Archive for October, 2011
One Arrested at Anti-Coal Zombie March Targeting Bank of America
October 31st, 2011
Late Breaking News from Rising Tide
Portland Rising Tide, a direct action environmental group confronting the root causes of climate change resurrected the first ever undead zombie army against coal. On Monday October 31st, the zombie army against coal marched from Occupy Portland at 3:00 PM to two Bank of America branches in downtown Portland. One protestor, Tim Swenson, was arrested in the protest for allegedly putting red corn syrup on the exterior of the Bank of America on 2nd and Morrison.
Twenty police officers in partial riot gear arrived at the Bank of America as the protestors were leaving. Police grabbed Swenson as the protestors were leaving the site.
A spokes-zombie for Portland Rising Tide, David Osborn, stated, “The connections between Bank of America, coal and climate change are too strong to ignore and too devastating to our future to not act against. We call for the immediate release of Tim Swenson and for Bank of America, the true criminal, to be held to account for its actions.”
Currently, the cities of Longview and Cherry Point, Washington, are facing proposals to export up to 140 million tons of coal annually. Six other ports across the Northwest are in talks with coal export companies. If constructed, the export terminals will bring up to 26 mile-long trains through the Columbia River gorge, releasing 500 pounds of coal dust per car. Bank of America is the highest lender to coal companies across the nation. Portland Rising Tide will continue to oppose any coal export terminals in the Northwest and other destructive fossil fuel projects.
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Article source: GJEP Climate Connections Blog
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Video: Take Action Against The Banks! It’s easy and fun!
October 31st, 2011
Filed under Actions, Climate Change, Occupy Wall Street, Videos
Article source: GJEP Climate Connections Blog
General Strike Called by Occupy Oakland for this Wednesday, November 2, 2011
October 31st, 2011
Filed under Actions, Corporate Globalization, Occupy Wall Street
Article source: GJEP Climate Connections Blog
On Halloween, is there anything scarier than GE Trees?!
October 31st, 2011
Is there anything more terrifying than the idea of hundreds of millions of genetically engineered franken-tree clones running amok in our forests?
Franken-trees run amok! Photo: Langelle/GJEP-GFC
On this Halloween, the STOP GE Trees Campaign is redoubling our commitment to thwart the efforts of mad scientists to release the horrors of millions of dangerous genetically engineered franken-tree clones into the environment.
Please support the STOP GE Trees Campaign with a gift today.
Now that the courts have decided that franken-tree company ArborGen can plant a quarter of a million of their eucalyptus tree clones in secret test plots across seven US states, the STOP GE Trees Campaign is redirecting our efforts to alerting the people in the threatened areas about the dangers posed by these Franken-tree test plots. But to accomplish this, we must have your support. Please send a donation today.
Help us stop the horror of Franken-trees. Photo: Langelle/GJEP-GFC
The uncontrollable and irreversible escape of franken-eucalyptus trees into native forests will displace wildlife, deplete ground water and contribute to out of control wildfires.
Help us prevent this nightmare from happening. Send a gift today.
Happy Halloween!
From the STOP GE Trees Campaign Crew.
Thank you!
Franken-feller saves the day! Photo: Langelle/GJEP-GFC
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Filed under Actions, Climate Change, Corporate Globalization, Indigenous Peoples, Occupy Wall Street
Article source: GJEP Climate Connections Blog
Filed under Actions, Climate Change, Corporate Globalization, Indigenous Peoples, Occupy Wall Street
Governments Must Plan for Migration in Response to Climate Change, Researchers Say
October 31st, 2011
Cross-posted from ScienceDaily
ScienceDaily (Oct. 27, 2011) — Governments around the world must be prepared for mass migrations caused by rising global temperatures or face the possibility of calamitous results, say University of Florida scientists on a research team reporting in the Oct. 28 edition of Science.
If global temperatures increase by only a few of degrees by 2100, as predicted by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, people around the world will be forced to migrate. But transplanting populations from one location to another is a complicated proposition that has left millions of people impoverished in recent years. The researchers say that a word of caution is in order and that governments should take care to understand the ramifications of forced migration.
