Mobilization for Climate Justice

Archive for February, 2010

Group calls on Xcel to Keep Comanche 3 Closed and Produce 100% Renewable Electricity by 2020

Denver, CO – At 11:45am on Friday, February 26th, local citizens demonstrated at the Denver headquarters of Xcel Energy – located at the corner of 17th St. and Lawrence St. – in protest of the utility’s impending plan to bring a new coal-fired power plant online in Pueblo, CO. The lunch hour protest called on Xcel executives to move Colorado in the right direction by keeping the Comanche 3 coal-fired power plant closed. Protestors demonstrated in a ‘die-in’ in front of the building’s main entrance to highlight the grim consequences that coal has on our lives and those of future generations. Simultaneously, two activists clad in hazmat suits dropped a banner off an adjoining bridge on Lawrence St. Police arrived on scene but no arrests were made.

The 750-megawatt Comanche Unit 3 would be the largest coal-fired power plant in the state, surpassing even the mammoth Cherokee coal plant in North Denver. “At a time when the costs of coal are becoming increasingly clear and the benefits of clean energy are ever more apparent, building the largest coal-fired power plant in the state is taking us 180 degrees in the wrong direction,” said Amy Guinan, an activist with Power Past Coal. Read the rest of this entry »

By Andrew MacLeod February 26, 2010 10:02 am

A prominent British Columbia environmentalist has written a letter to Greenpeace International criticizing the recent appointment of Tzeporah Berman to a position heading the organization’s climate and energy campaign.

Berman’s record of collaborating with corporations in B.C. has been disastrous, says the letter signed by the Valhalla Wilderness Society’s Anne Sherrod. “This approach means environmental groups collaborating with some [of] our most destructive corporations and most anti-environment governments,” she wrote. “It is based on the fact that corporations are always willing to give a little to conservation in order to get a lot.”

Sherrod criticized Berman’s group ForestEthics, and others, for endorsing an agreement that allows logging in two-thirds of the Great Bear Rainforest and for supporting the mountain caribou recovery plan even though it fails to appreciably reduce logging in the animal’s habitat.

“Last year Bermann [sic] shocked many B.C. environmentalists by becoming the leading advocate of private power projects on B.C.’s rivers and streams at a time when most of the environmental movement and a large swathe of the general public were fighting them tooth and nail,” she wrote. “Many of these were projects with huge carbon footprints that would do devastating damage to rivers and coastal ecosystems.” Read the rest of this entry »

by Cory Morningstar

This is a follow-up piece to ‘Sleeping with the Enemy; EYES WIDE SHUT | TckTckTck exposé’, and ACTION ALERT! Is Greenpeace International set to become GE – Greenpeace Electric?

This is not a good year for Greenpeace.

First the tcktcktck scandal and things just keep getting worse. Kumi Naidoo is the Chair of TckTckTck, as well as the Executive Director of Greenpeace International.  One can only imagine what damage control must be necessary as Greenpeace conflicts continue to escalate and disrupt all over the world.

British Columbia, Canada | SAVE GREENPEACE!

Greenpeace activists and supporters are not taking lightly to a recent decision by Greenpeace International to hire Tzeporah Berman to direct its global climate and energy campaign. Many fear that Greenpeace will lose its radical edge.  A massive backlash is underway with statements calling for civil society to take urgent action. Read the rest of this entry »

Matt Wilkerson on 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

Join Rainforest Action Network and thousands of friends on the internet as we send a message to JP Morgan Chase to stop financing mountaintop removal! JP Morgan Chase is the largest US financier of mountaintop removal coal mining, investing hundreds of millions of dollars into a real American tragedy.

Please join us for a social media day of action.  On Feb. 18, we’ll use our Facebook pages, Twitter accounts and blogs to hold JP Morgan Chase accountable for financing this despicable practice.

Click any button for instructions on how to participate

For Internet Explorerer users scroll below for directions

JP Morgan Chase is the biggest U.S. financier of mountaintop removal.

