It’s Getting Hot In Here

Sometimes it’s better to laugh than cry, and believe me, the reality that we might rely on carbon offsets as a primary means to reduce our global warming emissions is enough to make me weep. The situation is so absurd that Greenpeace this week launched thecroc.org, a satirical look at how carbon offsets could undermine both U.S. legislation and the U.N. climate negotiations by giving big polluters a giant loophole to continue dirty business as usual.

Carbon offsets often do not deliver promised results. Offsets from forest projects are especially unreliable because the deforestation they are supposed to stop in one area can easily move elsewhere. The use of these sorts of offsets would not only give big polluters a giant loophole, it could actually increase global warming pollution.

In addition, as carbon credits are paid for and traded under a new cap and trade system, low-quality offsets threaten to corrupt those new markets. Cheap offsets could literally act as “sub-prime” carbon credits, creating huge financial risks. This risk was demonstrated yet again this week when the U.N. actually shut down SGS UK, one of the world’s leading carbon offset accreditation firms, after it was unable to show that its staff had thoroughly vetted offset projects.

The SGS embarrassment was a blow to backers of offset schemes and it should be a wake up call to policymakers as they work to craft new climate agreements both here and internationally. The ACES bill that cleared the House earlier this year has up to 2 billion tons of offsets available per year.

Because the situation is so ridiculous, Greenpeace had a bit of fun and developed CROC, a fake government agency that confers the benefits of carbon offsets to the average citizen. Users can get credit for doing some good for the environment, which they can use to do some thing bad to it, just like corporate polluters do. Check out the PSA above and follow CROC on Twitter!

Yesterday,  I was arrested along with 11 other Greenpeace activists for hanging a 2300 square foot banner on the face of Mount Rushmore. We hung this banner on the opening day of the G8 meetings in Italy, and while the Senate looks to debate the Waxman-Markey bill - the first piece of comprehensive climate legislation in the US (and industry and many Democrats have rendered the bill more harmful than helpful).

The banner was hung just to the side of Lincoln’s head – and read “America Honors Leaders – Not Politicians: Stop Global Warming”. Concurrently in Italy, over 100 Greenpeace activists currently occupied FIVE coal-fired power plants across the country. At least one of these Italian actions is from aa US/Canadian team – and activists from 18 countries are involved in the protests that intend to last the duration of the G8 meeting.

With our best scientists stressing the urgency of the climate crisis – we cannot afford compromises or pandering to dirty industries – we need dramatic action that reflects the best climate science -  not political convenience. This is the type of bold action that is needed to bring about real action to solve the climate crisis. Whether you believe him or not – Obama often has good rhetoric around the need to address climate change. But we need to take heed from the famous words of Franklin Roosevelt – “I agree with you, I want to do it, now make me do it.” Continue reading ‘Greenpeace banner on Mt Rushmore, and FIVE coal plants occupied in Italy.’

While it’s a sad fact that corporate and industry interests regularly write the basis for much of our Federal legislation, there has been some impressive political maneuvering from the coal and utility industry around the Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy and Security (ACESA) Act. In many ways, the ACESA bill reads like a wish list for the coal industry – from multi-billion dollar handouts to the coal industry for carbon capture and sequestration (CCS), to allowing enough offsets to allow business-as-usual for coal for decades!

Today, a story in the Washington Times (admittedly, not the most objective paper) ran which called out an exemption in the bill for Duke Energy and other utilities that have coal power plants already permitted or under construction. While ACES has some regulation around new coal plants (requiring retrofits by 2015 with an unproven CCS technology that doesn’t exist yet) – these exemptions would effectively grandfather in two Duke Energy plants currently proposed  – Cliffside in North Carolina and Edwardsport in Indiana.  Not coincidentally, Duke Energy has had a strong role in shaping the ACESA bill, from helping draft the US-CAP blueprint that provided the basis for ACESA, to having CEO Jim Rogers testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee hearings on the bill.

While many people saw ACESA as a good first step but needing improvements – the bill seems to be getting worse and worse, rather than better.  When the loudest voice from the “environmental community” is from the Duke/industry-led US-CAP – it’s time our movement rolls up its sleeves and starts pushing back to ensure meaningful legislation that will stop the climate crisis, and build a just economy based on clean energy. Right now we are being outplayed by industry – and it’s nothing less than our future at stake.

