Posts Tagged ‘media’
Newspaper prank targets “Fossil Fools” (Oregon)
April 1st, 2010
Contact after 9AM PST
Fossil Fool's Weekly
Late last night volunteers with Portland Rising Tide blasted the city with over 3,000 fake newspaper covers wrapping the Willamette Week. With content including an interview with Bigfoot about pipeline plans through Mt. Hood and a chart explaining the Columbia River Crossing project as understood by Glen Beck. The action was part of Fossil Fools Day, a national day-of-action with the tag-line, “Pull a prank that packs a punch” meant to inspire playful actions targeting the fossil fuel industry.
The action was pulled off to provide light-hearted education to the public and simultaneously call out those corporations and projects that have been using an elaborate public relations campaign to “green” their image.
Ryan Caraway with Portland Rising Tide explained the action, “Our region is threatened by a number of projects that would increase our dependency on fossil fuels as well as threaten some of the most pristine areas left in this country. Unfortunately, we feel that we don’t see enough critical media surrounding these issues and we wanted to change that – at least for one night.” Read the rest of this entry »
The Nation: The Wrong Kind of Green
March 5th, 2010
Why did America’s leading environmental groups jet to Copenhagen and lobby for policies that will lead to the faster death of the rainforests–and runaway global warming? Why are their lobbyists on Capitol Hill dismissing the only real solutions to climate change as “unworkable” and “unrealistic,” as though they were just another sooty tentacle of Big Coal?
At first glance, these questions will seem bizarre. Groups like Conservation International are among the most trusted “brands” in America, pledged to protect and defend nature. Yet as we confront the biggest ecological crisis in human history, many of the green organizations meant to be leading the fight are busy shoveling up hard cash from the world’s worst polluters–and burying science-based environmentalism in return. Sometimes the corruption is subtle; sometimes it is blatant. In the middle of a swirl of bogus climate scandals trumped up by deniers, here is the real Climategate, waiting to be exposed.
I have spent the past few years reporting on how global warming is remaking the map of the world. I have stood in half-dead villages on the coast of Bangladesh while families point to a distant place in the rising ocean and say, “Do you see that chimney sticking up? That’s where my house was… I had to [abandon it] six months ago.” I have stood on the edges of the Arctic and watched glaciers that have existed for millenniums crash into the sea. I have stood on the borders of dried-out Darfur and heard refugees explain, “The water dried up, and so we started to kill each other for what was left.”
While I witnessed these early stages of ecocide, I imagined that American green groups were on these people’s side in the corridors of Capitol Hill, trying to stop the Weather of Mass Destruction. But it is now clear that many were on a different path–one that began in the 1980s, with a financial donation.
Environmental groups used to be funded largely by their members and wealthy individual supporters. They had only one goal: to prevent environmental destruction. Their funds were small, but they played a crucial role in saving vast tracts of wilderness and in pushing into law strict rules forbidding air and water pollution. But Jay Hair–president of the National Wildlife Federation from 1981 to 1995–was dissatisfied. He identified a huge new source of revenue: the worst polluters. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: big business, big greens, cap-and-trade, coal, congress, COP15, Copenhagen, denial, disaster, environmental justice, EPA, greenwash, media, politics | 
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“Save Greenpeace” Website Launched in Canada
March 5th, 2010
—for immediate release—
Website calls on employees, public to “Save Greenpeace”
Hiring Tzeporah Berman jeopardizes 39 year legacy of environmental activism
VANCOUVER, March 4–Since Greenpeace International announced its hiring of ForestEthics founder and current Power Up Canada director Tzeporah Berman as co-director of its climate campaign, a chorus of long-time environmental activists have voiced their strong opposition.
Today, activists launched a new website they hope will amplify these voices and help convince Greenpeace to change direction: www.SaveGreenpeace.org
Greenpeace International co-founder Rex Weyler (not affiliated with www.savegreenpeace.org) called the decision to hire Berman “an all-out betrayal of environmentalism, of the groups and activists who built the environmental movement in Canada and in the world, and a betrayal of the Earth itself.”
The Climate Movement is Dead… Long Live the Climate Movement!
March 2nd, 2010
Rising Tide North America is pleased to announce the release of our latest publication:
The Climate Movement is Dead… Long Live the Climate Movement!
In the aftermath of the COP15 talks in Copenhagen, the inability of the Big Greens, governments, and market approaches to find genuine and sustainable solutions to climate change is undeniable. As author Naomi Klein so aptly observed at the end of COP15 talks, “A particular model of dealing with climate change is dying.”
