It’s Getting Hot In Here

According to The Center for Public Integrity, more than 770 companies and interest groups hired an estimated 2,340 lobbyists to influence federal climate policy in 2008.  That means every day, 2,340 briefcase-holding and business card-carrying bodies walk through the halls of Congress with the sole aim of either strengthening or weakening the policies that will help spark a clean energy revolution and combat the climate crisis. From Chevron to Chevrolet, from Alcoa to Xerox, everybody is funding somebody to argue their case. This Washington insider game is what’s determining the climate policies that make it out of Congress.

When you think of it though, why should these inside-the-beltway lobbyists have all the clout? Our future as individual human beings is at stake along with the future of major corporations and utility districts! How can the everyday citizen get on the same playing field as these lobbyists? These questions encouraged us, two college students who are part of the youth climate movement, to set out writing a guide to climate policy that would help every American understand the policy details and political context around the climate debate in Congress. The result is “The Citizen’s Guide to Climate Policy,” a short booklet that will prepare you to become a lobbyist for change. The only way we’re going to get the strong climate policy we need is if a group of impassioned citizens engage their elected officials , and are so well versed on the implications of specific policies that we can battle on the same ground as the industry lobbyists who are walking the halls of Congress. Continue reading ‘Introducing “The Citizen’s Guide to Climate Policy”’

This afternoon in l’Aquila, I just had the displeasure of sitting in the front row of the press conference for US President ‘Oh-Bummer’, Australian Prime Minister ‘Krudd’ and Climate-Sceptic Italian PM Berlusconi.

Coverage of the conference is, predictibly, fairly positive:

Continue reading ‘L’Aquila – G8/MEF and false solutions’

 Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to witness a massive street protest against corrupt government policies in the city of Iquitos, Peru.  Hundreds of people moved in a wave that held up traffic as they marched down the streets.  It appeared to be a general protest against corrupt government practices in Peru, and the policies of President Alan Garcia in particular.  There were marchers focused on workers´ rights, education reform, and the pillaging of the Amazon.  A large contingent of indigenous activists called out the Peruvian government on last month´s massacre of indigenous people in the city of Bagua.  Toward the back of the parade, another group waved flags supporting Ollanta Humala – one of the major left-wing candidates for president running in Peru´s 2011 elections. 

All-in-all, the event was an inspiring glimpse of a wave of progressive activism which appears to be sweeping across Peru.  Unfortunately, I won´t be able to post any of the photos or video footage I took until I return to the US at the end of this month – but look for them on this blog around August 1st!

I was naturally drawn to the contingent of indigenous protesters as I followed the parade.  These activists held signs denouncing the government´s behavior in Bagua and the seizure of indigenous lands for industrial exploitation, and calling on the Peruvian government to respect the rights of indigenous peoples.  I also could not help but notice the large block of students and faculty from the nearby university – our activist peers in this country.  Though the parade was flanked by police on all sides, the atmosphere was less than tense.  Some of the police were smiling, and they didn´t seem concerned at the sight of a couple of US college students running after the parade taking pictures.  However atrociously the Peruvian police behaved in Bagua, in Iquitos there seemed to be little issue with the police, for the moment at least.  A few parents were pushing baby carriages in the parade, and people of all ages joined in.  On the sidewalks, people came out of the shops to watch. 

I´ve written more about the fight against fossil fuels in Peru, and how it connects to policy in the US, here.  I am not an expert on current politics in Peru, and I don´t know enough about any specific candidate for the 2011 elections to know whether he or she would represent a major improvement over Alan Garcia.  However, dissatisfaction with the current pro-industry president is at an all-time high in Peru, and a wave of progressive activism seems to be gaining strength in this country.  The horror of the Bagua Massacre appears simply to have strengthened peoples´ resolve to end government corruption, and fueled the anger of activists.  It´s just possible that Peru could be the next country where we see a power shift in favor of a socially just environmentally sustainable future for all.

