Tom Shakespeare on the BBC web site (in October, 2009) … Amidst all the dire warnings, I had heard nothing so far about the impact of climate change on disabled people, until I read a recent essay by my friends Leslie Swartz and Kumanan Rasanathan. They argue that climate change is a health and disability issue. Given that global warming will disproportionately affect the world’s poor, and that the world’s poor are disproportionately likely to be disabled people, they conclude logically that our disabled brothers and sisters in the developing world will bear the brunt of the …
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Ben Peterson & Shayne Geilma in Green Left Weekly … Collie is a community heavily reliant on the coal industry, with several mines and coal-fired power stations in the area. The camp included educational workshops covering climate science, non-violent direct action and green alternatives to carbon industries. It culminated in a peaceful community picket of the Muja coal-fired power station. The picket involved 100 people. Most power station workers happily stopped and heard about protesters’ desires for renewable energy and a “just transition” away from coal, which would …
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A press release from the Indigenous Environmental Network “Indigenous leader kidnapped and forced at gunpoint to surrender carbon rights for REDD in Papua New Guinea” As carbon traders hawk permits to pollute at the Second Annual Carbon Trading Summit, Indigenous Peoples denounced that selling the sky not only corrupts the sacred but also destroys the climate, violates human rights and threatens cultural survival. “Carbon trading and carbon offsets are a crime against humanity and Creation,” said Tom Goldtooth, Executive Director of Indigenous Environmental Network. “The sky …
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Sparki on the It’s Getting Hot in Here blog Last year, my good friend, comrade and mentor David Solnit penned an article called “Organizing to win.” In it, he lists five lessons learned over years of organizing against corporate power, war and empire. They are particularly relevant in the age of Obama since instead of flocking to a false political messiah, we need to build our own power. These are important points that need to be stated over and over, particularly in the context of the climate justice movements. … [Read more] …
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A post on an Earth First! Action Reports web site Three climate activists are this morning due in Westminster Magistrate’s Court charged with criminal damage against the Canadian High Commission in London following an action to stop the Tar Sands.. On December 15th, while the International Climate Summit was taking place in Copenhagen, the protesters scaled the entrance to the Canadian High Commission in Grosvenor Square. They cut loose the Canadian flag, before defacing it with crude oil while unfurling a banner reading “Shut Down the Tar Sands”. … [Read more] …
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Photos and a press release on the Mobilization for Climate Justice newswire New York, NY – In the wake of a controversial outcome at the Copenhagen climate talks, a diverse crowd of scientists, Faith congregation, activists, students, and concerned citizens converged in confrontation and protest at the 2nd Annual IGlobalForum Carbon Trading Summit today. The summit is the largest annual meeting place of corporations, banks, and lobby groups to further the agenda of a carbon trading scheme to address climate change. Activists rallied to oppose market-based trading of greenhouse gas emissions …
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Patrick Bond in CounterPunch “Why Climate Justice Did Not Crumble at the Summit” Writing in CounterPunch, Tim Simons and Ali Tonak (hereafter S&T) have gone overboard in their critique of radical climate politics, offering an always-welcome warning against ineffectual reformism, but making enemies inappropriately due to their inadequate exposure to the Climate Justice (CJ) movement’s political analysis and to their misreading of Copenhagen alliances, strategies and tactics. … [Read more] …
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Rachel Smokler & Gary Houser on CommonDreams.org … For those paying attention to the unfolding disaster of climate change, last year ended with a hideous thud. The Copenhagen debacle which resulted in a largely meaningless “accord”, left many climate activists shattered and desperately in need of a stiff drink on New Years Eve. For others, however, spirits remain high as the politics of climate disaster represent profitable new opportunities. … [Read more] …
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Joan Russow on Peace, Earth, & Justice News “Did the many NGO groups that signed on to Tck Tck Tck Campaign know what they were agreeing to? Were they aware of the corporate links to the Campaign? Do they know who owns the Trade Mark Tck Tck Tck that they have been so dutifully promoting? Or do the NGOs care?” … [Read more] …
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Cory Morningstar on the Canadians for Action on Climate Change blog “The mainstream environmental movement no longer inspires nor leads society to an enlightened existence – it simply bows down to the status quo.” Who Really Deserves the Fossil Fool Award? TckTckTck or us? In this HAVAS press release TCK HAVAS PAGER we obtained Havas announces their TckTckTck campaign launch. In this release it states: “The objective was to make it become a movement that consumers, advertisers and the media would use and exploit”. After the background text on the TckTckTck campaign itself, …
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A co-written letter, posted on the Climate Justice Action web site Something is rotten (but not just) in Denmark. As a matter of fact, thousands of people have been considered, without any evidence, a threat to the society. Hundreds have been arrested and some are still under detention, waiting for judgement or under investigation. Among them, us, the undersigned. We want to tell the story from the peculiar viewpoint of those that still see the sky from behind the bars. … [Read more] …
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John E. Peck in The Capital Times As the old saying goes, with crisis comes opportunity, and that certainly was the mentality of the corporate lobbyists that descended in droves on the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. In fact, the largest nongovernmental organization there was the International Emissions Trading Association, a front group representing 170 companies and hosting 66 events. Sadly, many government officials and even some nonprofit groups have fallen for this sleight of hand, mistaking an old-style protection racket for newfound corporate responsibility. … [Read …
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Bryan Farrell on the Waging Nonviolence blog Rising Tide North America has created a new website that assembles “images, reports, videos, and education resources” from the UN Climate Conference in Denmark as a tribute to the thousands of activists who came to Copenhagen in support of climate justice. While www.WhatIsCop15.net seems like a great idea, it sounds like the intentions of the site might be a little too celebratory. In a post for the youth activist blog It’s Getting Hot In Here, Rising Tide organizer Cascadia Brian wrote: … [Read more] …
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Quotations, writing, and links from Toban Black on his blog … Common people are going to have to sort these problems out; and to accomplish that, we’re going to have to rise up — to take power. We need to collectively re-make this world; and to do that, we’ll need to motivate and mobilize a lot more people — including ourselves, in some cases. … [Read more] …
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