It’s Getting Hot In Here

2 years ago I and several friends shut down construction at the site of the Cliffside Coal Plant in North Carolina. It was April 1^st, Fossil Fools Day. After public hearings, petitions, legislative efforts, and protest failed, we knew we had to do something to up the ante in the fight against coal plants in this country. So it was that we found ourselves locked to Duke Energy’s bulldozers on that dark, drizzly morning.

Did we permanently stop the Cliffside construction site? No. However this action, along with the countless other actions like it by groups around the country, have greatly increased the cost, both politically and economically, of building coal plants in this country. While the construction at Cliffside continues, I feel confident that our direct actions, and those of others, is in part responsible for the wave of coal plants that have been canceled in the US (100 and counting).

No doubt utility companies and state governments pursuing new coal plants took note of the fight against Cliffside and decided that the constant controversy and harassment was not worth it (of course the recession and prospects of CO2 being regulated has helped as well). Well its 2010 and Fossil Fools Day is once again rounding the corner. We’ve witnessed the spectacular failure of Copenhagen, the Obama administration time and again capitulating to big business, and corporations doing there best to stall our efforts.

Yet we’ve seen inspiring resistance around the country, from Climate Ground Zero’s relentless direct action campaign against mountaintop removal to citizens shutting down Chevron’s refinery in Richmond, CA. The question is: What are you going to do to raise the stakes on April 1^st?

www.fossilfoolsday.org

The fossil fools ain’t no joke – but that doesn’t mean we can’t fight them with one!

The Fossil Fuel Empire is real and it’s here. The stakes couldn’t be higher: destabilization of the global climate, communities from Alaska to Appalachia being destroyed by dirty energy extraction and combustion, devastating super hurricanes, droughts, flooding, the list goes on…

Last December in Copenhagen, the politicians sold us out to the fossil fools, corporate lobbyists and big banks. Now we’re left with “green capitalism,” carbon market shenanigans and continued assaults on our communities and ecosystems. If we’re going to stop climate change, the only real solution is to keep fossil fuels in the ground.

This April, join Rising Tide North America as we pull some pranks that pack a punch. Use the simply subversive to the downright disruptive: office occupations, banner drops, road blockades, clownish parades, spoof product launches, sub-vertising, leaflets, street theater, lock-downs and laugh-ins. Whatever works for you and your group! Continue reading ‘Fossil Fools Day 2010: Pull a prank that packs a punch April 1′

The mainstream media imagery that emerged this morning in London, England was largely focused on the violent demonstrations, graffiti and the broken windows at the Bank of Scotland. It seems that while holding to the mantra that destruction and violence sells papers, they missed the non-violent civil disobedience images of Climate Camp in the City.

Workshops, music, games and free vegan food were the order of the day outside the European Climate Exchange on Bishopsgate in London. Campers were spotted reading papers outside their tents, growing flowers, gardening bus stops and cooking meals. The camp was complete with a free vegan kitchen and composting toilets.

Despite the non-violent actions of all the campers, the police tactics changed abruptly after dark as they kettled the camp. (Kettling is a controversial police tactic to encircle the protest and not let anyone out or in, including families and children). After 3+ hours of kettling, those campers that were caught and wished to return home were allowed to go free. Several hundred chose to stay and were forcefully and violently evicted by the police early in the morning. Despite the police actions, the campers maintained a spirit of satyagraha until the end.

More images here (©Robert vanWaarden)

Five actions in one day in downtown Toronto? No foolin!

Today Rainforest Action Network activists kicked Fossil Fools Day off with a bang, dropping banners off of a highway, greeting over 4,000 cars (we counted) stuck in deadlock traffic over a period of two hours. From bridges, we broadcast messages about Royal Bank of Canada (RBC)’s financing of the Canadian Tar Sands from our makeshift Pirate Radio station. Our banners read “Pirate Radio 89.9 FM Tune in now” and “Royal Bank creates climate chaos. Renewables not tar sands.” The pouring rain didn’t block our view of car after car reaching for the radio dial as they drove under us. Listen to the audio broadcast we played here!

We moved on to RBC’s headquarters downtown, and throughout the day were joined by over 30 activists filtering in and out for the festivities.

We began by dressing up and impersonated bank employees. About 16 of us rode elevators for up to two more hours, chatting up other RBC personnel – “Hey, on my way to work today I heard about how RBC is financing the destruction of Native territories in Alberta, causing people cancer and polluting the water! Tar Sands are the world’s dirtiest oil. Did you know that? I had no idea! I’m telling my manager right away!”

Meanwhile, outside the HQ, several more of us leafleted and held banners reading “RBC Creates poisoned water in our community,” “Renewables not tar sands” and “RBC: financing cancer and toxic sludge.”

