hot In Here

We’ve waged a long hard campaign against Wall Street the past 4 years to stop them from financing mountaintop removal.  Now we’re seeing some results!  Hooray for everyone who joined our work to stop MTR financing.

Top 4 US banks curb loans for destructive practice; Cut financing for Massey Energy

SAN FRANCISCO—Within the last two years, Bank of America, Citi, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo along with Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley have successively passed public policies limiting their financial relationships with coal operators that practice mountaintop removal (MTR) coal mining. These banks were the lead financiers of the practice prior to their policy shifts. Last month, Wells Fargo became the fourth top US bank to adopt a position limiting MTR financing. These policies signal a sector-wide shift away from a mining practice that has become increasingly controversial and a move toward more environmentally conscious fossil fuels financing.

The move comes as a response to more than three years of national pressure spearheaded by the environmental action group Rainforest Action Network (RAN). In 2007, RAN began with a campaign focused on Bank of America, the lead financier of MTR coal mining companies at the time. The group has gone on to work with all of the largest banks in the country to encourage the entire industry to shift its policies. This shift in the banking sector is consistent with a national move away from the mining practice, which recently both scientists and the federal government have confirmed causes irrevocable harm to landscape and water quality.

“Money talks – and it is saying loud and clear that mountaintop removal coal mining is a bad investment. With the move away from mountaintop removal coal mining, our country’s top banks are showing that they know they can do well while doing good for our environment and our public health,” said Rebecca Tarbotton, executive director of the Rainforest Action Network. “We are seeing a sector-wide shift away from an increasingly controversial practice that is devastating Appalachian communities and the mountains and streams they depend on.” Continue reading ‘Wall Street Backs Away From Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining’

Recently here in the Bay Area, Mobilization for Climate Justice-West held a Teach In on the BP oil disaster, to prep for an upcoming action on the Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Here’s an excerpt from Carla Perez from Movement Generation, talking about root causes:

Elections in Australia don’t have a predictable two year marathon time-line.  Instead, the sitting prime minister calls an election and then everyone has 5 weeks to campaign, because on the 5th weekend the voting happens (which is mandatory, but more on that in a bit)

A few weeks ago, when Julia Gillard called an election, it couldn’t have come at a better or worse time for the Australian Youth Climate Coalition.  I worked as the Interim Online Director for the AYCC from March-May and during that time we were plagued by uncertainty.  When should we hold regional powershifts? What was our election campaign?  How could we plan something creative and hard-hitting without being way too early or late?  Well, you act on what you know, fake the rest, and charge full steam ahead.

As it turns out, the election was called the weekend after the last Powershift conference.  Perfect.  It also meant that the organization was at 110% capacity to put on three conferences, and then had to implement a many-part election campaign on top of that. Not so perfect.

What did they do? What any good organization should: they set their sights even higher, raised more money, brought on more staff and volunteers, and set about making it happen.  The AYCC has rolled out a full-blown election campaign with stunts, calls to politicians and a TV ad encouraging people to vote.  I know a lot of them haven’t slept in weeks, but it’s amazing:

Continue reading ‘Climate Election Down Under’

Will 2010 be remembered as the year when nature struck back? We’ve witnessed the devastating Earthquake in Haiti, the toxic oil gusher in the Gulf, and now, historic floods in Pakistan that have killed over 1,000 people and displaced millions more.

And those are just the international headlines. Dig a little deeper and you’ll find the stories about record heat in Russia, hurricanes slamming Mexico, or raging infernos in southern California.

Yet, despite the horrors – and they truly have been horrors, just take a moment to watch this week’s video footage of entire towns wiped off the map in Pakistan – it’s likely that when our collective memory looks back on 2010 we’ll remember protagonists like Obama, LeBron, and Gaga, not Mother Earth.

Our rapidly degrading planet, and the human suffering that accompanies its decline, is a storyline that the mainstream media just can’t quite seem to grasp.

Let’s take the current crisis. As the flood waters in Pakistan recede, will the media dig into the causes of these floods with the same gusto with which they’ve tracked terrorists, imams, and leaks?

Doubtful. The coverage I’ve seen over the past few days has made no mention of climate change and its role in intensifying monsoons like the one now devastating the Himalayas. Of course, the destruction of human homes should take the headlines, but the narrative of how we’re wrecking humanity’s home should be in the articles.

Just as war correspondents connect a car bomb to a conflict, we need reporters who can connect a crisis to the climate.

Continue reading ’2010: The year nature struck back?’

Le francais suivant

A call to join the 2010 Quebec Climate Action Camp in Dunham Quebec, August 7-23 – Convergence Days 18-22

We must act swiftly to tackle the root causes of climate change and create the systemic change needed to avert climate catastrophe. So that’s what we’re doing: Taking action. Building a movement. Collectively, we can become a force to be reckoned with. Come to Dunham this August and be a part of it.

