It’s Getting Hot In Here

Released by the Sierra Youth Coalition

OPEN LETTER TO THE PARLIAMENT OF CANADA
FROM THE SIERRA YOUTH COALITION
RE: BILL C-49: Preventing Human Smugglers from Abusing Canada’s Immigration System Act

The Sierra Youth Coalition is deeply concerned about the new immigration and refugee legislation—Bill C-49, Preventing Human Smugglers from Abusing Canada’s Immigration System Act—as it will unfairly punish those seeking asylum in Canada. Bill C-49 would allow for any group of migrants claiming refugee status to be jailed for a period of at least one year and denied basic social services such as health care. This bill also gives arbitrary power to deport migrants after they have been granted refugee status and bars them from applying for permanent residence for five years. This legislation is both unjust and unacceptable and should be withdrawn immediately.

Forced migration and displacement due to loss of lands, clean water and clean air is an issue of increasing importance in the world today. We are seeing clear human impacts of climate change, which will continue to increase in the years ahead. The Government of Canada has refused to take ambitious action on climate change, which has been made apparent through its lack of support for transformative change at international forums such as the UN Climate Change Negotiations and G8/G20 meetings.

Photo Credit: Getty Images

The Government of Canada has refused to take responsibility for the effects of its extractive practices, with the continued expansion of the tar sands in Canada and the recent defeat of Bill C-300, which would have ensured that Canadian mining, oil and gas companies continue to follow human rights and environmental best practices, even when operating outside our own borders. The results of inaction on climate change will lead to more displaced persons worldwide. As a prosperous nation and home to many corporations that profit off natural resources, Canada must accept its responsibility to those hit first and worst by social and environmental injustices and political persecution. As such, we insist that Bill C-49 be scrapped. At the same time we demand the continued targeting of migrants and refugees be stopped, and that individuals who are subject to forced migration and displacement have their rights upheld.

The Sierra Youth Coalition embraces the ideals of social justice and anti-oppression as part of the framework which guides our work. As a Canadian coalition of young people concerned about global environmental justice, we feel that it is imperative that this bill not pass. Social and environmental sustainability is incredibly important, and it is ours and future generations that will be faced with the decisions made today. Environmental justice is not possible without addressing inequities and issues of social injustice within our society so we can create a better world together.

Americans take our security pretty seriously.  Ever since the color-coded threat level was introduced, we’ve quietly gone along with indignities like highway checkpoints and restrictions on who can use public libraries.  The latest indignity?  ‘Enhanced Patdowns’ for air travelers that would be considered sexual assault if they were conducted by the government.  The 4th amendment of the constitution protect us from “unreasonable searches and seizures.”

Coal mine deaths, fines and significant violations for the 10 largest coal mine controllers, 2000-2009 | The Coal Truth | Investigative Reporting Workshop-1

Speaking of protection, who actually needs government protection every day?  Coal miners do.  A recent report shows that Massey Energy is the deadliest coal company in America.  Even before the April 5th explosion that killed 29 miners, Massey coal and its operators had the highest number of deaths between 2000 and 2009.  MSNBC details just how bad Massey’s safety record is, even as Don Blankenship claims to make safety a top priority.

We need enhanced patdowns of coal companies.  We need to take seriously the threat that the heartland of America faces every day from the reckless and exploitative industries that keep us hooked on fossil fuels.  Miners do hard work every day and deserve our admiration and respect.  Van Jones, speaking at a fundraiser for the Ecology Center in Michigan, said it far better than I can:

This morning 80,000 Americans got up and went to work in the coal mines. And they are America’s heroes, okay? They risk their lives, their lungs, their limbs every day to go down there and keep the lights on and power America the way we’ve always done it. 80,000 people. Nobody would disrespect them.

