It’s Getting Hot In Here

On December 19 Utah resident Tim DeChristopher took creative and effective action to disrupt an auction that was selling off oil and gas leases on hundreds of thousands of acres of public lands in Utah. As around 100 concerned citizens rallied outside opposing the opening up of wilderness areas to the oil and gas industry, Tim entered the auction and started bidding. Time and again he outbid the speculators, and when he failed to outbid them he managed to drive the price way up. According to local news reports he “caused chaos” in the auction room, costing companies hundreds of thousands of dollars and  prevented 22,500 acres of land from being developed for fossil fuel extraction (at least for the time being). Tim’s actions were extremely effective at throwing a wrench in the works of the oil and gas industry and he is to be applauded.

Unfortunately, federal agents were not as sympathetic and detained Tim for a couple of hours. He may be facing federal charges in which case he will need our support. You can follow the link below to donate to his legal defense.

Continue reading ‘Student Disrupts Fraudulent Oil and Gas Giveaways in Utah by Launching Bidding War’

RADICAL NEW AGENDA NEEDED TO ACHIEVE CLIMATE JUSTICE

Poznan statement from the Climate Justice Now! alliance
12 December 2008

Members of Climate Justice Now! - a worldwide
alliance of more than 160 organisations — have
been in Poznan for the past two weeks closely
following developments in the UN climate
negotiations.

This statement is our assessment of the
Conference of Parties (COP) 14, and articulates
our principles for achieving climate justice.

THE URGENCY OF CLIMATE JUSTICE
We will not be able to stop climate change if we
don’t change the neo-liberal and corporate-based
economy which stops us from achieving sustainable
societies. Corporate globalisation must be
stopped.

The historical responsibility for the vast
majority of greenhouse gas emissions lies with
the industrialised countries of the North. Even
though the primary responsibility of the North to
reduce emissions has been recognised in the
Convention, their production and consumption
habits continue to threaten the survival of
humanity and biodiversity. It is imperative that
the North urgently shifts to a low carbon
economy. At the same time in order to avoid the
damaging carbon intensive model of
industrialisation, the South is entitled to
resources and technology to make this transition. Continue reading ‘Statement form the Climate Justice Now! alliance on the Poznan climate talks’

from the Guardian (UK)

The £12m defences of the most heavily guarded power station in Britain have been breached by a single person who, under the eyes of CCTV cameras, climbed two three-metre (10ft) razor-wired, electrified security fences, walked into the station and crashed a giant 500MW turbine before leaving a calling card reading “no new coal”. He walked out the same way and hopped back over the fence.

All power from the coal and oil-powered Kingsnorth station in Kent was halted for four hours, in which time it is thought the mystery saboteur’s actions reduced UK climate change emissions by 2%. Enough electricity to power a city the size of Bristol was lost.

Yesterday the hunt was on for the man dubbed “climate man” or the “green Banksy”. Climate activists responsible for hijacking coal trains and breaking on to runways said they knew nothing about the incident.

Even veterans of some of the most audacious direct actions, such as the scaling of the Kingsnorth chimney, are mystified. The station operator E.On professed astonishment that a lone activist would be daring enough to try to do something so potentially dangerous. Medway police said they had no suspects but were still investigating the incident, which took place on November 28. Continue reading ‘Direct Action Gets the Goods: Lone man single-handedly cuts UK Carbon output by 2%’

Washington, DC - As the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change opened today in Poznan, Poland, grassroots climate activists took over the Washington DC office of Environmental Defense. The activists stated that they had targeted ED, one of the largest environmental organizations in the world, because of the organization’s key role in promoting the discredited approach of carbon trading as a solution to climate change.

Dr. Rachel Smolker of Global Justice Ecology Project and Global Forest Coalition read a statement, which said in part, “My father was one of the founders of this organization, which sadly I am now ashamed of. The Kyoto Protocol, the European Emissions Trading Scheme and virtually every other initiative for reducing emissions have adopted their market approaches. So far they have utterly failed, serving only to provide huge profits to the world’s most polluting industries. Instead of protecting the environment, ED now seems primarily concerned with protecting corporate bottom lines. I can hear my father rolling over in his grave.”

