Mobilization for Climate Justice

Archive for October, 2009

from Rising Tide Abya Yala Norte October 27, 2009

Some three hundred indigenous people from the Peruvian Amazon region of Madre de Dios are on their way to the town of Salvacion to evict the Texas-based company Hunt Oil from their ancestral territory.

According to reports on mongabay.com, hundreds of Peruvian police officers are waiting in the town for their arrival.

Last month, Indigenous leaders from the Madre de Dios issued a formal statement rejecting Hunt Oil’s presence in the Amarakaeri Communal Reserve—a legally protected biodiversity ‘hot spot’ which the government handed over to the company in 2006. The leaders warned Hunt Oil to voluntarily exit the territory within a week or they would be forced out.

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As part of a national day of action 13 activists locked down at EPA headquarters and were joined by 50 coalfield residents

Published October 30, 2009 By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — Activists with Mountain Justice, Rainforest Action Network and other groups planned protests atEnvironmental Protection Agency headquarters and across the country Friday to demand the end of mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia.

An online map showed more than two dozen planned events from California to Maine, including demonstrations at a regional EPA office in Philadelphia and a New Jersey office of JPMorgan & Chase Co., a bank environmentalists say is the biggest financier of the destructive form of strip mining.

It was the third attempt at a national protest since June, and evidence the environmentalists believe the tide is turning in their favor under the Obama administration.

”The end of mountaintop removal is almost here,” declares the Rainforest Action Network on its Web site. ”Political and financial decision-makers in New York, Washington D.C. and across the country continue to hear our message.” Read the rest of this entry »

Get on the map-  it’s easy!

Use ANY of these links:

http://www.actforclimatejustice.org/actions/atlas-of-resistance/
http://www.climate-justice-action.org/mobilization/atlas-of-resistance/
http://www.beyondtalk.net/action/atlas-of-resistance/

…just complete the form below the Atlas, and your event, action, or organization will be placed on the Global Atlas, tied to your geographic location.

You can add additional info  ’bout your listing, including a website, contact, and more…

Please forward / share this message!

ATLAS OF RESISTANCE AND CLIMATE ACTION

View the Atlas of Climate Resistance in a larger map

LA Victory: Community stops power plant

A Victory For LA’s Air And A Victory for the Planet!
Communities for a Better Environment

Move over Al Gore, make room for some new environmental leaders – working class Latina mothers and high school youth from South East Los Angeles!

After 3 years of organizing, mobilizing, advocacy and lawsuits, CBE members in Southeast Los Angeles stopped a 943 megawatt fossil fuel power plant that would have emitted over 1.7 million pounds of toxic pollution per year as well as 2.8 million tons of greenhouse gases.

The strength of this exciting grassroots effort compelled the City of Vernon to withdraw their application for the power plant on September 28th, 2009. The was a life-and-death struggle since the power plant emissions could have caused as many as one dozen deaths every year. Since these facilities usually operate for fity years, literally hundreds of lives have been saved.

This was not only a local victory. By preventing the emission of more than 200 million tons of greenhouse gasses, the mujeres and youth made a major contrubution to the flight against global warming. They have also created a community empowerment model for teh other 22 California communities facing a similar threat of fossil fuel power plants.

In the immortal words of Cesar Chavez: Si Se Puede!

article from grist:
by TOM PHILPOTT
What do industrially produced meat and corn-based ethanol have in common?

Well, they both thrive on the assumption that it’s good idea to devote vast swaths of land to an incredibly resource-intensive crop—corn—and then run that crop through an energy-sucking process to create a product of dubious value.

And .. they both got tagged as major drivers of climate change this past week.

Ethanol took the harder blow of the two, I think. It came wrapped in the Oct. 23 issue of Science. In a concise and devastating “policy forum” piece, a team of authors led by University of Minnesota researcher Tim Searchinger fingered a gaping defect in existing European and pending U.S. climate policy: biofuel gets treated as carbon-neutral, ignoring carbon emissions from land-use change. According to the paper ($ub req’d),  the Kyoto Protocol, the European Union’s cap-and-trade law, and the final version of Waxman-Markey (the House climate bill that passed over the summer) all contain the a “far-reaching but fixable flaw”:

[They] does not count CO2 emitted from tailpipes and smokestacks when bioenergy is being used, but it also does not count changes in emissions from land use when biomass for energy is harvested or grown. This accounting erroneously treats all bioenergy as carbon neutral regardless of the source of the biomass, which may cause large differences in net emissions. For example, the clearing of long-established forests to burn wood or to grow energy crops is counted as a 100% reduction in energy emissions despite causing large releases of carbon.

