It’s Getting Hot In Here

'The struggle of the Amazonians is for all Peruvians'

On June 5, 2009 I was vacationing in Cuzco, Peru awaiting the start of my 5 day hike to Machu Picchu, when I stumbled upon a protest in a small square.  It was an impromptu gathering of people allied with indigenous people in the Amazon region who are resisting the privatization of the rainforest for oil and gas development.  The effects of rainforest destruction and the use of oil on our climate are well documented.  Instead, I’d like to look at why the rainforest is being sold to private companies and its effect on the indigenous people who have lived there for generations.

Why is the rainforest being sold off by the Peruvian government?  It all comes back to the US-Peru Free Trade Agreement, which requires the government to allow oil and gas development by multi-national corporations.  The protesters I met were demanding that the law granting oil and gas concessions on the indigenous people’s communally held be land permanently repealed.

The small protest is Cuzco wasn’t the only thing going in on Peru.  In Lima thousands of people took to the streets demanding the law be repealed.  Indigenous people have been blockading the roads that the oil company uses for the past two and half months.  As a result, the Amazon region has experienced a shortage of cooking gas and food prices are on the rise.  On June 5^th the Peruvian President Garcia decided he had enough and moved to clear roads.  The communities were armed with sticks and lances; the police with guns, helicopters, shields, and gases. Police attacked the blockaders, killing hundreds of indigenous protesters (according to witnesses, the government reports put it at only 30) and in the process about a dozen police were captured or killed.

In the following days a curfew was imposed and witnesses reported seeing the police dump bodies into the river in the middle of the night.  I’m sure when you read this you’ll think, like I did, that these are the kind of things that happened in the 70s and 80s, but not today.  It crazy, but it’s true, even in 2009 there are governments that, in the name of defending free trade, are throwing protesters’ bodies into the river.  Violence is continuously perpetrated in the name of Free Trade, here in Peru against the indigenous in the Amazon, in Guatemala against banana workers, or in Colombia against union members. Continue reading ‘Free Trade, Violence & the Destruction of the Amazon’

It’s not often that I post a link to a Fox News or Economist article, as both news sources that often blur the line between editorial content and objective reporting.  Today I’m happy to report that The Economist has given up hope in the false promise of clean coal.  Check it out:

Carbon capture and storage: Trouble in store

Politicians are pinning their hopes for delivery from global warming on a technology that is not quite airtight

Read the full article from The Economist print edition: Mar 5th 2009

As I was looking over the schedule of amazing workshops and presentations at the Good Jobs, Green Jobs conference which is starting tomorrow, I got some of the best Green Jobs news I’ve heard in a while from an unlikely place: Michigan’s State of the State address. In an speech everyone expected to focus the downturn of the auto industry and jobs (Michigan has the highest unemployment rate in the country), Gov. Granholm came out with a bold plan to radically restructure the way power companies do business so that they make money by encouraging energy efficiency and decentralized energy production.  Gov. Granholm is saying it’s about time the power companies worked for energy conservation, rather than against it:

• Put utility companies in the energy efficiency business by changing how rates are set in the Public Service Commission. Today, these companies make money selling us electricity and natural gas. The more you use, the more money they make. Tomorrow, they’ll make money by helping us use less of both.  Unlike the coal we buy from Wyoming and Montana, money we spend on energy efficiency will produce tens of thousands of jobs in Michigan.
• Make Michigan the first state in the nation to let every homeowner, every business, become a renewable energy entrepreneur who can make money by installing solar panels or wind systems on their home or business and selling that renewable energy back to the power company.

If every state did this, the private sector would do a lot of the work we’ve been calling for  Not a bad idea to start with, but she goes further, saying “By the year 2020, Michigan will reduce our reliance on fossil fuels for generating electricity by 45 percent,” AND promises:

To evaluate . . . both the need for additional electricity generation and all feasible and prudent alternatives before approving new coal-fired power plants.