Well, guess what? 80,000 people got up and went to work in the wind industry in America today. 80,000. In this economy, this battered economy. The solar industry, this morning, supported 46,000 jobs. 46,000 Americans went to work in the solar industry TODAY. Now that doesn’t count Smart Batteries, Smart Grid, biofuels, energy sustainability and on and on. The energy sector, just energy, has already grown jobs at that clip. Continue reading ‘Enhanced Patdowns or Fighting the Real Domestic Terrorists: Massey’s Deadly Record’

Every extractive industry deeply affects the relationship between people on the land and their newly manufactured landscape. The incredibly rapid development of the tar sands in Northern Alberta is having a profound affect on the culture, lifestyle and health of the First Nations. Conversely, communities have gained employment, and access to modern health care and services. Is the stability and preservation of a culture better served through attention to traditional lifestyle or to commerce and industry? This multimedia piece on Vimeo explores this story and the consequences of the Tar Sands development on the First Nations of Northern Alberta.

Special thanks to Northern Cree for the music and to all the individuals and groups in Fort McMurray, Fort Chipewyan and Fort McKay that made this possible.

crossposted from photographer vanwaardenphoto.com

There’s a new program at George Fox University, just outside of Portland, Oregon – Christian Earthkeeping. The University describes its program by saying, “Christian Earthkeeping is the Church’s response to the ecological crisis and to God’s command to ‘keep’ the Earth (Genesis 2:15).”

For too long climate change and sustainable living have been the domain of secular environmentalism, even though there’s a biblical basis for why Christians should care for the Earth, the professor who created the course told the Oregonian.

Continue reading ‘Christian Earthkeeping’

Cross-posted from the Sierra Student Coalition:

From the Missourian, Photo Credit: Lindsay Moser

Yesterday and over the past week students coast-to-coast

demonstrated their demand for a clean energy future with displays of hundreds of paper pinwheels on more than 50 campuses.

With the National Action for a Clean Energy Future students turned their quads, libraries, administration buildings and campus walkways into creative centers demonstrating our demand for cleaner energy to power our campuses and our nation.  The colorful pinwheels represent the creative and innovative solutions we need, and will now be sent to Washington, D.C. where local youth are bringing them to members of Congress, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy on December 1st to demonstrate the demands of young people nation-wide.  Here are some of the stories from yesterday…

At Mizzou students set-up 500 pinwheels at their quad. From the Missourian:

“The pinwheels were created by MU students out of recycled paper as a symbol our generation’s desire for a clean energy future,” said Melissa Vatterott, a spokeswoman for Coal Free Mizzou. “The pinwheel idea is used to symbolize clean energy sources, such as wind power.”

University of North Carolina students used the event to focus on their university’s broken promise to stop purchasing mountaintop removal coal with their Music Saves Mountain event featuring Ben Sollee who helped them deliver a letter directly to Chancellor Thorp. Continue reading ‘Students Take Action for Our Clean Energy Future’

Thom Yorke, lead singer of the iconic band Radiohead, has added his voice to the 350 EARTH project. Yesterday, he posted a link to the project on the Radiohead website with the succint explanation, “The plan is to make images from the skies // to remind those in Cancun that we’re running out of time // we can’t keep putting this off.”

Along with inspiring millions with his music, Yorke has been a longtime advocate of climate action. When he released his solo album, The Eraser, in 2006, Yorke explained:

In the paper one day, [Friends of the Earth activist] Jonathan Porritt was basically dismissing any commitment that the working government has toward addressing global warming, saying that their gestures were like King Canute trying to stop the tide. And that just went “kaching” in my head. It’s not political, but that’s what I feel is happening. We’re all King Canutes, holding our hands out, saying, “It’ll go away. I can make it stop.” No, you can’t.

An image of King Canute — a Norse king who futilely attempted to control the waves — drawn by Yorke’s friend Stanley Donwood became the album cover of The Eraser and is a potent image as world leaders continue to try to ignore the disasters brought on by the climate crisis. Continue reading ‘Thom Yorke Joins 350.org’s Planetary Art Project’

The sharks smell the blood in the water.  The opposition is emboldened.  Whatever are we to do?