DOWNLOAD HERE [PDF]
In the same uncompromising spirit as Rising Tide publications such as Deal or No Deal, and Hoodwinked in the Hothouse, CMID:LLCM delivers a timely critique of the failures of this “particular model” as exemplified by the mainstream NGOs who have grown all too cozy with corporations and the political establishment. It explores the ways in which “green” capitalism,electoral politics, and market mechanisms, far from solving the climate crisis, are some of the climate movement’s biggest obstacles.
Not content with mere polemic, CMID:LLCM charts a course that diverges from the dominant discourse of the mainstream climate movement. The essay lays out a strategy of supporting and escalating frontline struggles againstdirty energy while building a new global climate movement from the ground up, based around core principles of climate justice, grassroots power, solidarity, and direct action.
The Climate Movement Is Dead: Long Live the Climate Movement is a must-read for anyone left disenchanted by the mainstream climate movement, and all who are ready to step it up and fight for climate justice.
You can download a digital copy to view online or print yourself.
Or send us an email to contact (at) risingtidenorthamerica (dot) org with your name, address, and how many copies you would like to receive. We are happy to provide this publication for free but as an all volunteer collective we greatly appreciate donations. Also consider joining in our print run collaboration:
Rising Tide North America is excited to announce a “Print-Run Collaboration” project for CMID:LLCM. Local groups and allies can help us raise the funds necessary for an initial print-run of several thousand copies, and in return, receive a big stack “hot-off-the-presses” at approximately the cost of printing (cheaper than photocopies!).
Click HERE to join in
Grass-Roots Organizer Jumps From Nature Conservancy to API
March 1st, 2010
[NY Times original story - pub. 2/26/2010]
The oil industry’s biggest trade group has nabbed one of the environmental community’s top grass-roots organizers as it ramps up efforts to build a network of citizen lobbyists.
Deryck Spooner, who ran Nature Conservancy’s push to spur legislative action on climate change, will now head American Petroleum Institute’s grass-roots activism arm. The hiring move sends a nervous flutter through environmental groups. By recruiting Spooner, green groups said, API adds someone with both credibility and deep knowledge of grass-roots strategy. Spooner previously ran campaigns for labor group AFL-CIO and abortion rights organization NARAL.
“He’s a big dog,” said Tyson Slocum, energy program director at watchdog group Public Citizen. “It gives API somebody with enormous grass-roots experience running major campaigns. This indicates that API is taking their grass-roots strategy in a very serious direction.” Read the rest of this entry »
Green is the New Spectacle
January 17th, 2010
From The Nor’easter – by Jason Slade
The Spectacle —- Environmental issues can oftentimes be very complex. Some issues directly relate to climate change, and some do not. However, it is very important to connect the dots between issues because almost all environmental problems are caused, at their base, by capitalist expansion, commodification and privatization. Corporations have used the climate crisis and growing public concern about environmental issues to their advantage. They have learned to use the rhetoric of environmentalism to justify extremely oppressive projects whose sole purpose is to increase their power and to continue the cycle of production and consumption. Incredibly destructive projects, such as hydrofracture natural gas extraction in Upstate New York, are marketed as clean. This absurd spectacle must be stopped.
In Guy Debord’s Society of the Spectacle, he writes, “The spectacle presents itself simultaneously as all of society, as part of society, and as instrument of unification … The spectacle grasped in its totality is both the result and the project of the existing mode of production.
It is not a supplement to the real world, an additional decoration. It is the heart of the unrealism of the real society. In all its specific forms, as information or propaganda, as advertisement or direct entertainment consumption, the spectacle is the present model of socially dominant life … It is the sun which never sets over the empire of modern passivity. It covers the entire surface of the world and bathes endlessly in its own glory.” And now the light of that sun is green. The green spectacle is confronting the climate crisis with hollow solutions presented to us in a pleasant, prefabricated package that can be bought if we can afford them and allow us to pollute in good conscience. In an absurd twist, these corporate false solutions cause the poor, and those who resist these schemes, to be blamed for destroying the planet. Read the rest of this entry »
Counter Carbon Trading! NYC – January 9-13
January 7th, 2010
CALL TO ACTION!
NONVIOLENT RESISTANCE TO CARBON TRADING
NEW YORK CITY, JAN. 9-13
CONFRONTING THE SOURCE OF COPENHAGEN’S “FAILURE” Read the rest of this entry »
Climate Justice Now! Statement on Copenhagen
December 30th, 2009
www.climate-justice-now.org
Press conference
The following statement was released by the Climate Justice Now! network on Wednesday, December 23, 2009. It represents the view of a broad coalition of environmental justice and social justice groups from the Global South and Global North, working in partnership for climate justice.