Or, as Searchinger put it to a Wall Street Journal reporter, “Literally, in theory, if you chopped up the Amazon, turned it into a parking lot, and burned the wood in a power plant, that would be treated as a carbon-emissions reduction strategy.”
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http://www.ilovemountains.org/

We confirmed reports that Massey Energy has begun blasting on Coal River Mountain in southern West Virginia. The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection has stated that the mining operation on the mountain is “actively moving coal.” Workers were seen throughout this past week moving heavy equipment up to the mining zones, and blasting and plumes of smoke were seen and heard near the Brushy Fork coal slurry impoundment on Friday.
The Brushy Fork impoundment is an enormous retention pond holding 8.2 billion gallons of toxic coal slurry waste. If the impoundment were to fail due to the blasting, hundreds of lives will be lost and thousands more will be in jeopardy from an enormous slurry flood.
A 2006 study confirmed that Coal River Mountain — which has the highest peaks ever slated for mining in the state — is an ideal location for developing utility-scale wind power. Local residents have rallied around this proposal as a symbol of hope, a promise of a new and cleaner energy future, but that hope may be destroyed unless quick and decisive action is taken right now.
Please call President Obama today at 202-456-1414 and implore him to use his agencies and influence with West Virginia politicians to stop the destruction of Coal River Mountain immediately.
Visit our Coal River Mountain action page for more details and talking points. We will also post status updates as we receive them.
Thanks for all you do for the mountains-and especially Coal River Mountain.
Matt Wasson
iLoveMountains.org

Grist article: Battle at Coal River Mountain explodes by Jeff Biggers

Rising Tide North America, with Carbon Trade Watch and the Camp for Climate Action would like you to join us on the October 24th day of global climate action to spread the word about the biggest financial scam in history – Carbon Trading.

In order to stabilize the climate before billions of people around the world suffer the consequences, it is imperative that carbon-trading schemes are stopped and real, democratically determined solutions are implemented.

www.350Reasons.org

We cannot afford to waste any more valuable time and resources relying on such market-driven strategies to deliver science-based goals (such as 350 ppm of CO2) when so many lives and livelihoods are at stake. If we truly wish to protect people and planet, then we must put climate justice before corporate profits.  However, first and foremost, we need to dispel the misguided notion that carbon trading has anything at all to do with climate change mitigation, or the present and future wellbeing of our communities.

We are proud to announce the launch of www.350reasons.org – a website presenting 350 reasons why carbon trading will not serve to stabilize the climate. A staggering amount of reasons sent in by site visitors was pored over, organized, and consolidated into an upcoming on-site gallery– 35 exemplary ones  are included in the 350 Reasons ‘zine (downloadable below).  Visit 350reasons.org for printable format versions

Online Reading version

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Little Village Environmental Justice Organization
Climate Justice Chicago
How green is Chicago?

Huffington Post good article: Coalfield Uprising Arrests at Gov’s Office: Will Manchin Defend Coalfield Residents or Absentee Big Coal?

Coal River Valley Residents Declare State of Emergency, Meet with Governor Joe Manchin; Seven Sit-In at Governor’s Office

Video: 7 Arrested in Peaceful Sit-in at WV Gov’s Office Resisting the Destruction of Coal River Mountain

Climate Ground Zero For Immediate Release Contact: Dea Goblirsch or Garrett Robinson (304-513-4710) Email: news@climategroundzero.org

CHARLESTON, W.Va.- Coal River Valley residents and supporters associated with Mountain Justice and Climate Ground Zero delivered a letter to Governor’s Manchin’s office in the State Capitol building at 12:15 p.m. today. The statement from Coal River Valley residents calls on Manchin to use his executive powers to halt mountaintop removal mining operations on Coal River Mountain, one of the last intact mountains remaining in the Coal River Valley area.
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Ratcliffe Coal Action: ‘Massive Success’

October 18, 2009

Climate change activists have hailed this weekend’s direct action as a “massive success” after repeatedly breaching the fence and spending 24 hours outside Ratcliffe coal-fired power station.

Three activists are said to have recovered from injuries suffered at the hands of the police, while one more activist is believed to still be in hospital after collapsing yesterday afternoon. Footage was released last night of a protester-medic aiding a policeman taken ill at the protest (1).

Activists gathered in various points on Saturday morning, swooping on the power plant in separate groups to arrive at 1pm. Within five minutes they had already broken down one of the perimeter fences and several had entered the plant.

On Saturday night around 300 activists pitched tents in two camps outside the gates, despite attempt by police to intimidate campers by standing next to the campsite in full riot gear. The police have confirmed 58 arrests, but there are believed to be more arrestees yet to be booked in. Further action is expected to take place today.