They have financial relationships with the poster child of mountaintop removal, Massey Energy.  That means their money is funds sludge impoundments like Brushy Fork which is currently holding 7 billion gallons of coal waste above the Coal River Valley.  Their money funds the dragline that 14 of my friends shut down in Twilight last June that scrapes away house size chunks of earth after the mountain has been blasted.  Their money funds the security guards and noise machines that harassed and abused 3 tree-sitters last month defending Coal River Mountain with non-violent direct action.  Their money funds Don Blankenship’s helicopters, mansion and corrupt junkets to Spain with WV Supreme Court Justices .

Chase has hired PR firms to re-brand themselves on the internet as “charitable” and “benevolent” through their “Chase Community Giving sites and Facebook Fan Pages (even though they disallowed “political” groups from participating in any fundraising).  Chase touts themselves as a green environmentally friendly bank.  Their greenwashing, social media branding and high powered PR firms can’t hide the truth about what Chase really does.  They are complicit in destroying Appalachia’s mountains, poisoning it’s communities with dirty water and ruining it’s economy by creating conditions that lead to the worst poverty in the country.

Today, we’re exposing that truth using tools on the internet that will concentrate tens of thousands of people on Chase brand they’ve spent so much money perfecting.  It’s time we amp up the pressure on Chase and take their money out of the coal industry. Read the rest of this entry »

Racketeering: The federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) (18 USC §§ 1961-1968) prohibits (1) acquiring, establishing, or operating an enterprise with illegally derived income, (2) acquiring or maintaining an interest in or control of an enterprise through illegal activity, and (3) using an enterprise to commit illegal acts (Extortion, Blackmail, Etc. , 31A Am Jur 2d).

As fearless nonviolent protestors occupy the corporate office of a life-threatening and violation-ridden mountaintop removal operation in the Coal River Valley, West Virginia this morning, hundreds of thousands of American citizens are jamming the social media networks today, calling on JP Morgan Chase to end their financing of arguably criminal mountaintop removal coal mining operations in Appalachia.

Al Gore may have called mountaintop removal “a crime and ought to be treated as a crime,” but God bless veteran activists Mike Roselle, Joseph Hamsher, and Tom Smyth and the footslogging Climate Ground Zero nonviolent campaigners who are willing to put their lives on the line to stop mountaintop removal mining. Read the rest of this entry »

Sakura Saunders on the Vancouver Media Co-op

The Vancouver Olympics were billed by governments, sponsors and promotors as the “greenest games ever.” But the resistance movement against the Games has decimated these claims, by bringing voices from people on the front lines of environmental destruction to the fore.

The 2010 Olympics has managed its “green” image by using shallow reporting and flawed accountability, says Clayton Thomas Muller of the Indigenous Environmental Network. He spoke out against the environmental impacts of the 2010 Games and its corporate sponsors along with representatives from impacted communities and major environmental justice organizations on the eve of the Olympic Opening Ceremonies.

“When we look at the assessment of the carbon footprint of the Games, the reality of it is that they only looked at very surface issues; they only looked at the flights,” Muller told a press conference on Olympic greenwashing. “They did not look at the forest loss, the tree loss, the impact on wetlands. They did not look at the construction CO2 imprint of all of the machinery that has been going 24/7 for the last year in preparation for the Games.”

Read the rest of this entry »

All Out March 3rd – Tell RBC shareholders: Stop bankrolling tar sands!

On March 3rd, the Royal Bank of Canada will hold its annual general meeting of shareholders’ at the Toronto Metro Convention Center. It’s the one time every year that the bank’s top executives, board and other decision makers gather in the same place to hear from shareholders. This year, we want them to hear from you!

Since 2007 RBC has backed more than $16.9 billion (USD) in loans to companies operating in the tar sands—more than any other bank. Expansion of the tar sands is trampling the rights of Indigenous peoples, destroying globally significant ecosystems and significantly increasing Canada’s carbon emissions.

Representatives from several First Nations impacted by tar sands expansion will attend the meeting to demand that RBC recognize the right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent for Indigenous communities and suspend its financial support for tar sands expansion.

Join us for a morning of creative, non-violent direct action culminating in a rally outside the Metro Center at 1 pm to show solidarity with First Nations representatives.