Co-written by Morgan Goodwin and Rob Price, members of the Avaaz Action Factory

A buzz accompanied the lunchtime rush at Longworth Cafeteria on Capitol Hill today as staffers and Reps looked at their watches and talked amongst themselves ready to witness an activist flash mob making a statement about the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES). Flash mobs are Internet organized convergences of people for a pre-organized purpose.

Over 30 young activists converged on the cafeteria, cleverly wearing the suit-and-tie disguise that is customary there, and doing nothing out of the ordinary until at precisely 12:15 pm they froze like statues. Where groups of ‘mobbers’ stood close together, frozen, reaching for ketchup, adjusting glasses, adjusting a hair clip, paused mid-stride etc, the effect was striking. At the end of two minutes of stillness one member of the ‘mob’ yelled out tick, tick, tick, a catch cry of Tck Tck Tck a global campaign for urgent climate action run by the Global Humanitarian Forum and supported by a broad coalition of climate groups.
Continue reading ‘Flash Mob for Climate Justice’

Congressman DeFazio & Candidate Obama

Cross-posted from Focus the Nation

After listening to Congressman Peter DeFazio (D-OR) speak today on all the reasons the Waxman-Markey cap and trade plan (ACES) is deeply flawed and that advocates for greenhouse gas reductions should be working to kill it, not pass it, I find myself almost convinced.

I’m only almost convinced because I fear the two alternatives to cap and trade – a carbon tax or Clean Water Act-style regulation – may be political nonstarters.

Congressman DeFazio (and many others) claims that carbon trading will be subject to all the same financial corruption responsible for our current economic crisis and that offsets provisions remove any incentive for real behavior change. He has co-sponsored Jim McDermott’s bill that would impose a Clean Water Act-style regulator system on global warming pollution, and hinted that a carbon tax would be better than cap and trade.

At the end of the Congressman’s speech today, I asked him this: “Waxman-Markey, even in its present severely weakened form, is going to have a tough time passing the full house. What are the chances of Congressman McDermott’s bill, Congressman Larson’s carbon tax, or even Congressman Inglis’ revenue-neutral carbon tax bill of passing the house, and how important is it to the success of an international climate treaty that the US pass something soon?” Continue reading ‘Would Obama Do It?’

'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’

Last year my grandfather told me that you get a revolution when people are pushed to the extreme.

Photo credit: Benka Morvan

This means that climate change one of the hardest issues to act upon, because although climate change is one of the biggest threats to humanity, by the time we are pushed to an extreme it will be too late. Especially in the countries that need to take the largest steps.

Does that mean we can’t create a revolution?

No it doesn’t.

I believe that humans are not only motivated by fear and despair; but are also motivated by love. And it is love for their children, love for animals and love humanity that is driving the change today. Continue reading ‘A Revolution of Love’

Canada has committed to emission reductions at home of 2.7% below 1990 levels by the year 2020. (Or 20% below 2006 levels by 2020 as the government phrases it). ember that we committed years ago to 6% below 1990 level target by the year 2012 via the Kyoto Protocol.

I am confident that the government recognizes the scientific advice of achieving 25 to 40% emission reductions globally below 1990 levels by 2020. Yet our target doesn’t seem to match up.

Continue reading “Number Crunch: Where Canada’s Emission Targets Stand” here…

In a meeting Wednesday night with Canada’s lead climate negotiator, Mr. Michael Martin said this to me as he explained the position of the Canadian government. Background information: Negotiating domestic and international targets is precisely why these United Nations conferences exist.

When I asked our lead negotiator, Mr. Michael Martin, to explain Canada’s position further, this was what he said:

Continue reading “Canada is not here to negotiate our domestic targets” here…

Cross-posted from Adopt a Negotiator.

Rumor in the halls is that Canada is waiting in the wings to see what emission reduction targets the United States puts on the table. The following table suggests that perhaps the US is not influencing Canada as rumor suggests – unfortunately. In summary, the United States is far ahead of Canada on targets and policies.

Have a look. The table speaks for itself.

Provided by Matthew Bramley of The Pembina Institute.

Continue reading ‘Canada vs. United States: How do they Compare?’