It’s Getting Hot In Here

Guest post By Leigh Ewbank. Leigh is a Melbourne native and a 2009 summer fellow at the California-based progressive think tank, the Breakthrough Institute. Leigh consults on framing and messaging and is Director of Online Communications for Beyond Zero Emissions.

Dissatisfied with the policies of both major political parties, the Australian climate movement are attempting to make climate change a key issue in the final days of the 2010 federal election. A coalition of leading progressive and environmental organisations will hold Walk Against Warming demonstrations in the nation’s capital cities at the weekend. ‘By coming together one week before the election,’ says event organiser Victoria McKenzie-McHarg, ‘the community has a real opportunity to put climate change back on the election agenda, and push our leaders to put policies on the table that will actually cut emissions.’

The Australian Youth Climate Coalition is running its own initiatives to get climate change on the agenda. The youth-run organisation will hold the final of three Power Shift conferences this weekend. In an effort to influence the election, each of the conferences were located in areas that ‘represent crucial senate races and marginal seats in the Federal Election,’ according to AYCC spokesperson Lucy Manne. ‘Young people will make up 20 per cent of the voting population this election,’ Manne explains, ‘and the Power Shift conferences will ensure that the issues they care about will be heard.’ Continue reading ‘Australia Campaigners to Make Climate a Key Issue in Last Days of Election’

Elections in Australia don’t have a predictable two year marathon time-line.  Instead, the sitting prime minister calls an election and then everyone has 5 weeks to campaign, because on the 5th weekend the voting happens (which is mandatory, but more on that in a bit)

A few weeks ago, when Julia Gillard called an election, it couldn’t have come at a better or worse time for the Australian Youth Climate Coalition.  I worked as the Interim Online Director for the AYCC from March-May and during that time we were plagued by uncertainty.  When should we hold regional powershifts? What was our election campaign?  How could we plan something creative and hard-hitting without being way too early or late?  Well, you act on what you know, fake the rest, and charge full steam ahead.

As it turns out, the election was called the weekend after the last Powershift conference.  Perfect.  It also meant that the organization was at 110% capacity to put on three conferences, and then had to implement a many-part election campaign on top of that. Not so perfect.

What did they do? What any good organization should: they set their sights even higher, raised more money, brought on more staff and volunteers, and set about making it happen.  The AYCC has rolled out a full-blown election campaign with stunts, calls to politicians and a TV ad encouraging people to vote.  I know a lot of them haven’t slept in weeks, but it’s amazing:

Continue reading ‘Climate Election Down Under’

[UPDATE: The Salt Lake City Fire Department now estimates that up 33,000 gallons of oil (about 785 barrels) were released by the leak.]

A Chevron underground pipeline burst early on June 12th, gushing crude oil into a nearby stream for several hours. The spill, in the well-to-do neighborhood surrounding Salt Lake’s largest park, was gushing 50 gallons of crude per minute when responders arrived in the morning.

The Salt Lake Tribune reports that residents 3 miles away smelled oil at 4am, the spill was officially reported at 6:45am, and the pipe was successfully shut-off by 8am. By then the oil had reached Liberty Pond (shown above) and was reported flowing into the Jordan River.

“In Liberty Pond the geese were brown – they’re normally white – I’ve probably known those geese for years, because I’ve gone to that park all the time,” said Ashley Anderson, a local climate activist.

Anderson gave me this account of the ground-zero-like scene at Liberty park during the press conference. “There were 25 firetrucks and hazmat suits everywhere. It smelled like the inside of a garage with a diesel truck running. The air was pretty bad.”

Chevron officials told the media what had happened and promised to clean it up. “One resident had gathered up a bucket of rocks from the creek that were coated in oil. He brought them with him to the press conference and got in Chevron’s face, saying ‘you’re going to pay for all this.’ The Chevron spokesperson said ‘of course we are’.” Continue reading ‘Breaking: 400 barrel Oil Spill in Salt Lake City’

Cross posted from Desmogblog.com

BP Executives Tony Hayward and Doug Suttles have repeatedly denied the existence of underwater oil plumes in recent weeks. They cite expert evidence and studies, even as multiple other studies have shown the existence of plumes. Just how deep is the culture of denial in this large oil company?