When: morning actions, rally @ 2pm, March 3, 2010
Where: Metro Convention Center, 255 Front St. W, Toronto

Take Action in your area – If you are interested in organizing an action before or at RBC’s AGM, please contact Eriel Deranger eriel@ran.org or Dave Vasey dvasey@ran.org

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Here’s the Facebook event posting -
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=301815070834

A report from a successful environmental justice rally and action in downtown London, Ontario, Canada, on Saturday, February 13th -

Some photos from our event are posted here and here.

The local protest was part of a wider day of action, which was called by the Indigenous Environmental Network, with others who supported action against Olympics sponsors, Olympics greenwashing, the Albertan tar sands, and native oppression.  Local activists here in London, Ontario know of other Canadian protests in Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver, Halifax, Kitchener-Waterloo, and Montreal. There even was an event in London, England, which was timed to coincide with the Canadian protests.

In each city, the focus was the same: we were raising awareness about and protesting against the social dislocation and environmental destruction associated with the Olympics and its leading sponsors — including RBC (the leading financier of tar sands projects) and PetroCanada/Suncor (which directly operates six tar sands projects).

Read the rest of this entry »

CALL FOR CLIMATE CHANGE ACTIVISTS

JOIN VANCOUVER 2010 CONVERGENCE

A coalition of environmental activists led by GatewaySucks.org is calling on climate change activists to join the convergence at the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver.

When the 2010 Winter Olympics start a couple of weeks from now in Vancouver, BC the athletes and spectators will be joined by organizations with some of the worst records on climate change.

General Motors is a national partner for the games, and one of the leading corporate opponents of effective action on climate change. Only two years ago, a vice-chairman of GM called global warming a “total crock of shit.” GM is supplying a large fleet of vehicles for the games, almost all of which are gas-guzzling SUVs.

Petro-Canada, another National Olympic Partner, is the retail arm of the largest extractor of Oil Sands bitumen. The Oil Sands are Canada’s biggest ghg emissions point source.

RBC (the Royal Bank of Canada) in addition to being a prominent Olympic sponsor is the largest commercial bank funder of the Oil Sands,. TransCanada pipelines, whose pipelines connect to the Oil Sands, is also an official supplier.

The government of British Columbia is the main funder and promoter of the games. They kicked off a massive plan to add over 1,000 km of new highway lanes (an increase of over 2,000,000 annual tonnes of CO2e emissions ) with the Sea-to-Sky Highway expansion for the Olympics. These plans include the controversial Gateway Program. It continues to heavily subsidize the oil and gas industry which resulted in it being the only Canadian province to see ghg emissions from industrial sources increase in 2008.

The Federal government of Canada which consistently earned “Fossil Awards” at the most recent international climate talks also is a major funder for the Olympics.

These corporations and governments want to fool the world with their claim that these are the “Greenest Games Ever” despite the links to climate change deniers, highway expansion and the Oil Sands.

If you would like to endorse this call-out and the welcoming committee event please contact info@gatewaysucks.org.

MORE INFORMATION AND RESOURCES:
Convergence Info: http://olympicresistance.net/
Welcoming Committee: http://2010welcoming.wordpress.com/
Green Olympic Watch: http://2010greenwatch.org/
GatewaySucks.org: http://www.gatewaysucks.org/
2010 Climate Crime Scene: http://2010climatecrime.org

Just when you thought the biofuels bad dream was about over along comes the nightmare of “biomass.”

by Rachel Smolker on CommonDreams.org

Last week President Obama announced his plans to ensure that the mandate for biofuels, 36 billion gallons by 2022, voted into law in the Energy Independence and Security Act in 2007, is met, and to provide huge new supports through the USDA for the cutting, harvesting and transport of biomass (aka forests, plants) to be delivered to incinerators and burned as “renewable” electricity and heat.

The transportation biofuel mandate was adopted without clear consideration of the impacts of production on food, public health, direct and indirect land use, greenhouse gas emissions, soils, water or biodiversity. Since being passed into law, the critique of biofuels, particularly corn ethanol, has only grown deeper and more damning. Cellulosic fuels, not much available yet, will, according to mythology, avert these concerns because they are made from the inedible parts of plants. True, we do not eat forests, but creating huge new demands for wood is a recipe for disaster.

