It’s Getting Hot In Here

At 6:30 this morning, North Carolina residents, including former Energy Action Coalition fellow and organizer, Christine Irvine, locked themselves to bulldozers to stop the construction of Duke Energy’s massive Cliffside coal-fired power plant being built 50 miles west of Charlotte, NC. “In the face of catastrophic climate change, building a new coal plant is tantamount to signing a death sentence for our generation,” said local farmer Matt Wallace, while locked to a bulldozer. The concerned citizens also roped off the construction site with “Global Warming Crime Scene” tape and held banners that read “Coal Fuels Climate Change” and “Social Change, not Climate Change.”

We’re actively looking for donations to get people out of jail!

Continue reading ‘NC Youth Stop Coal Plant Construction: 8 arrested!’

Ripon College, a small liberal arts college in the middle of a central Wisconsin cornfield, is giving a Trek 820 mountain bike (plus helmet and lock) to every student who pledges not to bring a car to campus for the 2008-2009 year.  I have heard that this region is not typically very bike-friendly, so it will be interesting to see if initiatives like this do indeed change the culture.  Check out the recent Chronicle of Higher Education story on this.   I hope this catches on at other schools!!  Sounds a lot cheaper that building parking garages which can cost $10,000-$20,000+ per parking space!

check out this awesome video made by Emory’s Environmental Alliance on the 50 person lobby day that Georgia students’ organized last Friday after Focus the Nation.  Students from a number of Atlanta area schools attended and were able to discuss global warming with a variety of lawmakers from those who know we need to act on global warming now to those who don’t even think it’s a problem (I’m serious!)  GA legislators even had a “Global Warming: Fact or Fiction” hearing last summer and they weren’t able to come to a conclusion.

The Southern Energy Network (SEN) and Environmental Justice and Climate Change (EJCC) are partnering on the 5th annual Southern Student Renewable Energy Conference this February 8-10 at Valdosta State University (VSU)  in Southern Georgia.  The SSREC in 2005 invigorated the student group at VSU, which has worked on successful recycling campaign, gotten VSU to do an energy audit, and is currently working on a renewable energy campaign with other Georgia schools, so it’s great to see them hosting the conference this year.  Van Jones was a big hit as our keynote speaker last year, but this year is shaping up to be the largest and most exciting regional conference that we have ever put on!

This years conference will include:
– Speakers from the front lines of the environmental justice fight
– Panels addressing everything from the struggles and successes in the gulf coast post-Katrina to taking action to stop new fossil fuel facilities
– Hands on workshops on campus organizing and building a just and sustainable energy future
+ great opportunity to network with other young people and organizations helping to lead the movement
+ Live MUSIC including Here’s to the Long Haul and Dubconscious!!

Register Now (only $25 until Jan 25) & Spread the Word!   Read on for more info.

Continue reading ‘Southeast Conference: Feb 8-11 @ VSU!’

this just in, the Senate did not have the 60 votes needed to get a vote on the floor of the senate on the Energy Bill. Over the next few days — they will work through the weekend — Senators are moving to gut the House Energy Bill, and it’s likely that the Renewable Energy Standard will either be removed or weakened and the long term tax package may go, too, to earn the votes of at least 7 more Senators. Then the Senate will officially vote on an amended version of the energy bill early next week most likely Tuesday.
We need to keep the pressure on, and hopefully we can save the good elements of the bill. Looks like only one Southern Senator, Senator Nelson of Florida voted for a vote , or two if you count Virginia’s Senator Webb in the South  Find out how your Senators voted here.

[Editor's note: this US CAP announcement was in fact a hoax, the result of a campaign by international climate justice group, RisingTide.  See this story for more]

Wow, this is pretty exciting! The US Climate Action Partnership, which is comprised of a number of big, companies who make most of their money on dirty energy (like BP, Duke Energy and others), in partnership with some large national environmental groups like National Wildlife Federation and The Nature Conservancy, has committed to 45% reduction in GHGs by 2020 and 90% reduction by 2050! They also announced a coal moratorium today in conjunction with the opening of the UN Climate Negotiations in Bali. for more check out their website, this article in the Dallas Morning News, and US CAP’s press release, which is also below.

Continue reading ‘US CAP commits to 90% reduction by 2050 & coal moratorium!’

this is great!  cross-posted from Rainforest Action Network’s Understory Blog:

” Blogging late after a great day of cloak and dagger infiltration at the LA Auto Show. Here’s what the AP had to say about incident in this video:

After the Sequoia was introduced Wednesday, an environmental activist with a video camera approached Toyota’s general manager for U.S. sales, Bob Carter, and asked why the company won’t withdraw from a lawsuit against California, which has sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to establish tougher fuel economy rules.

Carter refused to answer and knocked the camera out of Brent Olson’s hands. Olson, of San Francisco-based Rainforest Action Network, was eventually led away by two policemen.

Thanks Bob.”

I’m sitting here listening to US Representative Markey getting everyone on their feet at Power Shift. It’s been an amazing weekend so far. Markey just told us that “we are right and they [corporations] are wrong on every issue.” We also heard from one of my favorite bands, Here’s to the Long Haul, telling us to “drop out and rise up” (although, I’d encourage you just to rise up & maybe drop out ;), and hundreds of us were dancing our hearts out. Evon Peter, surrounded by around 20 other indigenous youth, inspired us all to fight the root causes of climate change. And, as Markey asked for our support on the energy bill, we asked him loudly “WE WANT MORE.” We chanted “80 by 2050″ to Markey and Pelosi, and as Nancy Pelosi left the stage she said that we need more and we need 80% by 2050. Let’s take that message with green jobs and no coal back to congress on Monday!

Hundreds of people turned out around Appalachia in Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee, and Pennsylvania to oppose the Office of Surface Mining’s (OSM) rule change, which would weaken the current Stream Buffer Zone rule that provides 100 ft buffer zone and other protections to streams when enforced. Pretty amazing that this many turned out with only 2 weeks notice of these hearings from OSM! I attended the hearing in Knoxville, where I live, and at least 250 people turned out including many member of Save Our Cumberland Mountains and over 70 youth! Every speaker I heard spoke against the rule change and the atmosphere was really incredible with lots of people giving positive visions of a future where we don’t have to poison our water to produce energy. Check out this video to hear community members, an Oak Ridge National Labs aquatic scientist, and lots of youth talk about why they think this rule change is a really bad idea! You can still submit comments here through Nov. 23, and read on for more on news coverage of the event.

Continue reading ‘Citizens call to Office of Surface Mining: “Pull the Rule, Enforce the Law”’

Rainforest Action Network accuses financial giant of destroying Appalachian communities, environment

SAN FRANCISCO - Activists with Rainforest Action Network’s (RAN) Global Finance Campaign draped a 50-foot banner reading “Bank of America: Funding Coal, Killing Communities” across the street from Bank of America’s downtown Charlotte, N.C., headquarters this morning (coverage in Charlotte Observer). The group is urging the financial giant to stop funding mountaintop removal coal mining and the construction of new coal-fired power plants.

A highly destructive method of coal extraction, mountaintop removal involves exploding the tops off of mountains to reach the coal within and dumping the rubble in adjoining valleys - choking streams and increasing flood risks for local communities. Bank of America has invested billions of dollars in companies that practice mountaintop removal in the Appalachian region, including Massey Energy, Arch Coal and Alpha Natural Resources. These companies are responsible for the loss of millions of acres of forests and mountains and the decimation of communities throughout Appalachia.

Continue reading ‘RAN to BOA: Stop Destroying Communities, Environment!’