It\'s Getting Hot In Here » ninarizzo

Michigan students demand green shift from automakers

ninarizzo — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 23:02:11 +0000

Today we marched through the streets of downtown Detroit towards the Cobo convention center where the North American International Auto Show is taking place. We were going to the heart of the auto industry to tell them loud and clear -with a bullhorn and banners in hand- that we are not going to be driving cars that drive our addiction to oil and global warming. We were more than 60 strong -including students from a half-dozen schools across Michigan and organizers for the Freedom from Oil campaign.

It was a high-energy affair with drumming, dancing and chanting -not to mention spray-painted coveralls and green hardhats. Too bad police stopped us a block away, opting to protect the automakers’ greenwash instead of young people’s voices for green jobs and green cars. But that didn’t prevent us from reaching out to the public on the intersection with our message.

Check out some pics.

And then we saw about 100 green balloons floating in the air …an ominous sign since two students had taken a different approach to get inside. We had created a sign that read” Toyota: Pull Up Your Pruis, Your Tundra is Showing,” and hoped that they could release it attached to the balloons inside the lobby to float up for all to see. Turns out they were unfortunately restrained and detained, but luckily not arrested. However, what we found out later which is quite insulting is that they wouldn’t allow us to be nearby for social interaction and visibility by the general public and journalists, but they allowed CATTLE in the streets as props. Got freedom of speech? Got freedom of movement? We had a lot more important things to say than “moo.”

Anyways, all in all it was an incredible weekend. A full day of skills training, prepping and art building on Saturday and late into the night with some chilly outdoor action today. Did I mention this was historic? This was the first-ever, student rally at the Detroit auto show and vows have been made to return in bigger numbers if we have to.

What’s up with the EPA? They do what the Automakers say

ninarizzo — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 21:42:50 +0000

The EPA decision to deny California’s waiver for stricter auto emissions standards was very upsetting news. Those of us in the Global Exchange office were just burning with disappointment, and given the human rights implications of our dependence on oil, our gas-guzzling culture and global warming, we couldn’t let such unacceptable inaction slide without some noise.

So the very next day we went out and made some noise and we made a sight.

We are bewildered by such blatant irresponsibility, not only from the Bush Administration but also from the car companies –whose interests are frankly difficult to distinguish nowadays since it sounds like they share talking points. The EPA is supposed to protect people and the planet, not industry, and it’s definitely not a being a leader compared to students across the country who are transforming colleges into models of sustainable transportation in the face of our climate crisis. This is fuming the fight not just between Washington and Sacramento, but between those of us trying to protect our future and those trying to protect the auto industry.

Green Jobs Now!

ninarizzo — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 16:30:44 +0000

This is what green-blue solidarity can look like. Early Tuesday morning the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Oakland Apollo Alliance, Urban Habitat along with concerned citizens and local groups rallied together in the name of green jobs, not jails. We joined about 150 people gathered outside the Oakland City Hall in support of the Green Jobs Corps, which would help create green-collar jobs in Oakland. The rally directly preceded the City Council meeting where the public works committee recommended that the council vote to increase funding from $100,000 to $250,000 to provide specialized job training and paid internships for people with barriers to employment and this work would make the city more energy efficient. Where is this money coming from? The city has $4.17 million from a lawsuit from the California energy crisis in 2000/2001 to be spent on energy efficiency projects; what we were there demanding is that this financial resource be channeled to those who were hurt most and need it most now –our impoverished youth who can become the backbone of the local green economy we all need to solve the climate crisis in a just way.

The Oakland Green Jobs Corps is described as a “world-class job training system providing ‘green pathways out of poverty’ for young adults in Oakland.” Through the Job Corps the young adult community will not only get training for careers in green development but also gain life skills, literacy and vocational training. By uniting the environmental and urban youth movements it simultaneously benefits the climate and will help to propel Oakland residents out of poverty. The program will help empower Oakland’s youth, which can transcribe to youth populations around the country, especially if other cities adopt the program. It is important to continue building youth programs and movements that mobilize and recognize youth as the future. We can view Oakland’s new Green Job Corps program as step forward for all youth and need to continue strongly supporting and discussing programs and initiatives of this manner. Speakers at the rally included Van Jones, the Executive Director of the Ella Baker Center, Oakland poetic activist Aya de Leon, Victor Ochoa the Deputy Chief of Staff in Oakland, and the plan is strongly backed by the Oakland Mayor and Councilwoman Nadel who are urging the city to give it priority. Add your support to the Green Jobs Corp by writing a quick email. You can read more from the Oakland Tribune.

Cali Campus Climate Challenge Summit

ninarizzo — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 02:12:49 +0000

This past weekend students converged from all over the state for the Cali Campus Climate Challenge Summit at UC Berkeley! California is the 12th largest producer of greenhouse gases in the world; we wanted to facilitate communication and collaboration between groups on different campuses to train and build a unified youth activist network. Organizers with Global Exchange, CalPIRG, Rainforest Action Network, California Student Sustainability Coalition, Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative and Environment California all worked together to make this happen! We had Michael Gelobter, the former executive director of Redefining Progress open it up and then had a full weekend of skills building workshops and shared information with each other about other sustainability efforts on campuses –such as foods systems, electronic waste, converting waste vegetable oil into biodeisel, clean energy, transportation policies, endowments and investing, etc. We had an advocate from Environment California came to discuss AB32, the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 and then together we created this blog’s very icon and took a photo, which we will send to Governor Schwarzenegger along with hand-written letters urging him to strongly enforce the law. A student from UC Santa Barbara announced the upcoming 6th Annual UC/CSU/CC Sustainability Conference, we held an alliance-building session with some Theatre of the Oppressed exercises, and even my former Geography professor came to teach the scientific basics of climate change.