A consortium of 12 scientists from around the world, including two UF researchers, gathered last year at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center to review 50 years of research related to population resettlement following natural disasters or the installation of infrastructure development projects such as dams and pipelines. The group determined that resettlement efforts in the past have left communities in ruin, and that policy makers need to use lessons from the past to protect people who are forced to relocate because of climate change.
“The effects of climate change are likely to be experienced by as many people as disasters,” UF anthropologist Anthony Oliver-Smith said. “More people than ever may be moving in response to intense storms, increased flooding and drought that makes living untenable in their current location.”
“Sometimes the problem is simply a lack of regard for the people ostensibly in the way of progress,” said Oliver-Smith, an emeritus professor who has researched issues surrounding forced migration for more than 30 years. But resettlements frequently fail because the complexity of the task is underestimated. “Transplanting a population and its culture from one location to another is a complex process — as complicated as brain surgery,” he said.
“It’s going to be a matter of planning ahead now,” said Burt Singer, a courtesy faculty member at the UF Emerging Pathogens Institute who worked with the research group. He too has studied issues related to population resettlement for decades.
Singer said that regulatory efforts promoted by the International Finance Corporation, the corporate lending arm of the World Bank, are helping to ensure the well-being of resettled communities in some cases. But as more people are relocated — especially very poor people with no resources — financing resettlement operations in the wake of a changing climate could become a real challenge.
Planning and paying for resettlement is only part of the challenge, Oliver-Smith said. “You need informed, capable decision makers to carry out these plans,” he said. A lack of training and information can derail the best-laid plans. He said the World Bank increasingly turns to anthropologists to help them evaluate projects and outcomes of resettlement.
“It is a moral imperative,” Oliver-Smith said. Also, a simple cost-benefit analysis shows that doing resettlement poorly adds to costs in the future. Wasted resources and the costs of malnutrition, declining health, infant and elder mortality, and the destruction of families and social networks should be included in the total cost of a failed resettlement, he said.
Oliver-Smith said the cautionary tales of past failures yield valuable lessons for future policy makers, namely because they point out many of the potential pitfalls than can beset resettlement projects. But they also underscore the fact that there is a heavy price paid by resettled people, even in the best-case scenarios.
In the coming years, he said, many projects such as hydroelectric dams and biofuel plantations will be proposed in the name of climate change, but moving people to accommodate these projects may not be the simple solution that policy makers sometimes assume.
A clear-eyed review of the true costs of forced migration could alert governments to the complexities and risks of resettlement.
“If brain surgeons had the sort of success rate that we have had with resettling populations, very few people would opt for brain surgery,” he said.
Article source: GJEP Climate Connections Blog
UK firm’s failed biofuel dream wrecks lives of Tanzania villagers
October 30th, 2011
“People feel this is like the return of colonialism,” says Athumani Mkambala, chairman of Mhaga village in rural Tanzania. “Colonialism in the form of investment.”
A quarter of the village’s land in Kisarawe district was acquired by a British biofuels company in 2008, with the promise of financial compensation, 700 jobs, water wells, improved schools, health clinics and roads. But the company has gone bust, leaving villagers not just jobless but landless as well. The same story is playing out across Africa, as foreign investors buy up land but leave some of the poorest people on Earth worse off when their plans fail.
The tale of London-based Sun Biofuels’s misadventure in Kisarawe links the broken hopes of the villagers to offshore tax havens and mysterious new owners, tracked down by the Observer, and ultimately to petrol pumps in the UK and across Europe. The final link results from the mandatory blending of biofuels into European petrol and diesel. The aim is to reduce carbon emissions, but many say biofuels actually increase pollution. The G20 meeting next week will discuss the issue, following a stark report it received in June from the World Bank, World Trade Organisation, UN and others calling for biofuels subsidies to be abandoned.
“The situation in Kisarawe is heartbreaking, but the real tragedy is that it is far from unique. Communities across Africa and beyond are losing their land as a result of the massive biofuel targets set by our government,” said Josie Cohen at development group ActionAid, which works in Kisarawe. “Like it or not, everyone who drives a car or catches a bus is involved in this problem, as all UK petrol and diesel is mixed with biofuels.”
