Activism
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Vulnerable Nations Make 'Global Survival Pact'
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Thou Shalt Halt Global Warming
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International Day of Climate Action: Most Widespread Day of Political Action Ever
Rays of hope amidst the frustration
Published November 18, 2009 @ 09:56AM PT
It has not been an entirely encouraging week of climate news, but there are still reasons to be hopeful.
As Katherine wrote the other day, President Obama is certainly in a tight spot when it comes to global warming policy. In his inaugural address he vowed to “restore science to its rightful place,” but he has many other major policy initiatives on his plate. And given the extremely well-funded opposition, passing strong climate change legislation will require heaps of political capital.
Many folks in the environmental community became understandably frustrated with his lack of follow-through on his commitment to restore science to prominence in the climate debate when he seemed to sit back and watch a House bill get rewritten by the coal industry and their friends in Congress.
Making matters worse, it’s now official: the Senate won’t even be considering their own version of climate legislation until 2010. Of course there was also the announcement, made while Obama was meeting with (some) other world leaders at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting this past weekend, that they would punt on establishing a legally binding climate treaty in Copenhagen this December. Some time next year, perhaps, is the new timeline for dealing with the most urgent environmental crisis of our times. The lack of a domestic policy was apparently being used to set Obama’s foreign policy, or at least used as a scapegoat for why his administration is actively stalling a global climate deal.
This is obviously unacceptable given that we are already experiencing the effects of global warming, and they’re only going to continue to get worse. The news that global emissions actually rose by 2% last year, mostly led by China, makes the need for ambitious and binding emissions targets and other measures to combat global warming painfully clear.
So it’s a tiny ray of hope that while meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao this week, President Obama apparently established a “you show me yours and I’ll show you mine” deal on emissions:
Buried in the text of Tuesday's joint declaration between President Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao was a hopeful clause about climate talks: The Obama administration is likely to offer emission-reduction targets at next month's climate summit, as long as the Chinese offer a proposal of their own.
U.S. reluctance to set a short-term emissions goal has been a sticking point in the U.N.-sponsored talks for nearly a year. Almost all industrialized nations, and many developing countries, have announced plans to curb their greenhouse-gas output by 2020. Neither the United States nor China -- which is not obligated to do so under the U.N. framework, even though it ranks as the world's biggest emitter -- has done so, thereby hampering the prospects of an agreement.
So perhaps Obama has heard the criticism of him not restoring science to its proper place. Perhaps he is sensitive to the criticisms that he is letting Congress set foreign policy, and is attempting to address the issue. One thing is certainly clear: At this point, the only thing that will get results is massive popular demand for climate solutions.
That’s why I was so heartened by a recent episode in Indonesia, where Greenpeace has set up a Climate Defenders Camp in the heart of the threatened rainforest to highlight deforestation’s role in global warming. When the Indonesian authorities came to close down the camp, over 300 local Indonesians showed up to protest and the police relented. Seriously, this was just an amazing display of non-violent resistance and civic activism. It shows how desperately the people of the world want solutions to the climate crisis we’re facing.
If we keep pushing them, our leaders will have to listen.
Photo courtesy of Elsie esq. via Flickr.
Charged with a Felony? Blame Global Warming
Published November 18, 2009 @ 06:00AM PT
When college student Tim DeChristopher bid his way to committing $1.7 million for 13 oil and gas drilling leases last December at a Bureau of Land Management auction, he had the greater good in mind; he apparently planned to mitigate climate change by blocking the pillaging of the Earth, reports the Associated Press.
Who knows how he thought this would work, considering that he bid with the knowledge that he had no ability whatsoever to pay for the parcels near Utah's national parks that he won. Indeed, instead of being honored as a hero he was indicted in April on felony charges. Apparently, Tim, it's rather illegal to interfere with government auctions and make false representations.
His opinion? The auction itself was illegal, so his interference of it couldn't possibly run afowl of any law. He came before the judge trying to use a "necessity defense," stating that he was forced to choose between two evils, namely the evil of lying in the auction and the evil of allowing climate change to continue unabated.
Logically, U.S. District Judge Dee Benson denied DeChristopher's lawyers' motion to use the defense. According to the AP, his nine-page ruling included this amusing statement: "Unlike a person demolishing a home to create a firebreak, DeChristopher's actions were more akin to placing a small pile of dirt in the fire's path."