Back inside, a lone Torontan walked inside the main office with a beautiful bouquet of balloons. I don’t know where he got the idea to release them in the atrium, or how a banner reading “ROYAL BANK CREATES CLIMATE CHAOS” got attached….I also don’t know how they’re gonna get it down. We have undercover footage of the prank here:

Later that evening, dozens of activists reconvened outside RBC headquarters alongside “Tarbie,” an oil-soaked version of RBC’s prized mascot “Arbie” who explained to passersby that he and RBC are helping finance one of the fastest growing sources of water pollution and greenhouse gas emissions on the planet, and how they conflict with the financial giant’s PR promises to promote clean water.

Continue reading ‘Toronto activists award RBC “fossil fool of the year” for Tar Sands financing’

reposted by RAN’s fabulous grassroots Agribusiness organizer Levana Saxon

Go rock the vote!

This is democracy at its finest people – you choose the fool and then we’ll all go challenge them to stop their ridiculous and destructive fantasies of converting land for fuel.

This is no April fools joke. If you haven’t heard, biofuels are naaaasty. People are already being displaced by big agribusiness to grow crops for fuel. And, biofuels won’t get us off of fossil fuels anyway. Replacing just 10 percent of world demand for diesel for road transport with biodiesel would require 75 percent of the world’s existing soy, oil palm and rapeseed crops. Even current government mandates for these so-called renewable fuels will create enough demand for biofuels to cause food shortages and human rights and environmental catastrophes around the world. Continue reading ‘Happy Biofools Day!’

This April Fools, groups in Boston, New Orleans, Berkeley, Kentucky – and even London – are celebrating Rising Tide North America’s “Fossil Fool’s Day” by calling attention to the most foolish fuel there is: coal. Some will rally, some will march, and others will even juggle in the Boston “Coal Circus” or in the Middlebury, Vermont “Cirque du Coal-ay.”

Many of the day’s events are connected through Power Past Coal (www.powerpastcoal.org), a national project linking together an action or more a day for the first hundred days of Obama’s presidency. The project’s first seventy days have seen over 130 actions in all fifty states, each demanding that the President and new Congress lead a just and swift transition away from coal.

“We need to make our leaders realize that all coal is foolish, especially clean coal,” said Ted Glick, of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, whose work has focused on the promotion of clean, just energy alternatives to coal in places like Wise County, Virginia, where the Wise Energy Alliance is protesting Dominion Power Company’s proposed coal plant. Fossil Fools Day events in Denver similarly target the operating Cherokee Coal Plant, which releases toxic pollutants daily into local residents’ backyards.

In New Orleans, conservation groups, students, and concerned citizens are joining forces at Entergy’s headquarters to protest the company’s plans to expand their use of coal power in Louisiana. “Louisiana’s coast is ground zero for climate change impacts,” said rally organizer Jonathan Henderson. “Entergy should be a responsible neighbor and work to limit coast-destroying pollution and protect rate-payers from future carbon price increases.

In the spirit of the “Coal Circus,” students from Bowling Green, Kentucky are planning a Monster Mash and a critical mass bike ride. Berkeley, California residents will also hop on their bikes to “reclaim the streets” from car-driving fossil fools, as will students in Tempe, Arizona, who have declared themselves “too cool for fossil fools.”

Despite the lighthearted nature of the events, participants know that coal is not a joke. Many come from communities impacted daily by coal extraction, burning, and waste disposal. As President Obama’s 100^th day rapidly approaches, thousands of citizens across the country are taking action to draw urgent attention to the need for “power past coal.” Stay tuned this week as Power Past Coal launches into it’s final phase!

I am from Queensland, Australia. Specifically, I am from Brisbane, in South-East Queensland. I am not an indigenous Australian, and so could never claim the intimate knowledge of Brisbane – or ‘Mianjin’ – that the Turrbul and Jagera people hold, but it is my home, my heartland, and my identity.

Brisbane is set on a wide river that falls from the hills of the Great Dividing Range and out to Moreton Bay, which is sheltered by two of the three largest sand-islands in the world – Mingerriba and Moorgumpin, or Stradbroke and Moreton. The region – particularly the coastal region – has incredibly unique ecosystems, being in the transition zone between the tropics and the temperate regions of Australia. In winter, temperatures gets down to around 10C (50F) at worst, and in summer we are drenched in glorious sunshine while spectacular tropical thunderstorms roll in off the ocean.

Continue reading ‘Oil Spill in Sub-Tropical Paradise’

Beyond the Numbers (and the Irony)

By Jesse Jenkins, reporting for the Energy Collective and WattHead – Energy News and Commentary

On February 27th-March 1st, 12,000 young leaders from all fifty states, every Canadian province, and about a dozen other nations convened at the Washington D.C. Convention Center for Power Shift 2009, the largest ever gathering of climate and clean energy activists in U.S. history. On Monday, March 2nd, fueled by a fiery passion no snowstorm could chill, thousands stormed Capitol Hill, braving subfreezing temperatures to rally, lobby and even risk arrest in their efforts to ignite a clean and just energy future.