Call for “system change not climate change” unites global movement
Corrupt Copenhagen ‘accord’ exposes gulf between peoples demands and elite interests
The highly anticipated UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen ended with a fraudulent agreement, engineered by the United States and dropped into the conference at the last moment. The “agreement” was not adopted. Instead, it was “noted” in an absurd parliamentary invention designed to accommodate the United States and permit Ban Ki-moon to utter the ridiculous pronouncement “We have a deal.”
The UN conference was unable to deliver solutions to the climate crisis, or even minimal progress toward them. Instead, the talks were a complete betrayal of impoverished nations and island states, producing embarrassment for the United Nations and the Danish government. In a conference designed to limit greenhouse gas emissions there was very little talk of emission reductions. Rich, developed countries continued to delay any talk of deep and binding cuts, instead shifting the burden to less developed countries and showing no willingness to make reparations for the damage they have caused.
Curing Post-Copenhagen Hangover
December 24th, 2009
video directed by Sara Taigher. Medley of songs from DJ Rupture & Matt Shadetek
December, 23 2009
By Bond, Patrick
In Copenhagen, the world’s richest leaders continued their fiery fossil fuel party last Friday night, ignoring requests of global village neighbors to please chill out.
Instead of halting the hedonism, Barack Obama and the Euro elites cracked open the mansion door to add a few nouveau riche guests: South Africa’s Jacob Zuma, China’s Jiabao Wen (reportedly the most obnoxious of the lot), Brazil’s Lula Inacio da Silva and India’s Manmohan Singh. By Saturday morning, still punch-drunk with power over the planet, these wild and crazy party animals had stumbled back onto their jets and headed home.
The rest of us now have a killer hangover, because on behalf mainly of white capitalists (who are having the most fun of all), the world’s rulers stuck the poor and future generations with vast clean-up charges – and worse: certain death for millions.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: 770 ppm, accord, action, Barack Obama, carbon markets, climate debt, Climate Ground Zero, climate justice, COP15, Copenhagen, direct action, disaster, environmental justice, fossil fuel, government, green capitalism, greenwash, hang over, Jacob Zuma, loopholes, Lula de Silva, media, mtr, party, protest, sea level, tar sands, UN, UNFCCC, Video, Wen Jiabao |
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Rising Tide Mops up the COP – Copenhagen Climate Summit Archive Project
December 24th, 2009
Rising Tide North America is pleased to announce www.WhatIsCop15.net – an instant archive project compiling some of the incredible work of the global climate movement at and in the lead up to the 2009 UN climate summit in Copenhagen (the 15th Conference of the Parties or COP15).
Much has been said about the failure and collapse of the climate of COP15 last weekend to reach a binding agreement, and you’ll find lots of analysis at www.WhatIsCop15.net.
But the real story from the climate summit — which at best was expected expand the carbon market and entrench corporate control of climate policy — is a happy one.
It’s the massive organizing success and coming of age of the climate justice movement. 100,000 in the streets, tens of thousands in attendance at the climate justice oriented Klimaforum, and countless actions against the root causes of climate change.
Moreover, the sham of polluter-dominated climate policy political sausage making – which expelled groups like Friends of the Earth and Via Campesina from its proceedings – was revealed to millions of onlookers, as was Obama’s complicity in the whole affair.
Depressing as the state of things is, the understanding that there will be no just climate solutions without massive social change has crystallized for score of people in the past weeks: the movement of people demanding a radical shift in the existing order is growing by leaps and bounds, and we must celebrate this awakening!
www.WhatIsCop15.net compiles images, reports, videos, reflections and education resources from COP 15, to thank those who organized for climate justice in Copenhagen and to inspire those of us who weren’t there to equally monumental actions.
Whether you’ve been struggling to keep up with the news or were there in Copenhagen, we invite you to learn, enjoy, and spread the word about the online archive! We’d love it if you contributed content as well!
Tags: big business, biofuels, Canada, cap-and-trade, civil disobedience, climate justice, COP15, Copenhagen, direct action, documentation, environmental justice, government, images, indigenous issues, media, protest, REDD, Rising Tide, south america, trees and forests, UN, UNFCCC, what is cop15? |
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Out of the Frying Pan and Into the Streets! (or, How I stopped lobbying and put up my dukes!)
December 20th, 2009
Which direction do you fancy?
(at risk of offense to those that worked stalwartly at ends that haven’t borne fruit-where-expected, as revealed by Copenhagen)
NAACP Climate Justice Initiative Copenhagen Blog
December 15th, 2009
https://climatejusticeinitiative.wordpress.com
So much to share, but I will try to keep it brief!