Continue reading ‘Climate Activists Invade DC Offices of Environmental Defense, Daughter of ED Founder Accuses NGO of Pushing False Solutions to Climate Change’

This September activists from 21 countries came together in Copenhagen to plan for direct action during the 2009 UN Climate talks that will be held in that city. Activists in North America are beginning to organize for what will be a historic day. To read the call to action go to click here. The following essay explores the many reasons we should be skeptical of the UN Climate talks. Hopefully this essay from the UK will spark some debate within the US climate movement on the role of corporations, market based mechanisms, and large NGO’s in fighting for climate justice.

Another world is possible only without a global resource management shaped by structures of domination

U. Brand
September 2008

In the last twenty years, climate change and its potential and real impacts have become more and more obvious. This is due to the results of scientific research but also to environmental movements, media, critical intellectuals, progressive state officials and alternative energy producers who have focussed social and political attention on the implications of the problem. With the Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) and its Kyoto Protocol, an international political mechanism was developed in the 1990s.

More recently, i.e. in the last two years, the issue of climate change has climbed to the top of the political agenda: This has to do with the publications of the Fourth Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the Stern Report, the latter with its simple and economistic message , with sky rocking energy prices and the argument that ‘peakoil’ has been reached, which refers to the fact that from now on less new oil resources are found than are consumed. The IPCC and Al Gore won the Peace Nobel Price, the G8 summits in 2007 in Germany and 2008 in Japan had energy and climate change questions high on the agenda. The Conferences of the Parties of the FCCC in Bali in December 2007 became a gathering with global mass media coverage.

Nonetheless, we can observe that not much has changed in the last twenty years. Oil and gas consumption have increased enormously, production and consumption patterns are still the same and, moreover, these processes have rapidly been globalised through transnational capital, state policies and the way of life of a global middle class.

This has one major reason: Environmental policies in general and climate change policies in particular are formulated in line with dominant politics and related interests. Today, the dominant politics are neoliberal and neoimperial, orientated towards competitiveness and maintaining and enhancing the power of Northern governments, corporations and societies. Policies are in the interest of the owners of assets and of the global middle classes including the middle classes of economically emerging countries such as China, India or Brazil. The Western lifestyle still promotes its attractiveness worldwide. Human wellbeing and social security are still equated with economic growth and this means resource intensive growth of car production, of airports, of industrialised farming etc. Continue reading ‘Towards radical critique and action on climate change politics and Copenhagen 2009′

Late Tuesday night the House voted in favor of a Democrat sponsored bill to allow oil companies to expand their offshore drilling operations.  The bill has been hailed by some as a victory for the environment because it includes incentives for renewable and strips some tax breaks the oil industry currently enjoys. In addition to opening up fragile ocean ecosystems to oil drilling, the bill also lifts the ban on drilling for shale oil (which is as dirty if not dirtier than tar sands oil) on millions of acres in Western states, much of which is on public lands.

In the face of our climate crisis it is utterly unacceptable for Democrats, who proclaim their dedication to fighting climate change, to vote to expand fossil fuel production. For those hailing this as ultimately a victory for the environment I have some questions for you to answer:

- It is undeniable that we need to make a 100% transition away from fossil fuels as soon as possible in order to avoid the point of no return of runaway climate change (aka the tipping point). Even Al Gore, by no means an eco-radical, is calling for us to phase fossil fuels in 10 years.  This new wave of oil drilling that the Democrats just pushed through won’t even hit peak capacity until around 2030. How can you seriously talk about fighting climate change and still be drilling for oil 20 years down the road? To put it simply, in order to avert the climate crisis we must immediately dismantle the fossil fuel infrastructure we are currently dependent on, not build a new wave of it.