This effectively kills Michigan’s six active coal plant proposals for the next year, if not for good. Continue reading ‘Gov. Granholm: Utilities Should Make Money by Selling Less Power, New Coal is Unnecessary’

The Dynegy Corporation has announced the termination of their coal-plant development partnership with LS Power, effectively canceling plans for six new coal burning power plants.  Momentum against coal is growing all around the country, as residents of Kingston, Tennessee recover from a one billion gallon spill of toxic coal ash produced by a coal plant last week.  That spill promises to leave streams, fish, front yards and drinking water in the community under health advisories for months, if not years.  Now, just two days into 2009 the tally of canceled coal plants is already ticking up.

The environmental community has labeled Dynegy “the next King Coal” in response to their plans to build these coal plants, the largest new coal fleet proposed in the USA.  The Sierra Club launched a campaign to Clean Up Dynegy in February 2008, that spring thousands of Green America members asked Dynegy to cancel the plants and with the help of RAN, Public Citizen and a busload of Southern Energy Network student activists a massive protest engulfed Dynegy’s annual meeting in Houston last May.  There, inside the shareholder meeting, investors warned about the massive cost of carbon regulation to the company and activists raised concerns about the toll of its coal plants on surrounding communities and the climate.  This summer courts in Georgia dealt Dynegy another setback, halting plans for a new plant until the state developed a plan to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from the plant.

Continue reading ‘Dynegy Cancels Investment in Six Coal Burning Power Plants’

I want to tip my hat to the folks at LCV who are calling out Chevron for the most prolific Greenwashing campaign I’ve seen in some time.  It seems that every other public bus, subway train and magazine ad I see is for Chevron’s “Will You Join Us” Greenwashing campaign, which promotes individual action as a solution to the global climate crisis.  As a community organizer I have seen that the actions of the government, or a single corporation with a budget the size of many governments, can easily eclipse the voluntary actions of many individuals.  Will you join us in laughing at Chevron’s big waste of money?

See the rest of LCV’s “ads.”

A powerful new tool was released today which allows you to see (for free!) the potential for wind and solar power installations at any location North or South America, and includes wind maps for the entire world.  I like the site because it utilizes the easy to navigate Googlemaps technology that most people know very well.  I know that state-level wind maps are publicly available in some areas, but this is the first comprehensive solar map I’ve seen, and is by far the easiest to use. From the company’s website:

On October 13, 2008, 3TIER, one of the world’s largest independent providers of assessment and forecasting of renewable energy, released the first comprehensive, contiguous and high-resolution solar map for the entire Western Hemisphere.

Go ahead, play around and find your city.  What type of renewable energy would be most effective in your community?

Yesterday I attended the Dynegy Corporation’s annual shareholder meeting to remind Fossil Fool of the Year Nominee Bruce Williamson it’s time to cancel plans to coal burning power plants. Dynegy is planning to become the next King Coal (pictured below, see more pictures of the protest here) by building six new coal plants, more than any other company or utility.

Like most share owner meetings, the event was designed as a corporate love-fest. Nancy Henchel, a Sierra Club volunteer, and I attended the meeting to speak on behalf of the NGOs calling for the cancellation of the coal plants. Since I called ahead and spoke with the Corporate Secretary, I was given a spot on the agenda to speak at the meeting and a packet of materials I prepared was distributed to each member of Dynegy’s Board of Directors.

CEO Bruce Williamson’s presentation included a 7 or 8 min piece focused on their work to decrease their plants’ pollution output. This mainly focused on reducing NOX and SOX, although one sentance about climate change and a discussion about “increased barriers to entry for building new coal plants” (due to financing/ the capital market crises and future regulation) was mentioned. The presentation also mentioned the company’s focus on “diversification of fuel sources,” although the graph that was up during this discussion showed energy production from only coal and natural gas. During the question and answer period I pointed out that this was not a truely diverse portfolio, since it excluded renewables, the only type of energy production that has no carbon risk. Williamson’s response to this was that they only build new plants which have long-term buyers lined up in advance and if he could find someone willing to buy a long-term contract for a renewable facility, he would consider building a production facility to meet that contract.

Then I had a chance to make my presentation, which focused on the climate risks that shareholders will have to deal with:

We, as Dynegy Shareholders, will have to deal with the negative financial consequences of a large coal portfolio when carbon regulation is implemented. Thankfully, this impending regulation does not have to hurt the company. Renewable energy sources like wind are demonstrating increased profitability with each year that passes.