It was the promise of this lucrative export market that led Sun Biofuels to Africa to plant jatropha, the seeds of which can be processed into biodiesel. Mkambala’s first contact with the company was in 2006 through the former Kisarawe MP, Athumani Janguo. “People trusted him. We thought all our problems would be solved,” Mkambala told theObserver. He says no compensation has been paid for the land, on which villagers used to hunt animals, gather firewood, wild mushrooms and honey.
Mhaga has no electricity, and water has to be carried each day from a well several kilometres away, back to the small mud or concrete-block houses in which 1,000 people live. “Water is everything,” says local activist Halima Ali, sitting with three of her children on the earth floor of their home. “Because they promised there would be water available, everyone was happy.” There would be more time for farming and more time for her children to go to school, she says. But the company drilled only a 6in-wide hole in the village, despite having sunk a 100m well on the plantation. “We thought something very good had come to the village, to lift our standard of life, but now we are only crying,” she says.
Sun Biofuels was the first company to come to the area and about 50 people in Mhaga rushed to take jobs at its plantation, some queueing for days for the £42-a-month salary. Saidi Abasi was one, but he was soon unhappy. He asked his employer why a promised pay rise failed to materialise. “The reply was ‘if you want to work, work. If you don’t, get out’,” he says.
Abasi’s job was spraying pesticides, but he claims he was initially given no protective equipment. “During spraying, we became like drunk people,” he says. When his contract was terminated after Sun Biofuels went into administration, he says he was not paid the full severance pay due for his 18 months of service.
Mhaga’s crowded school teaches 257 children and was promised new classrooms, books and materials, says teacher Rhamadani Lwinde, but all that appeared were a few portable blackboards. In addition to the village land, the company also took 670 hectares of Lwinde’s family land, he says. He was offered 13m Tanzanian shillings (£4,835), which he says was not a good price, “but we were advised to accept it by the district authorities. If we had problems we would sort it out later, they said.” In the end he says he was paid for just 85 hectares.
In the nearby village of Mtamba, villagers tell the same stories of broken promises and unpaid compensation. Tabu Koba says he was one of 11 people to lose land and one of nine who received no money at all. “We are very angry,” he says. “My children have now left school but have nowhere to farm.”
Sun Biofuels and two related companies went into administration in August, but their shares in a Tanzanian subsidiary – Sun Biofuels Tanzania, which did not go bust – were sold. The insolvency company directed the Observer to Christopher Egerton-Warburton and a company called Thirty Degrees East, based in the tax haven of Mauritius. Egerton-Warburton is a former Goldman Sachs banker and now a partner at the London-based merchant bank Lion’s Head Global Partners. “We are part of a consortium that purchased the shares of Sun Biofuels Tanzania,” he said. “Given that we are currently in the process of raising additional funds, I am not at liberty to discuss publicly or off the record about our long-term plans.”
Egerton-Warburton said a site visit was not possible, but when theObserver went to the plantation it was able to interview farm managerAmbilikile Mwenisongole, who has worked there for four years and lives on site. He confirmed that fewer than 50 of the 700 workers remained and that the plantation was not operating due to the change of ownership. Mwenisongole said the progress on the water wells and other social services were “not on target because of the transition”, but he denied that workers lacked tools or protective equipment and rejected claims that access to an ancestral graveyard had been blocked. He blamed the complaints on rumours spread by “lazy” villagers.
It was not possible for the villagers to get their land back, Mwenisongole said. “It is now owned by the government. The government was meant to compensate the land owners.” In Tanzania, large land deals are done through the district government, which acquires the land and then leases it to companies. District officials have told villagers that Sun Biofuels did not pay all the money due, but refused to see the Observer.
Mwenisongole named Kenyan Alan Mayers as the new chief executive of Sun Biofuels Tanzania. Mayers said he could not comment on the previous owners’ failure to provide wells and classrooms, but added: “We are looking into the matter and our community relations officer is in constant contact with the villages.” Villagers say that there has been just one recent meeting.