Photo courtesy of walknboston via flickr
Activists at Barcelona climate talks send loud message to delegates
Published November 11, 2009 @ 07:00AM PT
Last week’s UN climate talks in Barcelona, Spain were the last chance for world leaders to meet before the conference in Copenhagen at the end of the year at which they are supposed to negotiate a successor climate treaty to the Kyoto Protocol. Many, many activists were there on the ground in Barcelona to remind the delegates that the world is watching — and, through creative non-violent direct communications and actions, to remind them that the world is in desperate need of a fair, ambitious, and binding climate deal if we’re to stop runaway global warming.
One of the more interesting bits of activism that went down was the “Adopt a Negotiator” project, run by the folks at the Global Campaign for Climate Action (GCCA), who also brought us Tcktcktck.org (which I wrote about once before here). The program sent a crew of youth activists from 13 different countries to shadow delegates at the talks not just to let negotiators know that the world is watching but also in an attempt to fundamentally change the way citizens engage in the climate treaty-making process:
Climate Action Goes Creative
Published October 31, 2009 @ 06:00AM PT
Last Saturday's International Day of Climate Action was, as Mike Smith wrote on this blog, "the most widespread day of political action in the planet's history." Not only that, but it was fun.
The action was structured around the concept of 350, which is the parts per million of carbon dioxide we can afford to have in our atmosphere.
Enthusiastic participants all over the world made visual depictions of 350 -- using everything from their bodies to sandbags to sailboats to a flotilla of yellow balloons -- and photographed them for the world to see. The curious one that heads this post was generated by lantern walkers in Sydney, Australia.
So what's so important about 350 and how can you get in on the fun?
Developing World Stands Up To Developed Nations
Published October 16, 2009 @ 11:00AM PT
I'm currently on the Greenpeace ship Esperanza in the South Pacific. We're on the Defending Our Pacific tour, which is a campaign to establish a global network of marine reserves, stop overfishing of Pacific fisheries, and support Pacific island nations efforts to stop Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing in their waters.
Crewman aboard the Japanese vessel Koyu Maru 3, fishing in Cook Islands waters illegally, haul a tuna onboard. Like climate change, overfishing of the world's fisheries is threatening the livelihood of developing countries who are not contributing significantly to the source of the problem. Image © Paul Hilton/Greenpeace
Last week, we caught the Japanese ship Koyu Maru 3 fishing in Cook Islands waters without a license, which is obviously illegal. When I blogged a bout it on the Greenpeace website, I made the point that this was not just illegal but also immoral. So why is it immoral?
Last week, a new study was released by The Commonwealth that underscores the drastic need for government action on overfishing and climate change in order to stave off a collapse of global fisheries. The report warns that the oceans could soon become “deserts” and goes on to say:
The study reveals that those least responsible for the state of the oceans are most likely to suffer the consequences of poor management and climate change. Small island states in particular are vulnerable to illegal and unfair fishing by foreign fleets and to migration of fish away from warming seas.
The Esperanza has been in the Pacific region since May to support Pacific Island countries on issues ranging from climate change to fisheries collapse and marine conservation. But of course Greenpeace’s history in the Pacific Ocean goes back much further than that — all the way back to the early 1970s when we were protesting the French nuclear blasts at Moruroa. The fallout from these blasts also disproportionately affected those Pacific islanders living downwind from the blast sites — another instance of those not responsible for a problem suffering the most. While there was nothing technically illegal about these blasts, the total disregard for human health and welfare is egregious.
The industrialized commercial fishing vessels that are literally stealing fish from Pacific island nations' waters is just another example of the developed world doing as they please and disregarding the well-being of the people affected by their actions. That's why it’s very encouraging that eight Pacific island nations have come together and are standing up for their rights against these invading international commercial fishing fleets.
Pacific island states are not the only developing nations that are banding together to force the developed world to live up to their other moral obligations: “Africa will demand billions of dollars in compensation from rich polluting nations at a UN climate summit for the harm caused by global warming on the continent, African officials said Sunday.”
Lest we doubt that there is any need for this stand by African nations, even the World Bank, generally no friend to the developing world, is warning of the threats those nations are facing as the climate crisis looms: “The World Bank estimates that the developing world will suffer about 80 percent of the damage of climate change despite accounting for only around one third of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.”