Continue reading ‘Waxman-Markey climate bill a wish list for Duke Energy?’

Early this morning, 7 activists from Greenpeace climbed a construction crane high above the State Department in Washington DC, to deploy a giant banner stating: “TOO BIG TO FAIL: Stop Global Warming – Rescue the Climate”.

The action unfolded just before leaders from the worlds most polluting countries gathered for the Major Economies Forum at the State Department. While the MEF was started by Bush to undermine the Kyoto process, Obama recently announced a continuation of the meeting – recognizing the need for the world’s major economies to address climate change in the lead-up to Copenhagen. Hillary Clinton was addressing the crowd at the State Department, while Obama himself was speaking next door at the National Academy of Sciences.

The climbers and the banner were up for several hours, in full view of  Hillary and Obama’s motorcades, thousands of DC residents, the international delegates to the meeting, and international press. Already, the action has been covered in the Washington Post, CNN, the Guardian UK, Wall Street Journal. and Associated Press

And of course, this action builds on the growing momentum of the global climate justice movement, including the recent events such as the thousands risking arrest at the Capitol Climate Action in March, to  Cliffside in North Carolina last week, to the waves of actions trying to save Coal River Mountain, to the mass mobilzations at the UK climate camp. Our movement is growing, our actions are escalating – and together, we will fight for climate justice!

Continue reading ‘Seven arrested hanging banner at Major Economies meeting in DC’

This is a repost of Ted Glick’s latest Future Hope column. I felt it was an excellent, and sobering assessment of where much of the US climate movement is, and some smart strategies for victory.

Is “Washington” Winning?

By Ted Glick

It was a couple of weeks before the historic March 2nd shutdown action at the coal-fired Capitol Power Plant on Capitol Hill in D.C. A national leader of an important climate group came up to me in the hallway at a conference we were both attending to express concern about the action. She had heard from Nancy Pelosi’s office, which was not happy that the action was happening. I asked, “what are the specific concerns?” and wasn’t able to get a clear answer.

And this was a national leader of a climate group that has been among the strongest when it comes to calling for serious, substantial and science-based reductions of dangerous greenhouse gas emissions, a minimum of 25-40% below 1990 levels by 2020 for countries like the U.S.

Continue reading ‘Is “Washington” Winning?’

Breaking news – and the organizing hub for the Capitol Climate Action is lit up right now!

Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid just made an announcement moments ago – calling to switch the Capitol Power Plant entirely off of coal! Just 4 days before thousands of people are mobilizing at the facility for the largest act of civil disobedience in US history for the climate – this statement shows the power of grassroots action!

The Capitol Power Plant has been controversial for years – as an antiquated, inefficient facility that is the largest source of  pollution in Washington DC. While efforts to clean up the plant and switch off it’s usage of coal have been attempted for years (including by Pelosi and the Greening the Capitol Initiative), powerful coal state interests (namely Senators Mitch McConnell and Robert Byrd) have blocked attempts to end it’s usage of coal. This plant symbolizes the stranglehold coal has over our climate, our environment, our communities, and our political process.

In the past 2 weeks, the Capitol Climate Action Coalition (made up of over 100 organizations from across the country) sent letters to Congress, informing them of our intent for peaceful action March 2nd at the Capitol Power Plant that is  reflecting the urgency and seriousness of the climate crisis.  And as the media buzz and public interest grows for this historic mobilization – we are flexing out political muscles, showing that people are demanding real change in our climate and energy policies. Continue reading ‘BREAKING: Pelosi/Reid call to switch Capitol Power Plant off of coal!’

In a new video, Academy Award-winning actress Susan Sarandon evokes the sacrifices of Ghandi and Martin Luther King in calling on Americans to join the Capitol Climate Action, the country’s largest show of civil disobedience about global warming in history, at the Capitol Power Plant on March 2nd 2009.

Says Sarandon:

“Gandhi. Martin Luther King. They were willing to stand up for what’s right, even if it meant peacefully breaking the law. Civil disobedience can overcome great challenges. And global warming is the greatest challenge of our time.”