Energy Boom reported on May 31st that “Hayward said samples taken by the company show no evidence of large masses of underwater oil. He said that oil’s natural tendency is to rise to rise to the surface, and any oil underwater is currently making its way to the top.”

Days earlier, on May 28th, the Wall Street Journal reported a University of South Florida research vessel discovered an oil plume 1300 feet below the surface. Then on June 9th, a two-week research expedition on the Walton Smith (pictured above) found overwhelming amounts of evidence for plumes and large clouds of oil below the surface. The samples, pulled from depths of up to 1200 meters “stank to high heaven,” researcher Smanatha Joye said. “They smelled like creosote, asphalt and diesel.”

Yet on June 9th BP COO of Exploration and Production told NBC’s Today show still defended Hayward’s statement, saying “we haven’t found any large concentrations of oil under the sea” and that it “may be down to how you define what a plume is here.” Watch the whole chilling interview.

Continue reading ‘Exercise in Denial: BP Still Claims No Oil Plumes’

Photo courtesy of The Age

A coal ship struck the Great Barrier Reef this weekend, spilling heavy oil over several miles of the reef.  The ship was carrying coal from Australia, the world’s largest exporter of coal, to China, the world’s largest consumer of coal.  The Neng Sheng 1, a Chinese-owned freigher struck the reef 15 miles outside shipping lanes in a restricted portion of the reef.  The 950 tonnes of heavy fuel oil has already covered a 3km by 100m strip of ocean in a slick, and if the ship breaks up the 65,000 tonnes of coal would cover a portion of the reef.

Australian authorities plan to “throw the book” at the operators, who could face a $1 million fine to the company and a $250,000 fine for the captain, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh told The Age.  Yet reports say this could be one of the most challenging sea clean-up operations ever, with the vessel still impaled on the reef in moving water and leaking fuel oil.

Australians tend to shy away from the fact that the national economy’s current boom is largely supported by resource demand from growing economies in Asia.  Mining exports account for 35% of national exports. Australia is the largest exporter of coal in the world (with 35% of total global coal exports).  Mining makes up 5.6% of the Australian economy, which doesn’t sound like much, until you realize that of developed countries only Canada and Norway have comparable levels.  And mining employs a disproportionately small number of Australians at 1.3% of the total labor force. Continue reading ‘Coal and Oil Destroying Great Barrier Reef’

“Its like a kick in the face” says Jonathan Ruiz of Florida International University.  Jonathan campaigned for Obama for fourteen months, and now he’s livid about today’s announcement by the administration to open half the east coast to offshore drilling.

“I was born near Florida’s Emerald Gulf Coast.” says Graham Penniman of University of Central Florida.  “The memories that I have on those beaches brings me so much joy, that every night I fall asleep thinking about the moons reflection across the water. To imagine my beach any other way destroys my heart.”

Image from the NY times

Why are these Florida university students mad?  They are being sold out by the Obama administration in a misguided attempt to curry political favor.  From the NYTimes:

“The proposal — a compromise that will please oil companies and domestic drilling advocates but anger some residents of affected states and many environmental organizations — would end a longstanding moratorium on oil exploration along the East Coast from the northern tip of Delaware to the central coast of Florida, covering 167 million acres of ocean.”

Youth, the millennial generation so inspired by Obama to vote in record numbers, have the most to lose from the expansion of drilling.  Even some coastal governors and senators will be angry about the announcement because of the small amount of oil and huge environmental risks.  If white-haired governors and senators are worried, what about young people who are thinking about protecting this coastline for us and our children, long after the tiny amounts of energy have been extracted?

Continue reading ‘Our Generation Screwed Over by Obama’s Offshore Drilling Plan’

How’s the Site Doing is a monthly series to update the community on how this site is doing, share some how-to tips and create a space to talk about this site.

