It’s Getting Hot In Here

Last weekend, I watched a new movement developing right in front of my eyes. As I scanned the faces around me in the plenary room at the Memphis Cook Convention Center, it was impossible to not feel a sense of excitement. We were emerging as a powerful new force for progressive change, one committed to the principle of “Green for All.”

Over 1,000 people, myself included, gathered in Memphis for the Dream Reborn conference last weekend to stand upon the shoulders of giants and create a vision for a just and sustainable future. We gathered in the city where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was shot, on the 40th anniversary of his assassination, to pick up the torch of his legacy of economic justice and carry it in a new direction for a new generation. As we face the social crisis of poverty and the environmental crisis of global warming, are there solutions in sight? The Dream Reborn sought to explore this question — and the answer was an unequivocal “YES!” Continue reading ‘The Dream Reborn: Green for All’

US Congressman Jay Inslee (D-Washington) has issued a call for stories from individuals working on clean energy issues, to potentially be published in a book this fall. From Inslee’s Apollo’s Fire website:

We need your story. Are you, your company, or community building the clean energy economy today? We want to tell the world about it. We will publish stories on this site, and the top stories submitted by April 15, 2007 will be published in a special chapter of our forthcoming book “Apollo’s Fire: Igniting America’s Clean Energy Economy” for publication in Fall 2007. Tell us how you are making a difference through green building, innovative cars, advanced biofuels, public transportation, or renewable energy. However you are taking action to stop global warming, break our oil addiction, or create clean energy jobs, America needs to hear about it. Let’s build a new energy economy together. Start by telling us what you’re doing right now.

You can submit your story to Inslee here.

Given all the talk of an impending coal rush in the U.S. that would lock us into decades of increased air pollution and carbon emissions, I have felt a small degree of comfort in knowing that none of the 100+ proposed coal-fired power plants nationwide are slated for my home state of Massachusetts. Yet after reading this tidbit in yesterday’s Boston Globe, it seems I might have to reevaluate my thoughts on some of these issues. According to the Globe article, a Cambridge, MA-based startup company called GreatPoint is looking to bring a coal-to-natural gas demonstration plant to MA in 2009 — and our governor and environmental secretary are encouraging this development as “clean” energy. Continue reading ‘“Clean” coal coming to MA?’

The environmental blog Gristmill (part of the popular Grist website, which has a readership of 750,000/month) has picked up the IGHIH stories about John Edwards committing to 80% emissions reductions and the West Virginia governor’s office sit-in. Definitely worth checking out, as the Gristers make some interesting comments, including a shout-out to our very own Shadia Wood (congrats Shadia!) and some thought-provoking statements about the WV protesters’ demands. All this goes to show that we are slowly but surely making waves! We should definitely consider becoming part of the conversation over at Gristmill. But perhaps more importantly, we need to ask ourselves, what can we do now to make sure that these stories blow up big-time in the media? The time is now…

As I type these words sitting in Chennai, India, half a world away from the North American campuses and communities where the Week of Action is unfolding, I still feel an amazing sense of solidarity and excitement. When I first became active around climate change issues three years ago, I was only beginning to realize a long-deferred dream of becoming an environmentalist. Now this youth movement has taken on so much more meaning to me than I could have ever imagined. So in the spirit of the WOA, I would like to share a poem I wrote last summer, when excitement about the Campus Climate Challenge was really starting to build up. It’s called “One World At A Time” and normally I like to deliver it in a slam-poetry style, but for now the written/typed word will have to do. Enjoy! Continue reading ‘poem — “One World At A Time”’

Earlier tonight, as part of a typical action-packed Wednesday night at Tufts University, I attended a panel discussion event organized by the recently formed Tufts Coalition for Endowment Transparency and Democracy. Having been active in campus organizing efforts around socially responsible investment (SRI) initiatives with a climate change focus a couple years ago, I was interested to learn more about this new group’s approach. For an hour or so I listened to an engaging group of speakers discuss a wide range of past and present divestment/SRI campaigns, focused on issues ranging from genocide in Darfur to apartheid in South Africa to defense and military contractors. As I sat there taking it all in, thinking about my own past activism around SRI issues, I wondered why these speakers weren’t talking about climate change. After all, if university endowments could be invested in companies doing business in Darfur, couldn’t they also be invested in fossil fuel corporations perpetuating climate chaos? Why weren’t these social justice-minded speakers discussing this compelling issue?

Continue reading ‘On climate justice, Darfur, and moral outrage’

On November 4, a group of coal and oil billionaires decided to throw a party on the Boston Common. And why not? They certainly had a lot to celebrate! After all, they had recently been making record profits due to their successful efforts to buy off politicians and stifle environmental legislation. As they downed glasses of oily syrup and gorged themselves on coal muffins, they had a hearty laugh at the expense of the American public.

This sickening display was not about to go unchallenged, however! A determined group of 21st-century patriots crashed the party, demanding a fair stake in their democracy and calling for independence from fossil fuels. Appealing to the hearts and minds of the public, they laid out a compelling vision for a clean energy future. However, it soon became clear that the oil and coal barons just didn’t get it, and the patriots then decided that they had to step things up a notch. In a bold manuever they charged at the billionaires and snatched away their coal crates and oil barrels! Then, as the billionaires recoiled in fear, the patriots channeled the revolutionary spirit of the Boston Tea Party and dumped the coal and oil all over them! Finally the patriots roped up the billionaires and paraded them around, and the public cheered heartily knowing that the good guys had won.

Continue reading ‘Students rally at Nov. 4 Boston Coal Party’

It’s official: India has joined the Asia-Pacific Pact (APP) on climate change.

This might seem like a good thing, right? Not exactly. The APP basically amounts to a clean technology-sharing initiative between the U.S. and Australia (the two industrialized Kyoto laggards), along with China, Japan, South Korea and now, India. The APP has been criticized for its excessive focus on technology and market mechanisms at the expense of having any sort of binding targets or timetables. It has also been perceived as an attempt to undermine the broader multilateral Kyoto framework. And now India, my ancestral homeland, where the aspirations of a billion people greet every waking day, is heading down this misguided path.

Continue reading ‘India joins the Asia-Pacific Pact’