While many adults in the US are still in a state of denial over global warming, young schoolchildren in villages deep in the Peruvian Amazon are learning about the effects climate destabilization is likely to have on their way of life.
That’s just one thing I learned during a recent three-week trip to the Loreto region (northeast corner) of Peru, with a Peace and Conflict Studies class from Pacific University in Oregon. We spent much of our time in Peru staying in small villages, where we learned about the culture and way of life of the people there – as well as the threats they are likely to face in coming years. Based on my, admittedly very brief, exposure to life in Peru’s Amazon, it seems climate destabilization is not a “debated” issue there; people in the rainforest...
Hundreds of people turned out around Appalachia in Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee, and Pennsylvania to oppose the Office of Surface Mining’s (OSM) rule change, which would weaken the current Stream Buffer Zone rule that provides 100 ft buffer zone and other protections to streams when enforced. Pretty amazing that this many turned out with only 2 weeks notice of these hearings from OSM! I attended the hearing in Knoxville, where I live, and at least 250 people turned out including many member of Save Our Cumberland Mountains and over 70 youth! Every speaker I heard spoke against the rule change and the atmosphere was really incredible with lots of people giving positive visions of a future where we don’t have to poison our water to produce energy. Check out this video...
A new report based on oil industry production data says that we’re past peak oil as of 2006:
World oil production has already peaked and will fall by half as soon as 2030, according to a report which also warns that extreme shortages of fossil fuels will lead to wars and social breakdown.
The German-based Energy Watch Group will release its study in London today saying that global oil production peaked in 2006 - much earlier than most experts had expected. The report, which predicts that production will now fall by 7% a year, comes after oil prices set new records almost every day last week, on Friday hitting more than $90 (£44) a barrel. …
Forget about how you’ll afford gas to put in your car to get to work as declining production, increasing demand, and the...
Yesterday, Rainforest Action Network’s Global Finance team held a press conference announcing to the world that we are formally launching a campaign against the world’s two largest banks - Citi and Bank of America. Why? Because they are the top funders of the dirty coal industry - and the crucial link supplying billions of dollars to companies and projects that are destroying communities, our environment and our climate. Coal is the top source of greenhouse gas emissions - and if the current proposed coal power plants are built, all other current efforts to fight climate change will be negated.......
The City Council of Oberlin, a small town in Northern Ohio that houses Oberlin College, well known for its environmental and progressive nature, voted Monday whether to lock the town into a 40-year purchasing contract for a proposed coal plant in Meigs County, OH, which is part of the highest concentration of proposed coal plants in the country. The students gathered 140 commitments from townspeople to voluntary tax themselves in order to at least delay the decision, bumping the total such commitments to about 230, and delivered them to Council right before their meeting Monday night.
They also brought my good friend Elisa Young, whose farm is in the thick of the coal proposals, to address the Council. This is the account of the “compromise that made no one happy”.
from...
Today the Sierra Student Coalition at Ohio University finished up their MountainFest, a multiple day mountaintop removal awareness and action festival. Through speakers, music, tabling, postering, flyering, a coal demonstration project (see below), media attention, and a silent auction, the SSC has already raised over $1,000 for the Keeper of the Mountains, a coalfield justice community organizing foundation.
To put it simply, there’s a lot going on around here. And all this at the same time as POWERVEG, a statewide youth energy and climate conference in Glenville, WV, just 2 hours from here at OU. There’s also a statewide Ohio Climate and Energy Workshop going on here at OU on Thursday, for students and administrators alike to get together and figure out what we can do today...
Mountain Justice Summer is calling for a day of action against Bank of America to demand they stop funding the coal industry which is destroying the Appalachian mountains through mountaintop removal mining as well as perpetuating climate chaos. Actions are already planned in 19 cities across the US. You can plan an action as simple as a couple people handing out leaflets at your local BoA branch, or as ambitious as a large scale occupation of one of their regional headquarters. Every action counts.
Plan an action to tell Bank of America to stop funding the coal industries destruction of our mountains and climate! Sign up, learn more, and get flyers here.......
Yesterday, police violently arrested five people at a nonviolent direct action at the regional Bank of America headquarters in downtown Asheville.
Despite severe police surveillance and scare tactics during the Southeast Climate Action Convergence and an unprecedented police presence including an estimated 50 in riot gear, the action was completely non-violent. Those arrested were locked down inside the building, while supporters rallied outside wearing polar bear and canary costumes to represent non-human victims of environmental devastation. Reportedly, the Asheville Police Department responded by repeatedly using high voltage electric shock devices (tasers) on the defenseless protesters locked down.
Four of the activists are being held for an undisclosed period of time. Their bail...
***Activists Mobilize and Protest Amidst Overwhelming Police Presence***
*** Police spend thousands to protect dirty energy***
Today a massive police operation was deployed in Buncombe, Henderson, and Transylvania Counties to prevent activists from protesting a dirty power plant responsible for climate change. Dozens of uniformed and undercover cops surrounded the site of the Southeast Convergence for Climate Action as a police helicopter hovered over the site.
In addition, dozens more police were deployed at Progress Energy’s Skyland coal power plant to prevent legitimate protest against dirty energy and climate change. “This shows which side of the climate debate the government is on. They have spent tens of thousands of dollars to protect the coal industry today....