Mayers said all compensation for land and all due severance pay had been paid, and that he was unaware of claims by ex-workers that national insurance payments were missing. He added: “We are focused on a positive, collaborative relationship with local people.”
Yet Kisarawe MP Selemani Saidi Jafo said: “I am the MP and I am not yet informed there is a new owner. What is the secret behind it? I need investors to come to my district, especially to help bring employment for many people. I prefer a win-win project, but this is not a win-win.” Why Sun Biofuels went bust is unknown, as attempts to contact the previous owners were unsuccessful. Whatever the reason, the company is far from alone. A large jatropha plantation created by a Dutch firm calledBioshape in the southern Tanzanian district of Kilwa has also gone bankrupt, leaving locals complaining of missing land payments. Also in Tanzania, a large ethanol biofuel project set up by Swedish company Sekab went bust. In both cases, the land has not been returned to its owners.
Further afield, in Ghana, a Norwegian-backed jatropha project has collapsed, while in Mozambique a UK-linked company called Procana, behind a huge ethanol project, has folded in acrimony. The Observer‘s investigations and those of journalist Stefano Valentino have identified at least 30 abandoned biofuels projects in 15 African countries.
The thirst for biofuels to meet the UK and EU’s rising targets has ledBritish companies to lead the charge into Africa. Half the 3.2m hectares of biofuel land identified is linked to 11 British companies, the biggest proportion of any country. ActionAid’s estimate suggests that up to 6m hectares has been acquired. But with landowners frequently illiterate and unaware of their rights, the potential for exploitation is high.
In Kisarawe, the villagers do not know if the promises will ever be kept. They feel deeply betrayed and are increasingly angry as time passes without answers. “If we have not got our rights by December, we will slash the jatropha plants,” says Mkambala. “That will be the clearest sign that we do not need this company here.”
Article source: GJEP Climate Connections Blog
Anonymous Announces Operation Fox Hunt
October 30th, 2011
Filed under Actions, Occupy Wall Street, Videos
Article source: GJEP Climate Connections Blog
Occupy Burlington (VT) Takes City Hall Park
October 29th, 2011
Filed under Actions, Occupy Wall Street
Occupy Burlington (VT) Takes City Hall Park
October 29th, 2011
Filed under Actions, Occupy Wall Street
Anonymous downs Oakland police site after violence
October 29th, 2011
A distributed denial-of-service attack against the department’s website — www.oaklandpolice.com — is underway, and the website currently is unreachable.
In addition, members of the collective have begun releasing information about Oakland police officers, and the call is out for additional help.
“The time has come to retaliate against Oakland police via all non-violent means, beginning with ‘doxing’ of individual officers and particularly higher-ups involved in the department’s conduct of late,” read an Anonymous statement, posted to Pastebin.
An Oakland police spokesperson could not immediately be reached for comment.
Doxing references the public release of information about individuals.
Anonymous’ operation, dubbed “OpUprise,” comes in response to the actions Tuesday night of Oakland police trying to squash a largely peaceful demonstration organized to protest the clearing of an encampment where Occupy Oakland members had been staying.
Police used tear gas, rubber bullets and flash grenades against the demonstrators, according to reports and video posted on YouTube. Authorities have said the response was warranted because some of the rally participants were throwing objects at them.
The most seriously injured victim was Scott Olsen, an Iraq War veteran, who suffered a fractured skull after being struck by a police projectile. His condition was upgraded to “fair” today, according to reports.
According to the Pastebin document, Anonymous is offering a “no questions asked” $1,000 reward for information about the officer who threw the projectile at Olsen.
The police’s response led to much criticism of Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, who responded with a statement that expressed sympathy with victims and promise to decrease police presence around Frank Ogawa plaza, where some of the demonstrators, many of whom are protesting corporate influence in politics and the country’s large wealth inequality gap, have been living.
UPDATE: The Oakland police website appeared operational again, as of Thursday evening EST.