Lucky, technological hurdles have slowed the development of cellulosic fuels, but no such hurdles lie in the way of burning biomass for electricity and heat. Across the country, communities are being offered “green jobs” cutting, hauling and chipping their forests to feed the gaping maws of a new generation of “green energy” utilities being constructed or retrofitted in their neighborhoods. At least 200 new burners are proposed around the country. Further, many facilities that burn coal are seeking to co-fire biomass under the assumption that burning trees is a step up from burning coal. It’s not.

Read the rest of this entry »

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!

Climate change is no laughing matter, but we can’t take things too seriously all the time. Join us this Fossil Fools Day as we employ our senses of humor to hatch some harebrained schemes that will strike a blow to fossil foolery everywhere!

And remember what Abbie Hoffman said: “The first duty of a revolutionary is to get away with it.”

Let us know if your group wants to endorse or co-sponsor!

WHAT: Actions, Jokes and Pranks Galore to Stop the Fossil Fools
WHERE: Your Town USA
WHEN; April 1st, 2010
CONTACT: fossilfoolsday@risingtidenorthamerica.org
FOR MORE INFO: http://www.fossilfoolsdayofaction.org [to be updated soon!]

Brought to you by your friendly neighborhood radical climate justice network, Rising Tide North America

The iron fist of the market versus iron in the soul of the social movements

By Anne Petermann and Orin Langelle
in Z Magazine

When the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) “negotiations” ended in Copenhagen, a colleague from ATTAC France remarked that we might have just witnessed the tipping point of the end of capitalism and the New World Order.

On one hand, there was the official conference representing a corporate- and market-driven system being propped up by governments responsible for this crisis. On the other, there were the thousands that gathered from across the globe to protest false solutions and promote real ones. The road to Copenhagen for many activists began on September 18, 2008 when over 100 people from 21 countries came together to discuss mobilizing for Copenhagen. Over the next year, meetings were held in Poznan, Poland (2008 UN Climate Conference), in Belém, Brazil during the 2009 World Social Forum, and in Copenhagen. Somewhere in the midst of those meetings, Climate Justice Action was formed and became the major network for organizing the demonstrations in Copenhagen. Other Danish organizations pulled together the alternative Peoples’ Summit Klimaforum09, which featured workshops, debates, art, and serious discussions that a new world was not only possible, but necessary. An estimated 10,000 people took part each day in Klimaforum09 activities.

Read the rest of this entry »

On November 30, 2009, twelve activists locked themselves together in the middle of an intersection outside the Chicago Climate Exchange, in the heart of the financial district in downtown Chicago. The Chicago Climate Exchange is the first and largest carbon trading institution in North America.

A network of groups in Chicago planned this action as part of an international day of action for climate justice, a week before the start of the UN climate negotiations in Copenhagen and on the 10^th anniversary of the successful shut-down of the WTO talks in Seattle in 1999. The network chose to target the climate exchange, among other local climate criminals, because the current approach to climate change in the UN, as well as in the US Congress, is based on the creation of a new market in carbon emissions.

This market would privatize the very air we breathe, and hand the world’s biggest polluters property rights over the atmosphere and the Earth’s carbon cycling capacity. Carbon trading (aka “cap and trade”) and carbon offsets do not address the root causes of global warming, nor do they effectively reduce emissions. Carbon trading does, however, succeed in inflating corporate profits, and creating the illusion that action is being taken to combat global warming, thus acting as a dangerous distraction from the real, systemic changes that are so urgently needed.

The activists who put their bodies on the line to get a message out about false solutions to climate change will be facing charges in court this February. As we all continue our work to promote real, effective, and just climate solutions in 2010, we’d like to request your support in contributing to their legal fund. Anything you can give helps – please consider making a donation, from $5 to $500.

Donations can be made online via the button below using a credit card or Paypal…

…or checks / money orders can be sent to:

Rising Tide North America

Chicago N30 Legal Fund

P.O. Box 3928

Oakland CA 94609

*** If you send a check, be sure to write “Chicago N30 Legal” in the memo line!***

Thanks in advance for your support!