This video brings another nationally respected voice to America’s call for urgent action to address the climate crisis. Supported by James Hansen, Bill McKibben Wendell Berry, Reverend Lennox Yearwood, and more than 60 environmental, faith, social justice, and community groups – the Capitol Climate Action aims to turn a new corner for the climate movement.  Continue reading ‘Susan Sarandon Video Supports Capitol Climate Action in Washington, DC.’

This morning I was reading an excellent article on ClimateWire (sorry, subscription only!) titled “ The anti-coal campaigner broadens his reach”. It was largely about Bruce Nilles, director of the Sierra Club’s National Coal Campaign and the excellent work they have done stopping proposed coal plants across the county.

But the second half of the article focused an on another part of the anti-coal movement – the grassroots efforts fighting coal and the complimentary tactics of direct action. Says Kimberly Kirkbride (actually of Blue Ridge Earth First!)

“What we do is completely complementary with them,” said Kirkbride, an activist with Rising Tide North America, whose members have been arrested at coal protests. “If you look at history, the most successful campaigns had the paper jammers working the legal side [like the Sierra Club] and the people on the ground pushing the limit.”

As we are gearing up for the Capitol Climate Action March 2nd (the largest civil disobedience for the climate is US history!), I’ve been contemplating the role of non-violent direct action and civil disobedience in our movement. Not that I doubt it – any honest analysis of virtually every social movement has clearly demonstrated that such tactics are effective, and necessary. While such tactics weren’t always popular at the time and made some moderates uncomfortable – few people look back thinking people like Ghandi or Rosa Parks were “too extreme” in their actions. Continue reading ‘Taking Action: Do our tactics unite or divide us?’

Dear Friends and Allies-

We’re in the process of organizing a mass non-violent civil disobedience to coincide with Power Shift 2009.   In late  February 2009,  the  Energy Action Coalition will host over 10,000 climate activists focusing generally on making climate change, clean energy, and green jobs a priority for the new administration.   Greenpeace, Rainforest Action Network, the Ruckus Society, Chesapeake Climate Action Network and a host of others are planning a mass non-violent civil disobedience, with a goal of organizing over 1,000 people, to cross the line and sit-in at the Capital Coal Plant.

Continue reading ‘Make Climate Justice History – Mass civil disobedience March 2nd, 2009 in DC’

So, I’ll come clean. I’m just not an elections kind of guy. I wasn’t out in the streets last night celebrating, nor was I playing drinking games every time the TV uttered the word “historic”. I however, was trying to be in bed by 8:30, but was woken up by revelers screaming up and down my street in San Francisco. I’m not saying elections don’t matter, or that people shouldn’t vote – far from it. I lent far more support to electoral issues these past few months than I have in a decade, though mostly on local initiatives here in California. But I can’t help but feel that a lot of people (recovering from 8 years of a Bush administration) are thinking that a new Democratic administration will be a panacea.

Of course, it’s great Obama won. The other “that guy” would have been nearly as big a disaster as Bush has been, and his running mate would have continued the utter embarrassment and shame Americans often have when traveling abroad. It’s amazing that a person of color is president of the US. And that the president has some small background as a community organizer, can at least talk the language of activists, and mobilized a lot of new people to get engaged and vote. But really, most of his actual policies are not really that progressive, and he certainly sold out a LOT of his progressive base that helped him beat Hillary. Maybe that’s just politics – but hey, that’s politics and precisely why we can’t put much faith for true change there.

For folks that read the Wall Street Journal or New York Times – you may have seen the ad (below-the-fold) running today, courtesy of Al Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection.

I’ve got to hand it to Al and crew. While I’ve got my share of criticisms of some of his in-depth proposals, plans, and “solutions” to the climate crisis – he’s been damn good about shaking people up, and trying to make bold statement that shift people’s consciousness and paradigms. And really – that’s what we need right now- not “pragmatic politics” – we need bold, visionary, ambitious ideas and actions that will change the course of this country, this economy, and our relationship to the environment. Any honest reading of history will show that these big paradigm shifts have come from social movements. Not from individual leaders, or charismatic spokespeople – but through masses of people taking action and opening entirely new realms of what people see as possible. Continue reading ‘Obama and Democrats Win: Now what?’