Big Coal Hates the EPA by Jane Doe

After the “shellacking” that the Dems took at the hands of the teabaggers (love that double entendre), it’s obvious that the corporations, the front groups and the right wing climate skeptics taking over Congress are getting all George Patton on us and mounting a full frontal assault on the environment.

And it’s not going to be pretty.  As if the Upper Big Branch mine disaster and BP Oil Spill weren’t bad enough. Now, the business community is wanting payback for two years of regulation at the hands of Obama’s EPA. (BTW, when do we get payback for centuries of pollution, climate change and human rights abuses?)

Industry front groups such as the Federation for American Coal, Energy, and Security (FACES) are telling the story of “How Many Appalachian Jobs will the EPA Destroy?“  They’ve launched aggressive ad and online campaigns targeting the Environmental Protection Agency. Continue reading ‘Big Coal Launches Assault On EPA’

The following is a recent dispatch from the Climate Reality Tour, a movement-building cycling tour from the coalfields of West Virginia to the UN Climate Talks in Cancún.

Refinery in East Houston - Neghborhood kids call it "The Cloudmaker"

11/16/2010 – For most folks, there might be nothing less sexy than industrial policy. An abstract government process for deciding how to intervene in the globalized marketplace to support what major industries – often quite polluting ones. It lacks the high-speed flare of bike culture (in which we are awash), the colorful bouquet of community gardening, the human drama of environmental justice struggle.

But green industrial policy might just be what saves the planet. It’s a tragic that it’s sultry allure is lost on us.

We were impressed in our interview with Bill Londrigan, the President of the Kentucky AFL-CIO, how deeply he understood the need for holistic green industrial policy – one that moves rapidly to phase out dirty industry and replace it with green jobs. “Hopefully we can make some rational decisions about where we need to go… to make sure we can evolve to where [energy and industry] aren’t harmful to the environment” Londrigan says. “And the government could play a great role.” Continue reading ‘(Green) Industrial policy IS sexy – Climate Reality Tour’

In a surprise move yesterday evening, Canada’s unelected senate held a vote on the Climate Change Accountability Act, and killed it.

The bill would have forced Canada’s government to set long-term targets for emissions reductions in line with science: 80% below 1990 levels by 2050, and interim targets for 2015-2045, as well as report on progress to parliament on a regular basis. It was a simple framework requiring the government to come up with a plan – nothing more, nothing less.

The lack of willingness to take action on climate change at the federal level in Canada is nothing new. We’ve had years of stalling under Stephen Harper’s minority conservative government that goes far beyond simply failing to act, to intentionally derailing international efforts to make progress. Last year at the climate negotiations in Copenhagen, Canada was named “Fossil of the Year” for continual obstructionism and inaction.

The real surprise here is the outright and flagrant subversion of democracy.

Continue reading ‘Unelected Canadian senate kills climate bill’

Published by National Journal
Energy & Environment Expert Blog

By Teryn Norris
November 16, 2010

In the aftermath of the mid-term elections, it’s unlikely that Washington can overcome the crippling gridlock in Congress. Yet one critical opportunity for bipartisan compromise stands out among the rest: energy policy.

Addressing the country the day after elections, President Obama signaled a clear opening by pressing the reset button on cap and trade and calling for a new agenda. “I don’t think there’s anybody in America who thinks that we’ve got an energy policy that works the way it needs to, that thinks that we shouldn’t be working on energy independence,” he declared. “And that gives opportunities for Democrats and Republicans to come together and think about… how do we move forward on that agenda.”

Senator Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) quickly agreed. “I think energy is an area where there is potential for a bipartisan accomplishment of some consequence,” Senator McConnell told the Wall Street Journal. “There are a variety of other things there could be pretty broad agreement on… Nobody thinks it is a bad idea to reduce carbon emissions, the question is how do you do it.”

Continue reading ‘How Energy Reform Can Break the Partisan Stalemate’