The Quebec Climate Action Camp will bring together rebels and renegades, gardeners and guardians, young and old. We will combine our hearts, hands, minds and spirits to challenge the Trailbreaker, a pipeline that snakes from the heart of the Tar Sands to the Eastern seaboard. Specifically, we will be trying to prevent the construction of a proposed pumping station – a key component of the Trailbreaker’s infrastructure – that threatens the local community of Dunham, Quebec.

But the goal of the camp is not only to confront a single destructive entity.We want to show the possibility of another world – green, sustainable, and free of fossil fuels.

The camp will take place from August 7th until the 23rd, with Convergence Days on 18th to 22nd. Run on participatory, non-hierarchical principles, the camp will be the product of the participants. The concentrated programming and organized workshops and trainings will happen during the Convergence Days, but there will also be plenty of space for autonomous workshops, discussions, collective cooking and everything in between.

The camp will feature issues of food security, migrant justice and indigenous solidarity, local agricultural initiatives and fossil fuels, green solutions, biking and climbing, queer and gendered analysis of environmental justice and lots, lots more. The camp will also include creative non-violent direct actions.

Details:

The camp will take place at the Hameau l’Oasis de Dunham located 1 hour southeast of Montreal at 1964 Scottsmore Rd, Dunham. We are asking for a daily contribution of $5 to cover location and logistical costs. Three free, delicious meals a day will be provided from our communal kitchens. There is a large area set aside for camping. Or you can rent rooms for $10 a night at the Hameau. Check out http://www.jardinsdelaterre.org/hameau.html or call 450.263.6056 for more details. Continue reading ‘Like Action? Like Camping? Like Learning How to Tackle the Climate Crisis? Then This Climate Action Camp Is For You!’

After spending a few weeks on the road with The Bluebird, Alliance for Climate Education‘s Connect the DOTs Biobus Tour team – Ethan “Superman” Burke and Michael “Dude with the DOTs” LaFemina has become a well oiled machine, literally!

Last Thursday, stomachs a-rumbling, they grabbed some fried plantains and Central American pastries in South L.A., while also feeding the bus a little good morning grease. The breakfast was a success: they were full AND got enough grease to drive to San Francisco. See how they power the bus with fry grease:

The biobus began its journey through California on July 17th and its fearless crew has wound through San Diego and Los Angeles, throwing solar-powered concerts on the bus roof with bands like The Wiley One and day-long events at places like the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific.

They are now getting back on the road, zooming north at nearly 55 mph (whoa slow down!), to close out the tour in San Francisco later this week.

This Saturday, August 7th, we’re throwing a day-long climate shindig outside of the ever-awesome California Academy of the Sciences. Seasunz will be performing from his new album Earth Amplified at 4pm and we’ll host tours of The Bluebird in between performances of our interactive climate Assembly. If you live in the Bay Area, we hope you’ll come out to see us and choose your DOT, your Do One Thing!

By Teryn Norris & Daniel Goldfarb

This article originally appeared at the National Journal Energy Expert Blog as part of a special series called “Can The U.S. Keep Up In Clean Energy Race?“

U.S. economic leadership is at a crossroads. Recent outlooks suggest we may experience long-term stagnation and unemployment comparable to Japan’s lost decade. Yet while we have suffered an economic crisis produced by our own financial sector – losing millions of jobs, trillions in economic output, and further damaging our industrial base – China has largely shrugged off the global recession with high levels of growth and self-financed stimulus, all while purchasing billions of Treasury bills to finance our own deficit.

Meanwhile, as Breakthrough Institute and ITIF documented in “Rising Tigers, Sleeping Giant,” China and other nations are establishing dominance in one of the largest growth industries of the century. According to World Economic Forum, the global clean energy market will reach $450 billion annually by 2012 and $600 billion by 2020. Full market potential for clean energy products is much larger, with one analysis estimating Chinese market potential alone at $500 billion to $1 trillion. No wonder President Obama declared in the State of the Union, “The nation that leads the clean-energy economy will be the nation that leads the global economy.”

The United States must quickly pursue a new growth agenda, and clean energy technology offers one of our greatest opportunities. For over a decade, the primary goal of U.S. climate and clean energy advocates has been to establish a strong carbon pollution cap. This agenda is dead for the foreseeable future, and precious time has been wasted. The United States must quickly pivot from pollution regulation to an aggressive clean energy competitiveness and innovation agenda, and we can begin with new leadership in the next Congress.

Continue reading ‘How America Can Lead the Clean Energy Race’