Charlottesville-Right Now: Kathy Selvage
Kathy Selvage of the Southern Appalchian Mountain Stewards joined Coy to discuss the devastating impact of mountaintop removal mining which has already destroyed more than 500 mountains across Appalachia, the oldest mountains in the world.
If a 10-year-old can understand the implications of climate change, when will congress?? MELTING ICE 2009 from Lil Peppi, the self-declared “King of ECO Rap,” a 10-year-old musician and performer from Tampa and Miami, Florida. From dealing with sea level rise to battling more intense hurricanes, communities along the Gulf are at ground zero for the effects of climate change in our country. It’s great to see Lil Peppi is taking our message to the next generation and maybe someday onto a recording contract! Until then PEACE OUT! Continue reading
Cross-posted from: here
Some columns and rantings out there are so bad, there aren’t enough hours in the day to address all their crazy “facts” and the conclusions they draw from them. It’s probably important to say SOMETHING about Robert Samuelson’s Washington Post column, and let others pick up other pieces. After all, with the Transportation Reauthorization funding bill coming up soon, along with Transportation Secretary Ray Lahood’s vision for a high-speed rail system, it’s important the funds are there. Continue reading
| The Colbert Report | Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Bill McKibben | ||||
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Typically when I hear someone I like is going to be on Jon Stewart, I get excited. When I hear someone I like is going to be on the Colbert Report, I just get nervous. So I’m sure that Monday was a long day for Bill McKibben, who anxiously tweeted, “waiting to go on colbert–i’m sweating, and not because it’s 97 in nyc today.” Well, [SPOILER ALERT] on air to promote 350.org’s October 24 International Day of Action, I’m proud to report that Bill did just fine! He managed to get out his talking points in an uninterrupted 33 seconds, which I believe may set a record for any guest on the show.
What really caught my attention was when McKibben told Colbert, “We’re past the point where you can make the math work one lightbulb at a time.” He’s right- we need serious international commitments to cut carbon emissions and plan to reduce the level of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere to a scientifically safe level (350 ppm.) Our job, according to McKibben, is to “get our leaders to take the steps we need.” Luckily, 350.org is hosting a day of action on September 24 and CCAN is excited to be planning an DC action that day with some amazing other groups (mark your calendar.) Even before that, we’re gearing up for the Senate to come back from recess and get back to work. This fall we’re holding our leaders accountable. So thanks Bill for putting them, as Colbert would say, they are Continue reading
Future Hope column, August 16, 2009
The last week or so has been the right-wingers-at-town-meetings moment, and it looks like it’s going to be supplemented by something similar but different: rallies organized by fossil-fuel-supporting corporations in these states: Texas, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Colorado, Tennessee, Indiana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Florida, South Carolina, Alaska, Illinois, West Virginia, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Nebraska, Missouri and Arkansas.
Two days ago Greenpeace released a memo written by the head of the American Petroleum Institute (API) apparently sent to Greenpeace by a less-than-loyal employee of one of the API member companies to whom it was sent. In the memo it referred to a “series of Continue reading
Cross-posted from: here
The American Petroleum Institute is planning to launch a major astroturf campaign in the coming weeks to try in gin up “opposition” to climate legislation in the Senate. I saw this first on The Huffington Post by Kevin Grandia, who has provided the once secret memo uncovered by Greenpeace. The contents of the pdf are a letter by Phil Radford, the Executive Director of Greenpeace to the President of API calling him out. Below that is the memo sent by API to its allies. The best part of this is the context is which Radford closes his letter descrbing how API asked for it’s memo not to be divulged so that their gameplan is not known by critics. Radford says “game plan known”. The contents are copied below. Continue reading
While reading the article “Climate-Change Calculus” in Newsweek, I see all of this data and scientists discussing Greenland’s ice sheets melting. Satellite measurements of Greenland’s mass show that it is losing about 52 cubic miles per year and that melting is accelerating. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) states they projected sea levels to rise 16 inches this century, but now are saying that sea level will rise one meter (39 inches) at least. “Chest high instead of knee high, with half to two thirds of that due to Greenland,” states David Carlson, a scientist from the International Polar Year, a global consortium studying the Arctic.
When reading these statistics, I thought to myself, “the facts are now showing up, but I knew about Greenland’s situation from an eye-witness in February.” While attending the Powershift conference here in Washington, D.C. I took part in the Indigenous Caucus, a consortium of Indigenous people from across the world. Many Indigenous people traveled great distances to tell their stories of the effects of Climate Change in their communities.