This morning we started the day in front of the Canadian Embassy demonstrating against the proliferation of tar sands operations. This action was led by the Indigenous Environmental Network. In brief, “Tar Sands” refer to “bitumen”/petroleum heavy sands which are mined to extract oil. These tar sands in Canada are on lands where the indigenous people have not given permission for extraction and furthermore, the process of extraction and transport is one that is hazardous to the environment as well as using copious amounts of water, a precious and diminishing resource. Sharon Lungo of the Ruckus Society and part of the Indigenous Environmental Network delegation, explains more.
Courtesy of Alan Lissner at www.alanlissner.net
Tags: action, blog, Canada, climate, climate justice, COP15, Copenhagen, direct action, environmental justice, fossil of the day, indigenous issues, media, NAACP, politics, protest, REDD, tar sands, UN, UNFCCC |
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Copenhagen Spoof Shames Canada; Climate Debt No Joke
December 15th, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Press conference: 1pm CET, Frederiksholms Kanal 4, Copenhagen
Contact: Margaret Matembe, margaret.matembe@enviro-canada.ca, +45-23960186
Coverage: Click here, or click throughout press release for specific links
Videos:
Canadian announcement (hi-res download)
Ugandan response (hi-res download)
Canadian retraction (hi-res download)
Climate debt agents take responsibility (hi-res download)
More dream announcements coming soon! Come make your own or stay tuned at good-cop15.org.
Copenhagen Spoof Shames Canada; Climate Debt No Joke
African, Danish and Canadian youth join the Yes Men to demand climate justice and skewer Canadian climate policy
COPENHAGEN, Denmark – “Canada is ‘red-faced’!” (Globe and Mail) “Copenhagen spoof shames Canada!” (Guardian)
“Hoax slices through Canadian spin on warming!” (The Toronto Star) “A childish prank!” (Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada)
What at first looked like the flip-flop of the century has been revealed as a sophisticated ruse by a coalition of African, North American, and European activists. The purpose: to highlight the most powerful nations’ obstruction of meaningful progress in Copenhagen, to push for just climate debt reparations, and to call out Canada in particular for its terrible climate policy.
The elaborate intercontinental operation was spearheaded by a group of concerned Canadian citizens, the “Climate Debt Agents” fromActionAid, and The Yes Men. It involved the creation of a best-case scenario in which Canadian government representatives unleashed a bold new initiative to curb emissions and spearhead a “Climate Debt Mechanism” for the developing world.
The ruse started at 2:00 PM Monday, when journalists around the world were surprised to receive a press release from “Environment Canada” (enviro-canada.com, a copy of ec.gc.ca) that claimed Canada wasreversing its position on climate change.
In the release, Canada’s Environment Minister, Jim Prentice, waxed lyrical. “Canada is taking the long view on the world economy,” said Prentice. “Nobody benefits from a world in peril. Contributing to the development of other nations and taking full responsibilities for our emissions is simple Canadian good sense.” Read the rest of this entry »
Flawed Process, Forest Fraud, and False Solutions addressed at the UN Climate Conference
December 11th, 2009
Tags: cap-and-trade, climate, climate justice, COP15, environmental justice, government, greenwash, media, REDD, UN |
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The People Speak on Climate Change
December 3rd, 2009
Published on Tuesday, December 1, 2009 by CommonDreams.org
The People Speak on Climate Change
by Karyn Strickler
“If it was easy, they wouldn’t call it a ‘struggle.’” –Rising Tide North America
A mighty, sleeping, giant rose with the sun in the east yesterday and the swell of resistance thundered westward across North America. The Mobilization for Climate Justice called for urgent action on the global climate crisis. Organizers contemplated the protests in Seattle a decade ago, that shut down the World Trade Organization (WTO) and looked ahead to Copenhagen, where the world will go to set international standards for reversing climate change.
Ananda Lee Tan, who helped organize the WTO protests and today’s Mobilization said in an interview with Democracy Now, “I think we’re at a place where once again we’re faced with turning out massive numbers of people on the streets to challenge the corporate interference with international climate policy talks, but also here in the U.S.”
Activists launched non-violent fasts, die-ins and blockades in New York, Boston, Los Angeles and Ontario. Bold climate activists in Greenville, SC chained themselves to the Cliffside Coal Plant Power Generator; in Washington, DC, they blocked K Street, where the corporate lobbyists roost; in Chicago, IL, they were arrested by the dozen in the financial district; they held a die-in in Denver; and in San Francisco, CA 200 activists took control of the Bank of America headquarters on Market Street, locking themselves to the revolving doors prior to being arrested. Read the rest of this entry »