Over 100 people filled out our survey earlier this month, giving us a valuable window into how our community sees itself. As part of my monthly round-up of the site, I’ve included some of the graphs (thanks to Liz Veazy) and insights I found most interesting.

To start things off, we’re the best site on the web for some things, according to…. us!

The point of the survey was to help the editors guide the development of the site and the community. We’ve been putting together a proposal for a redesign, and getting a much better sense of how we want to include a lot more people in writing and reading here, and how to expand our editorial board.

Read on for a mock-up of how the site might look, more colorful graphs from the survey and of course the numbers.

Continue reading ‘How’s the Site Doing According to You? Open thread on what we should be’

High up in the trees near the summit of Coal River Mountain, two activists dangle in the air near a mountaintop removal mine site. Eric Blevins and Amber Nitchman are still preventing the expansion of mining on the summit of Coal River Mountain, a mountain that has the best wind energy (and therefore economic) potential in the area.

Eric and Amber didn’t just stroll through the woods and decide to climb some trees. Their action, like the dozens of others in the past year are a steady escalation of the Climate Ground Zero campaign.

I first visited Rock Creek, West Virginia in October. Mountain Justice, now in its 5th year, organized a fall weekend that drew 150 youth activists from all over the country to the Appalachians to see firsthand the destruction of mountaintop removal coal mining and learn what they could do about it. For me, it was partly a reunion with colleagues from various climate and activist organizations making the trek, and partly a recharge. Camping in the cold, eating group meals and hanging out with my mountain roaming friends is a great way to spend a weekend. It’s also a great way to build a movement.

Read on for new photos, a meeting with the governor and more. Continue reading ‘Tree Sits, Air Horns and Helicopters: The Fight to Save Coal River Mountain’

>>>Update: Read the live-blog of the event here<<<

>>>Update: Watch the debate live here.<<<

So, is coal part of West Virginia’s future? This Thursday evening at 6:30pm Robert F. Kennedy Jr will debate Don Blankenship on the future of coal, mountaintop removal and economic opportunities for Appalachia. Kennedy, chief litigator for the Waterkeeper’s Alliance and Blankenship, CEO of WV’s largest coal producer Massey energy, are both titans on this issue.

Convened by the University of Charleston president Ed Welch, the debate has already garnered significant attention from the media and people across coal country. With the bright spotlight focused on dirty coal, the debate will likely have a big impact on public opinion. We can help shape that public opinion. Watch Colbert’s brilliant segment on mountaintop removal last night, and then read on for how you can help. Continue reading ‘Kennedy and Blankenship to Debate Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining’

It all began when I found myself leading climate activism cheers and marching through the August heat of New Hampshire in 2007… No, let me back up. It began when I signed my campus group up on the Campus Climate Challenge website because we’d been running the campaign but no one had bothered to tell anyone outside our campus. No, not quite, it really began when Billy Parish spoke on an Earthday panel at my school in the spring of 2006.  Well, it really began…

For the Climate Generation series, as we look at how the climate crisis shapes and unites our generation, I want to start with what got me really excited about being part of the movement to stop climate change.  Hopefully this can offer some insight into how we organize ourselves at a generational level and win.

In Sierra Student Coalition trainings like I attended, participants all share what makes them tick. Its called green fire, a reference to an Aldo Leopold essay on the love of wilderness and the spark that makes us fight to protect what we love. He saw the green fire in a wolf’s eyes as it heaved its last breaths. He saw the fierce determination of a mother to protect her domain, to defend her young, and he linked that to his love for the rugged land, vowing to defend it to his last breath.

Listening to Billy talk about the Campus Climate Challenge, I started to get a little fire in my eyes. It felt like someone had let the sunlight in to my little corner where I was busily doing my part, sorting bottles and trying to use both sides of printer paper. His 10 minute slide-show contained a big idea that I’d never heard be: that there was this whole network of people doing important, real things, like reducing the emissions from entire campuses, all over the country. Continue reading ‘Climate Generation: What Makes Us All Tick’