The first person to speak about their community was a man from Greenland. In Indigenous culture, the oldest is the first one to speak and the man from Greenland has lived on this Earth for 63 years. He spoke of the changes that are happening in Greenland. When he was a boy the ice sheets in Greenland were two miles high. Now, the ice sheets are only one mile high. In the span of 63 years! He also said trees are growing in Greenland and that hasn’t happened in 20,000 years. “It doesn’t matter what we do now, Greenland’s ice sheets are going to melt. And soon the ice caps will follow,” The man from Greenland informed us. Hearing this, I felt that I couldn’t give up. There is still time to change the course of history.
In May, I was in a course to become an Advanced Permaculturist. The man teaching the course was from El Salvador and a Mayan Spiritual Leader. During one of our classes, the topic of 2012 came up and he said this statement. “There is going to come a time when Mother Earth is going to ask humanity if they want to keep going and live on or end existence.” When I heard that statement it gave me hope.
It is time for humanity to show Mother Earth we want to live on. We need to start building Climate Change Showcase Communities. We need communities that will significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We need communities that can become models that will be replicated throughout the world. Models to show our governments reluctant to change. Because the change we want will not happen until we have an infrastructure to show our elected officials.
– Marc ‘Swift Otter’
Member, Menominee Indian Tribe
CCAN is fighting dirty power plants on BOTH sides of the Potomac River! On June 26 2009, CCAN joined three Maryland citizens in a lawsuit challenging the Mirant Corporation’s Chalk Point power plant on the Patuxent River in Prince George’s County for not complying with state and federal Clean Air Act pollution control requirements.
From the very beginning, CCAN has been involved in challenging proposed coal-fired power plants across Virginia. Now, we are taking on new legal challenges Continue reading
This morning, CCAN staff, volunteers and concerned Americans nationwide staged series of beach-themed rallies in around fifty cities across the country. Held in partnership with 1Sky, the festive gathering sought to urge our Senators to enact climate legislation that ensures a real cap on CO2, dictated by the EPA, as well as creating strong provisions for domestic renewable and clean energy development here at home.
We arrived in force at Senator Jim Webb’s office (VA) at around noon, sporting swim trunks, floral leis, and signs reading, “Don’t send clean energy out with the tide!” and “Clean energy jobs NOW!” as Richmonders downtown looked on during the lunchtime break. While volunteers passed the time, playing a makeshift game of beach volleyball, spirits were high and good times were certainly had. Glen, the inflatable dolphin, also made an appearance.
This is not to say, however, that today’s participants were ignorant of the severe implications of a world climate crisis. Despite the relaxed attire and positive attitudes, all involved exuded deep concern and real frustration at the marginal progress that Congress has made so far in taking a strong approach to fixing the potentially fatal issue of global climate change.
The American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACESA), in its current form, sucks. We have charged the United States Senate with rectifying the mistakes of its counterpart, the House of Representatives, in transforming this confusing and weak legislation into something that us as climate activists may be proud of. A weak renewable energy standard, coupled with an abysmal form of cap-and-trade that allows for the largest polluters to incur the smallest costs, has shown that politics as usual continues to dilute the debate over how we must transition as a nation into a cleaner, more efficient economy.
Virginia, as always, finds itself in an election year, spearheaded by two candidates whose environmental stances still leave a lot to be desired. Without significant action by our representatives in Washington, the Commonwealth will see little incentive to transform the way that we currently generate and consume our energy in Virginia. If the Senate falters on this legislation, our hopes for rapid progress will become quickly diminished.
We have not yet a reason, however, to lose hope. Senator Webb has repeatedly expressed his dissatisfaction with the current state of ACESA, and as its Senatorial counterpart, ACELA, progresses through its infancy in committee, we can hope that he and Senator Warner will encourage significant improvements, including restoring the full oversight of the EPA in regulating carbon emissions, increasing requirements for the renewable portfolio standard, and placing a real cap on dirty fossil fuel and coal industries, who hold too great a sway in national and Virginia politics.
Webb, a veteran and military buff, understands the real dangers to national security posed by climate change, with sea-level rise playing a major role in Virginia’s potential future. With the world’s largest naval base in Norfolk, Virginia, the threat of rising tides will play a major role in Mr. Webb’s future decisions regarding climate change and its impacts.
So, the beach theme found itself to be eerily appropriate. There may be, after all, a day when any average Richmond citizen will need only to walk a few short blocks before breaking out the surfboard. Let’s hope not.
Recently, I handed about 250 letters from climate-concerned Marylanders to Senator Cardin’s staff outside a committee hearing on the clean energy bill. The staff had previously told a group of us that they need to hear more from the climate movement if we want a strong clean energy bill. Continue reading