So the real question we must be asking ourselves is: Will the developed world stand up and do the right thing in regard to these moral obligations?
Blog Action Day 2009: Bloggers vs. Climate Change
Published October 15, 2009 @ 01:09AM PT
Robin Beck is Change.org's Organizing Director and the lead organizer for Blog Action Day 2009.
We at Change.org are thrilled to announce that Blog Action Day 2009 is finally here! For those of you who aren’t familiar, Blog Action Day is an annual event – held on October 15th – in which bloggers from around the world unite to write about the same topic on the same day.
This year Change.org was asked to run Blog Action Day, and I’ve just spent the past two months serving as lead organizer – corresponding with thousands of bloggers in more than 135 countries and working with dozens of leading nonprofits and media partners in preparation for the big day.
In August we asked bloggers from around the world to vote on the topic they wanted to write about, and the overwhelming selection was climate change. I have to admit, I was pleased. I don’t think there is another global issue today as important or urgent as climate change, nor one that impacts more aspects of all of our lives.
I’ve been a lifelong environmental and social justice advocate and it’s been exciting to see the overwhelming response in support of writing about a topic that, not so long ago, was obscure and unsexy.
As soon as we announced the winning topic, top blogs like Mashable, The Official Google Blog, Autoblog, Neatorama and Gadling immediately signed on in support. Even more important has been the enthusiastic response of thousands of niche bloggers covering topics ranging from politics to travel, food, knitting and more around the globe.
We’ve also been fortunate to have many of the world’s leading nonprofit organizations involved, including the TckTckTck campaign, the United Nations Foundation, NRDC, 350.org, Greenpeace, Oxfam, Care, World Wildlife Fund, The Nature Conservancy, 1Sky, the National Wildlife Federation, and just this week – Al Gore’s organization: the Alliance for Climate Protection.
We were also pleasantly surprised by the active participation of two national governments, showing that leaders throughout the word are not only taking this issue seriously, but are also serious about engaging grassroots citizen participation on the web.
In Spain the ruling PSOE party has helped translate our awesome Blog Action Day video into Spanish and has become an active supporter. In the UK, the foreign ministry, and now the Prime Minister himself, have become not just supporters but active participants. In fact, Prime Minister Gordon Brown wrote his country’s first blog post at 12:01am on October 15th.
In the context of all this activity, many people have been asking me lately what I see as the impact of Blog Action Day and what I consider success.
My most honest answer is that I think the biggest impact, and the biggest measure of success, is that today new conversations are happening about climate change in places they never have before. Bloggers who usually write about their daily lives, about business, about design, technology, travel, or family are having a new discussion. And that discussion is bringing one of the most urgent issues of our time to a wider audience than ever before.
You can watch as the day unfolds with our live stream of all of your posts and tweets at: www.blogactionday.org. Thanks for engaging with us in Blog Action Day 09!
"Alternative Nobel" For Environmental Activists
Published October 14, 2009 @ 12:00PM PT
The Right Livelihood Award Foundation, which aims to promote global ecological balance, eliminate material and spiritual poverty and contribute to lasting peace and justice in the world, has announced its 2009 Right Livelihood Award, often described as the "alternative Nobel Prize."
This year the Foundation has honored, among other people, Canadian environmentalist and television personality David Suzuki "for his lifetime advocacy of the socially responsible use of science, and for his massive contribution to raising awareness about the perils of climate change and building public support for policies to address it," and René Ngongo of Greenpeace "for his courage in confronting the forces that are destroying the Congo's rainforests and building political support for their conservation and sustainable use."
Suzuki received an honorary award, which does not include a cash prize. The other three winners -- Ngongo, Australian doctor Catherine Hamlin who works in her adopted country of Ethiopia benefits Africa's poorest women, and nuclear-disarmament activist Alyn Ware of New Zealand -- will receive 50,000 euros ($74,000). The awards ceremony will occur in December in the Swedish parliament.
In a video interview with Greg Bourne of WWF-Australia, Suzuki reflected on the devastating changes in the natural world that have occurred since he was a boy. "The change has been absolutely dramatic in my lifetime. The fish I took for granted as a child are simply not there," he said. (See a collection of videos on the award winners here.)
People often say that's the price of progress, he reflected, but "I don't think it's progress to use up the rightful legacy of future generations."
Photo courtesy of environmentnorth on flickr