Image credit: Shadia Fayne Wood

If you read the mainstream media’s accounts of this historic weekend, that’s about the extent of the story you likely read. The focus of most coverage was the numbers – 12,000 students, 2,500 protesters, 350 lobby visits – or the supposed irony of a climate rally held amidst a few inches of snow. But beyond the numbers and ironic headlines, there’s a far deeper story on display at Power Shift 2009 – if only the press knew where to look.

I’ve been close to this movement for three years, as both a participant and as a writer and editor chronicling its progress at ItsGettingHotInHere.org, where voices from across the movement share their stories. Rather than wait for the mainstream media to write an in-depth expose on this dynamic and growing movement, I’ll take you behind the scenes to uncover the stories behind the numbers in this three part series:

• Part One focuses on the history of the maturing movement on display at Power Shift 2009
• Part Two takes a look at the diversity of tactics and cutting edge activism employed by the movement
• Part Three looks at how the movement has grown into an expansive effort to build a more sustainable, just and prosperous future and on the road ahead for these young leaders

Even if you don’t know who Glenn Beck is, because you might have the good sense to avoid blowhard talking heads on Fox News, he seems to think he knows who we are. He thinks the youth climate movement are “Hitler Youth”, brainwashed by Al Gore to lead us into fascism.

Glenn Beck said: “Well, tonight — oh dear, this may not go well — when I finish this story, some may believe we’re on the way to the Hitler Youth … Are we having the new Hitler youth? Is that what this is? The new Hitler youth? I’m sorry, that’s so politically incorrect. The new green guard.” Source

You can see his scaremongering for yourself, recorded by Crooks and Liars:

Well, I know who and what Glenn Beck is. Glenn Beck is a bigoted, paranoid liar who will stoop at nothing to smear and destroy those who he sees as foes to the voodoo economics and dirty energy companies his ideology supports. He is a fossil fool and he should be exposed as one.

For a sampling of his smears and lies:
The first environmental justice advocate elected to congress, Keith Ellison, also was the first Muslim representative. Rep. Ellison was a mentor to me and a proud American who has stood up against the excesses of the Bush Administration. What did Glenn Beck ask him, when Keith went on his CNN show?

“With that being said, you are a Democrat. You are saying, ‘Let’s cut and run.’ And I have to tell you, I have been nervous about this interview with you, because what I feel like saying is, ‘Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies.’ And I know you’re not. I’m not accusing you of being an enemy, but that’s the way I feel, and I think a lot of Americans will feel that way.” Source

Glenn seems to enjoy labeling environmental activists as fascists or communists or socialists, referencing Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, saying “It’s like Hitler” and denied Global Warming by using fossil fuel funded ‘experts’ on numerous occasions. Source

He also lied about oil production from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, claiming it would produce seventy times more than it could and decades earlier. Source

The fact that someone who is a serial liar and slanderer has such a prominent position in our media shows how far we have to go. Glenn has a right-wing radio show, and has a national cable TV show. If you want to express how disappointed you are that Glenn Beck would smear the diverse and independent youth climate movement, that draws from communities across this country, from indigenous youth to evangelical youth.

What can you do?

You can email his producer, stu@glennbeck.com, to express your disappointment. In fact, I think Glenn Beck is a very good candidate for Countdown on MSNBC’s Worst Person in the World. Feel free to nominate him here: countdown@msnbc.com

Here in Washington we’re feeling like pretty good leaders in the climate change movement what with all our great climate change legislation passing and all. But there’s always more to be done, key among them keeping a wary eye out for false solutions as we move ahead. One of those false solutions has tried rearing its ugly head here and we aim to stop it before it’s got a change to flourish. That would be “clean coal“, the only coal option in Washington thanks to our strict emissions limits. You can read all about the plant and it’s history here. It’s currently on hold due to concerns from the Port of Walla Walla, but they plan to try again in the Fall and we’ll be there to say no again.

So, the campaign: It began out of a Fossil Fools Day idea but grew much bigger and just wrapped up last week. The Cascade Climate Network and friends collected 795 photo petitions from eight different universities and colleges in Washington, all speaking out against coal and advocating clean solutions and green jobs. We’ll be sending the finished book to key players in the clean energy future of Washington as well as a few Washington Congressmen who have yet to sign onto the new Clean Water bill that would effectively end mountain top removal.

All in all a bitchin’ effort and a great example of what students can do if they unite across the state and region.

You can check out the finished photo petition, put together in a high school yearbook-style format, as well as a similar photo petition calling for No LNG in Oregon at www.CascadeClimate.org.