Oil Spill at UC Berkeley, 2 Students Arrested

ninarizzo — Sat, 03 Mar 2007 01:25:40 +0000

There was an emergency rally to clean-up a toxic oil spill at UC Berkeley yesterday. As part of a theatrical performance to protest the proposed $500M deal with British Petroleum (BP), organic molasses was spilled at the door of the administration office and students came with mops, buckets, rags, lab coats and masks to wash away this dirty dirty corporate deal. Cops were all over the place and arrested the graduate and freshman undergraduate students who spilled the “oil” and hung caution tape at the scene. Over 140 people were present to demand that the BP deal not be signed by the University, and to hear from distinguished faculty and student speakers who shared the bullhorn next to signs reading “contaminated” and “NO BP Deal: UC Berkeley is not for sale.” Cal is my alma mater and the last thing I want is Big Oil’s influence on this university.

StopBP-Berkeley is a diverse group of students concerned about corporate control of the public university, especially regarding biofuels. On February 1, 2007 the agreement was announced to establish an Energy Biofuels Institute in collaboration with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne. The 3 main objections to this agreement: a) the process was undemocratic and lacked transparency, b) efforts to address sustainability and justice come second to the focus on fossil fuels, and c) corporate interest is prioritized over scientific research for the public good.

Earlier in the week, StopBP-Berkeley held a Teach-In where over 100 students, faculty and community members attended to hear professors and an award-winning science writer express their concerns. (See Berkeley Daily Planet for more info regarding both the Teach-in and the action.)

Here is a List of Reasons to Oppose the BP-Berkeley Deal:

1. Students and the public had almost no say in the biggest corporate deal in UC history.
2. Serious concerns exist about biofuel sustainability.
3. Biofuel crops are already an environmental disaster.
4. BP violates human rights
5. BP + “Sustainable” = “Greenwashing”.
6. Corporate biofuels exacerbate hunger in the world.
7. BP fights laws that hold corporations accountable.
8. UC Berkeley’s research agenda belongs to us, not to for-profit corporations.
9. BP stops at nothing to make money.
10. The EBI will not be seriously researching sustainability.

For a paragraph of each and more general info, visit the StopBP-Berkeley website.

Here are a Few Simple Reasons to Oppose Biofuels:

1. Even if we converted the entire US corn crop to production for ethanol it would only satisfy 12% of our energy appetite,
2. The net energy savings from replacing a gallon of gasoline with ethanol are only the equivalent of about a quarter of a gallon, because of the energy used to grow corn, transport it, run ethanol plants, and so on
3. The transportation industry alone uses nearly 70% of the oil consumed in the US, which is a leading cause of global warming, foreign conflicts, and economic crisis. The single biggest step we can take to save our climate is demanding the auto industry use existing technology to improve vehicle fuel-efficiency.

For more information, visit Freedom From Oil.

UC System Takes Big Step to Stop Global Warming

ninarizzo — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 23:08:42 +0000

The University of California System took another large step to being a world leader in stopping global warming Friday, October 20, 2006 when the UC Sustainability Steering Committee voted to recommend that the UC System commit to becoming “climate neutral as soon as possible.” This recommendation comes on the heels of the 2003 Green Building/Renewable Energy policy approved by the UC System that committed the system to constructing all new buildings to LEED equivalent standards and purchasing 20% renewable energy by 2017.

“Even though so many people are talking about global warming, almost none are talking about solutions – but we are. The UC System is recognized as a leader in so many arenas, and now we are one step closer to setting the example and taking the lead on climate change as well,” said Crystal Durham, a master’s student in Urban Planning at UCLA and the student representative on the UC Sustainability Steering Committee.
If adopted by the UC Regents, the recommendations would commit the entire UC System to become climate neutral. So far only one school in the country, the 300 student College of the Atlantic, has pledged to do so.“As the most prestigious and one of the largest higher education systems in the world, adopting this policy would provide a model for the rest of the world in stopping global warming,” said Tomasso Boggia. UC Santa Cruz senior and CALPIRG Chair (California Student Public Interest Research Group). “Students are excited for the UC to set this high bar, but this is also the beginning –there’s more to be done and students look forward to working with faculty and university staff to develop the means to achieve it.”

The new policy calls for developing a strategy in order to become compliant with recent legislation, the “California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006” that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 2000 levels by 2014 and to 1990 levels by 2020. By December 2008, the UC Sustainability Steering Committee will have an action plan that includes a target date for achieving net zero impact on the Earth’s climate and a resource-needs assessment for the endeavor. Each campus is to also individually pursue membership with the California Climate Action Registry, a “nonprofit public/private partnership that serves as a voluntary greenhouse gas (GHG) registry to protect, encourage and promote early actions to reduce GHG emissions.”“Numerous student groups and organizations all over the state have been working to reduce energy consumption and decrease car emissions, both large contributors of climate change,” said Nina Rizzo, an Independence from Oil Campus Organizer with Global Exchange. “If adopted, the incremental policy victory will provide a long-term vision to support the implementation of collaborative projects and programs on campuses.”

The proposal next goes to President Dynes for his approval and he could issue the policy as soon as January.