Natasha Blair from the Camp for Climate Action said: ‘We’ve achieved what we came here to do: to show that coal has no future and there is a growing movement which is prepared to take action on climate change.”

This weekend, activists from around the world met in Copenhagen to finalist plans for similar actions during the UN climate talks taking place in December. The Camp for Climate Action has announced that they will be joining other activists in the ‘Push for Climate Justice’, which aims to take over the talks for a day.

Natasha Blair continued: “In the run up to the UN climate talks in Copenhagen this December, acts of civil disobedience to confront big business and governments that are causing catastrophic climate change are gaining support.”
Notes

1. Find the full video at: http://blip.tv/play/njSBqIoGAg

Northern Indymedia firsthand article
UK Indy media: great photos
Climate Camp live video coverage and more

commercial news
photos galoorie
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Press conference in Copenhagen Sunday 18th October

Media team Climate Justice Action
Copenhagen, 16 October 2009

Despite four activists from the UK being interrogated under terrorism legislation on their way to Copenhagen, the international network Climate Justice Action (CJA) (1) is meeting this weekend to prepare for mass actions during the international climate negotiations in Copenhagen in December 2009.

After 14 years of ineffectual talks, activists from social movements across the globe are taking the struggle for climate justice to the streets. Planned is a series of events ranging from a mass action to shutdown the harbour of Copenhagen to an action aimed at bringing a people’s agenda for climate justice to the elite summit space for a day. “The UN climate talks will not solve the climate crisis. We are no closer to reducing greenhouse gas emissions than we were when international negotiations began fifteen years ago: emissions are rising faster than ever, while carbon trading allows climate criminals to pollute and profit”, says Tadzio Mueller, a press spokesperson for CJA.

In response to what they perceive as a political circus playing to the interests of corporations, Stine Gry, also from CJA, argues that “we cannot trust the market with our future, nor put our faith in unsafe, unproven and unsustainable technologies. Instead of trying to paint a destructive system green, we need to take mass action for climate justice.

On the 13th of December Climate Justice Action will take direct action against the root causes of climate change by disrupting the toxic, fossil fuel-driven flows of global capitalism and overproduction for overconsumption by shutting down the harbour of Copenhagen.

On the 16th of December, CJA will put climate justice and the voices of marginalized peoples from across the North and the South at the top of the agenda. Led by activists from the Global South we will challenge the corporate and governmental elites at the UN climate talks, overcoming police barriers with civil disobedience to hold a People’s Climate Justice Summit.

Against the “false solutions” adopted by the UNFCCC, the networks call for:
- leaving fossil fuels in the ground
- reasserting peoples’ and community control over production
- relocalising food production
- massively reducing overconsumption, particularly in the North
- respecting indigenous and forest peoples’ rights
- recognising the ecological and climate debt owed to the peoples of the South and making reparations

Again Stine Gry: “Real solutions to the climate crisis are being built by women and men in both the South and the North who fight every day to defend their environment and living conditions. We need to globalise these solutions and work for a just transition towards a post-fossil fuel future.”

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Notes to editors:
(1) Climate Justice Action is a network of a wide diversity of groups from both the global north, and the global south. Among them Terra de Direitos (Brazil) and Focus on the Global South, international Climate Camps, Rising Tide and Indian Social Action Forum. The complete list of groups can be found on the website.
Climate Justice Action will hold a Press Conference on Sunday 18th October, 12.00-13.00 at Fabrikken in Christiania (Prinsessegade, 1422, KA, Benhavn, Copenhagen)

Contact:
Danish phone: +45 41294994 (Stine Gry)
International phone: +49-176-77414303 (Tadzio Mueller)
Website: www.climate-justice-action.org
“follow @actforclimate on twitter”

Sisters on the Road to Climate Justice!
September – November 2009

What is This Road Tour and Mobilization About?

Women of Color United is embarking on an 8-week, 15+ state journey–called the Women of Color for Climate Justice Road Tour and Mobilization– to hear the views and experiences of U.S. women of color in this pivotal era of climate change. We will meet women in states such as West Virginia, D.C., Florida, New York, Massachusetts, Georgia, North Carolina, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Alabama, Washington, Arizona, California and Alaska.

The Women of Color for Climate Justice Road Tour aims to:

1. Build awareness around climate change having a disproportionate impact on communities of color–particularly women of color–and poor communities
2. Involve more women of color in the environmental justice movement
3. Educate U.S. policymakers about the devastating impacts of climate change on communities of color and push for environmental policies and practices that protect all people.

Why do this Road Tour and Mobilization now?

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