Article source: GJEP Climate Connections Blog
Guatemala: Entire Q’eqchi’ Community Destroyed by Guatemalan Government, Biofuel Corporation
October 29th, 2011
Filed under Bioenergy / Agrofuels, Climate Change, Energy, False Solutions to Climate Change, Forests and Climate Change, Indigenous Peoples, Latin America
Article source: GJEP Climate Connections Blog
Dam removed! Chinook Salmon freed! (video)
October 28th, 2011
The big surprise was how fast the river and lake changed once contractors detonated 800 pounds of TNT, blowing out a drain tunnel drilled into the base of the dam. PacifiCorp, which owns Condit, had projected the reservoir behind the dam, Northwestern Lake, would drain within six hours. But within an hour and a half, the river had already settled into its channel and was flowing freely through the tunnel, said Tom Hickey, senior engineer, hydro resources for PacifiCorp.
“We knew it was a range,” he said of the six hour estimate for draining the reservoir. And clearly, the river was in a hurry. “It’s not a steady state,” HIckey said of the White Salmon, “But it is flowing freely.” And that was not three hours after breaching the dam.
The breach went off without a hitch at 12:11 p.m., according to Tom Gauntt, company spokesman. “It exceeded my expectations,” Hickey agreed “Everything went very smoothly, the contractors did a great job, and the river cooperated.”
The river’s dark muddy color is the result of 2.4 million cubic yards of sediment rinsing out of the reservoir, a process that will continue all winter. PacifiCorp is counting on a rowdy storm season to help the river do the work of carrying the sediments out of the river channel.
No water quality parameters were set on short term turbidity in the river as part of the regulatory permit granted for the breach, Gauntt said. Unlike the Elwha River, there was no municipal or industrial water intake below Condit dam to consider. And after much negotiation with a variety of agencies, permits were granted for the blast with the understanding that in the short term, the river would be a muddy mess. Which it is, as these photos just after the breach show:
Here are some frame grabs from the live stream put up by PacifiCorp, provided courtesy of PacifiCorp:
First sign of the TNT going off, deep in the tunnel. Fire in the hole!
Courtesy of PacifiCorp
Next comes the first bursts of water, a power-packed blast loaded with sediment.
Biologists said the water would be full of sediment…and they weren’t kidding. Look out below! Courtesy, PacifiCorp
The sheer power of the water unleashed was something to see and hear, even online. Imagine the thunder up close. Notice the foliage and branches of trees waving in the wind created by all that water.
Water thunders out of Northwestern Lake into the White Salmon River as the reservoir vamooses through the tunnel blasted out with TNT at the base of the dam.
Courtesy, PacifiCorp
It’s amazing how fast it all happened, and the landscape started to change.
Water unleashed from Northwestern Lake boils down the canyon. Courtesy, PacifiCorp
Northwestern Lake, the reservoir behind the dam, used to cover 92 acres, and extend 1.8 miles upstream. Already, it’s gone, and the river is back in its channel. Here’s a screen grab from PacifiCorp’s homepage:
The White Salmon River emerges from what was Northwestern Lake, as the reservoir drains. Screen grab from PacifiCorp web cam on the company’s homepage only about an hour after breaching the dam.
Fish in the river below the dam aren’t expected to survive the scouring, sediment filled outwash. That is why biologists hand carried 679 adult tule fall chinook above the dam last month to let them spawn, and restart a new generation.
They got right to work, and their progeny will be able to migrate out in an open river come spring.
Now that the dam is breached, PacifiCorp, which is paying for the $33 million removal project, will take it down bit by bit beginning in the spring. It should be completely out by this time next year. Revegetation of the exposed mudflats also is planned.
The company chose to breach the dam rather than pay the steeper cost of installing fish passage required by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to renew the dam’s operating license. The dam has operated three miles from its confluence with the Columbia River without fish passage since 1918, after first one, and then another fish ladder on the dam, completed in 1913, blew out in floods.
Reveling can be expected at the dam all day today and in the town of White Salmon, where dam removal activists, tribal members, scientists, whitewater recreationists and others who have worked on the removal project for decades were gathering.
It’s another historic day in Washington, where the three largest dam removal projects ever in history are now underway.
Article source: GJEP Climate Connections Blog