Continue reading ‘Democrats capitulate to Big Oil, as House votes for offshore drilling’

August 7 Louisa, VA Activists from the Southeast Convergence for Climate Action occupied the welcome center for Dominion’s North Anna nuclear power plant today. The action was taken to protest Dominion’s plans to build two new nuclear reactors and to call out nuclear power for the false solution that it is to the climate crisis. “We are here to serve notice on the so-called ‘nuclear renaissance’ that the anti-nuclear movement is alive and well,” said Glenn Carroll, coordinator of Nuclear Watch South.

In all 25 people occupied the visitors center for 2 hours until police came in to remove them. The protesters wore shirts that read “Nukes not Welcome” and chanted and sang. “We chose to take non-violent direct action because Dominion and the federal government have completely failed to address the climate crisis,” said Paxus Calta who lives twenty miles from the plant. The protesters also gave their own version of a tour for visitors revealing the true nature of the nuclear industry. In all 6 people were arrested for refusing to leave the building and were escorted out in handcuffs to the cheers of their friends.

Continue reading ‘SE Climate Convergence Occupies Nuclear Facility’

For Pictures go to www.risingtidenorthamerica.org

Asheville, NC Today Asheville Rising Tide’s billionaire bloc descended on Bank of America’s regional headquarters to demand that BoA continue to invest their money in coal. The Billionaires for Coal carried signs reading “More Profit, Less Mountains” and sipped on dirty (coal) martinis to applaud BoA for its funding of mountaintop removal coal mining as well as the new generation of dirty coal plants. The Asheville Police Department did an excellent job of blocking access to the bank entrance and the ATM surely scaring off a number of bank customers.

Two days before, activists with Croatan Earth First! visited three Bank of America branches in Raleigh and Chapel Hill. The activist entered the banks raising a ruckus and handing out fliers to customers until being forced to leave. The motley crew of billionaires then proceeded to demonstrate outside and informing the public of BoA’s dirty deeds. A few weeks before several activists were detained by police in Charlotte, NC (BoA’s hometown) for hanging anti-coal poster’s in the neighborhoods of several BoA executives homes. After intensive interrogation, they were let go without charge (remember kids, never talk to cops).

Bank of America is guilty of funding such notorious human rights abusers and ecological destroyers as Massey Energy, Arch Coal, and Peabody Energy. They have recently handed over heaps of cash to companies such as Duke Energy that is currently building the 800 MW Cliffside coal plant in Cliffside, NC.

Don’t Miss Convergence for Climate Action 2008!

West Coast Convergence for Climate Action: July 28 - August 4, Eugene, OR

Southeast Convergence for Climate Action: August 5-11, Louisa County, VA (near Richmond)

Northeast Confluence for Climate Action: July 27 - August 3, High Falls, NY

The past year has no doubt seen a tipping point in attitudes towards climate change in the US. All of the presidential candidates are talking about it, banks are touting their “Carbon Principles”, college campuses are claiming to be carbon neutral. And yet the climate crisis escalates.

They promise us alternative fuels and instead we get bread lines and food riots around the world. They promise us clean energy and give us “clean” coal and nukes instead. They call for regulations on greenhouse gases, then fight tooth and nail against even the weakest, most inadequate climate legislation that is proposed. They tell us the markets will take care of it, and then try to privatize the very air we breathe.

It has become abundantly clear that the governments and corporations of the world will not solve the climate crisis, they are after all, part of the problem. Instead it is up to us to build a powerful grassroots movement to create the world we want. Fortunately, this movement is growing.

Building off the success of last years two Convergences for Climate Action in the US, we are excited to announce there will be 3 action packed gatherings this year. The climate convergences are gathering places for people of all ages and backgrounds to come together to take direct action against the root causes of climate change while working to build a just and sustainable world. This year the US convergences will take place alongside several similar gatherings in the UK, Germany, Australia, and beyond. Continue reading ‘The Convergences for Climate Action: A week of low impact living and high impact action’