It’s Getting Hot In Here

Guest post from Matt Kazinka, leader with the Twin Cities Summer of Solutions. Cross posted from WeArePowerShift.org. 

Sometimes the quickest way to a clean energy economy is to get a little dirty. That’s right, it’s time to get our hands in the dirt and physically build the clean and just energy economy we want. And that’s exactly what young people across the country are doing this summer. We’re stepping up to get our hands dirty creating local clean energy solutions like community gardens, home weatherizations, and clean energy cooperatives.

This summer, youth leaders across the country are launching a host of community-based projects that will revitalize our economy in an environmentally sustainable and socially just manner. These projects range widely from building community gardens in Oakland to stopping the construction of a dirty coal plant in Georgia. But they all have one thing in common: DIY. Young people aren’t waiting for the government to act. We are stepping up to show our elected officials that we have the power in our own communities to create what we want and demand that they put dirty politics aside and follow our lead.

Changing the way our policies system works means changing our relationship with our communities. Through these projects, young people are working in partnership with diverse local organizations and coalitions to build the green economy from the ground up. With creativity, collaboration, and hard work, they are demonstrating that there is endless potential for prosperity at our fingertips. This summer, we will pilot ground-breaking strategies for energy efficiency, urban agriculture, renewable energy, sustainable transportation, waste reduction, and green industry.

We want a clean energy economy that supports everyone in a way the dirty energy economy never could. The era of segregated neighborhoods, polluted politics and economic apartheid has been played out. We have inherited deep-seated problems – climate change, political turmoil, social inequities, and economic disparities of mass proportions. Nothing about these challenges is simple, but nothing about them is inevitable, either. We have the power and are creating change. Continue reading ‘Launching Summer Projects: We’re Getting Dirty to Go Clean’

via abc.net.au

Coal is the topic on everyone’s minds. Greenpeace are taking over smokestacks in Chicago. People are marching on Blair Mountain. And Rainforest Action Network has no end in sight planned for stopping Wall Street’s participation in financing Big Coal.

Coal exports are the new fight brewing in the Pacific Northwest and Rainforest Action Network is joining a broad coalition of local, regional, national and international groups fighting to stop coal exports.

Join RAN’s Northwest Coal Summit on June 24-27.

Apply Here- http://ran.org/nwcoalsummit

Rainforest Action Network and allies are organizing a “Northwest Coal Summit” in Seattle, WA to educate, organize and mobilize residents about coal finance, coal extraction, coal exports, coal combustion and climate change. We’ll have workshops on coal and climate change, as well as skillshares to use in campaigning and organizing. Continue reading ‘The Movement Against Northwest Coal Exports is Building, Are You Part of It?’

Guest post regarding the upcoming march on Blair Mountain

The March on Blair Mountain is a unifying rally involving environmental justice organizations, workers, scholars, artists, and other citizens and groups. Visit appalachiarising.org or marchonblairmountain.org for information. See you in June 4 – 11!

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The striking miners rode on boxcars, flat cars, on the roofs and in the cow catchers of commandeered trains. They wore red neckerchiefs around their collars and on their arms, and held guns in their laps. Some were laughing, spitting, smoking; others were silent, their eyes fixed on the mountains that unfolded before them. It was August of 1921, and the forests were lush and green.

Along the train tracks sat rows of coal miners’ cabins, and the occasional town street, with several stores and a saloon. Some folks on the sidewalks tipped their hats as the trains passed, while others stood cross-armed, scoffing. The hats that were tipped were mostly worn down and cheaply made, while the crossed arms were clothed in the tailored jackets of professionals and businessmen.

“Ya ready?” said a thick-necked older miner to the younger, slimmer man next to him. Let’s call the older one Buddy. Actually, let’s call them both Buddy, the name the miners used for one another during the duration of the mine war centered on Blair.

“Yup,” said the younger Buddy, “Got my gun polished up and everythin’. Time to get those Baldwin-Felts men.”

Both men had worked underground since they were teens, hauling precious bituminous coal from mines tunneled deep in to the mountains. The work was dangerous and important– this coal played a crucial role in allowing American industry to grow and expand. Still, miners were poorly paid, had their lives controlled by the coal industry and were subject to the whims of company guards and private detectives. But that’s all over and done with, thought both Buddies, we’re not gonna stand to be treated as less than men anymore.

As the train entered Logan County, it began to pass empty streets and rows of houses with shuttered windows. Smoke, escaping from several chimneys, was the only evidence of human inhabitance. From the silence, the miners knew that they were getting close, and would soon being pulling in to the train depot at Blair.

Continue reading ‘Bound for Blair: Then & Now’