Coal is last century’s technology. Renewable Energy is the future. Dynegy can invest in the past or lead the way to a new energy economy. The choice is yours.

Click “Read more” for the full text of my statement. CEO Williamson thanked me for my comments but did not respond directly. Nancy Henchel then spoke from the heart about her concerns, which focused on the health and well being of future generations

I’m glad that I got the chance to deliver the message of No New Coal to the inside of the corporate beast. I’m confident that we made it a bad media day for Dynegy and shifted the focus from profits to climate change the people it effects. The power that I had inside the corporate boardroom was that I represented not only the 10,000 Co-op America members that signed my letter, but a movement that has held two Step It Up events in over a thousand communities nationwide, a movement that has convinced the Supreme Court, the leader of the House and Senate, and every major presidential candidate that carbon must be cut 80% by 2050. I got inside the belly of the beast and I told them that our government is going to regulate carbon and that we are going to continue to fight every plant they proposed until they invest in renewable energy instead. I only have that power because of the work that we all do together. So keep up the good work and keep on organizing!

Continue reading ‘From the Belly of the Beast’

I’m sitting in a church guest house in Houston, preparing to attend Dynegy’s annual shareholder meeting tomorrow. We’ve gathered in Texas to confront Dynegy CEO Bruce Wiliamson, King Coal himself, because he plans to build six new coal burning power plants — more than other corporation in the country. They say everything’s bigger in Texas and it’s especially true with the anti-coal movement, which has turned out over one hundred activists from around the country to challenge Dynegy’s plans. Activists from Iowa, Arkansas, Georgia, Texas, Michiga and Nevada, each state in which Dynegy plans to build a coal plant are gathered here. As expected, the youth climate movement has provided most of the energy and activists for the event. Twenty students working with Seth Gunning in Georgia caravaned out! There’s also representation from the Michigan Student Sustainability Coalition, the University of Arkansas and the University of Texas here.

Tomorrow I’ll be representing Co-op America inside the shareholder meeting, bringing the argument that the coal business is bad business to the boardroom. Outside the meeting, the youth climate activists will be joined by representatives from the Sierra Club, Public Citizen, RAN and Houston Climate Action Coalition to send the message to shareholders: it’s time to invest in a renewable energy future, not our grandfather’s coal plants!

It’s me and Mr. Williamson. The youth vs. King Coal. The time is now for us to rise up and declare: NO NEW COAL PLANTS. NO NEW COAL INVESTMENT. ITS TIME FOR A RENEWABLE ENERGY FUTURE!

Unroll the green carpet, strap on an eco-gown, and get voting! The first annual “Foolies”- the official awards of Fossil Fools Day- have begun.

Vote in the online poll and this year’s winners will get a “special” delivery of their awards on April 1st, Fossil Fools Day . Vote today!

Nominees for this year’s top prize include the CEOs of General Motors, Bank of America, ExxonMobil and Dynegy, as well as the premier of Alberta, Canada.

Organized by the Energy Action Coalition, Co-op America and Rainforest Action Network, the “Foolies” recognize the world’s biggest contributors to our devastating global addiction to fossil fuels. The awards feature five different categories: Fossil Fool of the Year, Outstanding Performance in Corporate Greenwashing, Most Inauspicious Newcomer, Lifetime Achievement and Biggest Human Toll.

Check out the full listing of the nominees and VOTE TODAY!

Continue reading ‘Announcing the Foolies’

Youth were singing to delegates entering the UN Climate Negotiations a day before the high level negotiations kick off, highlighting the negotiation’s failure to move fast enough to address catastrophic climate change. With the latest scientific information about climate change explicitly outlining the dangers of a two-degree temperature rise, youth spoke out against the misleading threshold, which is not strong enough to protect their future.

A rise in temperature of two degrees Celsius gives us only a 50% chance of maintaining a stable climate. “Would you bungee jump off a cliff if your life line had a 50% chance of breaking?” asks Kartikeya Singh, a US youth delegate at the conference.

Youth delegates from around the world are gathering in solidarity today at the conference to encourage delegates to up the ante, especially in light of Kyoto’s 10th anniversary. Katrina Genuis, a Canadian youth delegate, emphasized that, “Delegates need to step it up now, we don’t have another decade to wait for effective action.”