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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in the "Peak Oil & The Energy Crisis" journal:[<< Previous 20 entries]
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02:40 am
[smashboredom]
[Link] |
Green Oppression.
From Ghetto Print:
Despite how many dirty problems there were with the supposed “green” energy bill various climate groups supported it in order to ensure that their personal programs and agendas were funded by the bill.
Is money enough reason to push for a dirty-green bill when the people who will be hurt most by it are the working poor and people of color? I think not!
Failed Climate Policy: What YOU should know about the Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy and Security Act.
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03:16 pm
[teamtriceratops]
[Link] |
Politicians Reconsidering Offshore Drilling in Florida
From NPR, reconsideration regarding drilling off Florida.
As someone in that area, this really pisses me off. First, the NIMBYists say no to wind turbines off the coast of St. Pete Beach, because it would detract from the lovely view, and now they want to invade some of the most beautiful, natural areas of Florida (Destin is near my hometown, and has quite amazing beaches, even if it becomes a little more like Panama City every year).
If you are a fellow Floridian, please write your politician(s). Even freakin Jeb Bush opposed offshore drilling.
At 10-45 miles out from shore, it's doubtful you'd ever spot the drilling unless you were way offshore in a boat, but it's more than the superficial aesthetics that concern me.
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11:53 pm
[smashboredom]
[Link] | KILT IN ACTION
Climate camping has, of course, established itself as the package holiday of choice for the more conscientious classes. But why wait till August 27th to get this year’s fix*? Start the summer by getting up to Scotland where a new protest camp has, quite literally, got off the ground at Mainshill in South Lanarkshire, after Scottish Coal were given permission to mine 1.7 million tonnes of the black stuff, despite a long 9-year campaign by enraged locals. In fact over 700 of the 1000 odd population were moved to object to the county authorities – meaning, again, the go-ahead is completely without community consent.
It’s not that locals are merely being a bit nimbyish - their green and pleasant land is already despoiled by four other mines, making it one of the most heavily mined areas in the whole of Europe. And then there is the catalogue of climate chaos reasons not to be open-cast mining coal at the moment (see www.leaveitintheground.org.uk/?page_id=9). The Mainshill mine is just one of 20 such projects recently given the go-ahead in Scotland.
Last week a small number of activists secured a site in Mainshill Wood, declaring, “We have taken this autonomous and free space for those who wish to create positive, creative and egalitarian solutions to ecological collapse, climate change and environmental injustice. Profiteering companies, land owners and governments will not mine for new coal here!” Others quickly joined and tree-houses and other defences were quickly established.
The cops have now got their arses into gear and have served papers for a June 29th hearing, after which the camp may be under threat of imminent eviction. Numbers are needed now to defend the land and enjoy the good weather.
For details on how to get there and more call 07806 926 040 and see www.coalactionedinburgh.noflag.org.uk/?page_id=415
* This year’s Camp For Climate Action (August 27th – September 2nd) is also set to make excursions into Scotland (Aug 3-6th), and Wales (Aug 13-16th), before heading back to London to “prepare for an autumn of mass action in the run up to the United Nations climate talks in Copenhagen this December”.
See www.climatecamp.org.uk
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02:14 pm
[smashboredom]
[Link] |
[rossportsolidaritycamp] Demo at Irish embassy in London.
There will be a noise demo at the irish embassy in London at 1pm tomorrow, Wednesday in support of the 7 solidarity camp activists that have been put on remand. 5 of these are British. Please go along of you can, see indy for more details about whats been going on.
x
I found the story:
One of the activists, Eoin Lawless, addressing the court following his remanding, stated that he believed he should be afforded the legal presumption of innocence before being proven guilty. Lawless was one of the activists arrested for merely crossing the road, and was leaving the area after being directed by a Public Order garda. Judge Devin's replied to Lawless' defence by inquiring, “Did you take up a law degree?” She then refused Lawless' defence argument, and remanded him to Castlerea.
Mocking the presumption of innocence? What a judge!
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04:27 pm
[smashboredom]
[Link] | Stop Building Tanks
Let’s divert the money spent on arms to addressing the real strategic threat.
...
Everything we need to do has been made harder by debt. Net state debt now exceeds £700bn. The RBS and Lloyds shambles will add £1-1.5 trillion to the bill(5). National debt is likely to reach some 150% of GDP next year: well beyond the point at which the IMF declares developing countries basket cases.
This introduces two environmental problems. The first is that there is no money left with which to fund a green new deal. The second is that we’ll be able to pay off these debts only by resuming economic growth. Greenhouse gases grow because the economy grows. The UK’s liabilities make the transition to a steady state economy, let alone a managed contraction, much harder to achieve. They appear to commit us to either growth or default for at least a generation. The debt crisis is an environmental disaster.
So we are left with only painful choices. We should be spending tens of billions a year to prevent climate breakdown, but how? Borrow the money and exacerbate the crisis? Raise taxes? Cut the health and education budgets? Any of the above would enhance public resistance to change. The least painful approach is to cut services that are of no use to anyone.
There are plenty of them. The prison building programme would yield a couple of hundred million a year if it were replaced with non-custodial schemes(6). The government could trim a billion or two from Olympics budget without much tearing of cloth. The identity card would be unmourned to the tune of half a billion a year. Nor would we be deafened by the gnashing of teeth if, as I suggested in May, the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform were scrapped, saving £1.8bn a year(7). But this is still the wrong order of magnitude. Scanning the government’s departmental spending limits, one figure jumps out(8). It accounts for 12% of state spending; a bigger budget than any department has except health and schools. Of the £38bn this office spends every year, almost all is wasted.
At the end of 2003, the Ministry of Defence observed that “there are currently no major conventional military threats to the UK or NATO … it is now clear that we no longer need to retain a capability against the re-emergence of a direct conventional strategic threat”(9). So why is most of this ministry’s budget spent on retaining a capability against the emergence of a direct conventional strategic threat?
Posted to ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) antiwar and powerswitch.
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07:59 pm
[smashboredom]
[Link] |
Stuff from the Telegraph.
Paul McCartney's Meat Free Monday mission
Sir Paul, Mary and Stella McCartney are leading the Meat Free Monday campaign to persuade people to avoid meat once a week. It is not an attempt to turn the world vegetarian, one day at a time, but a crucial step in the fight against climate change.
The family is famously vegetarian, but Stella says for this particular debate, she wishes they weren’t. This is not an evangelical mission to make the world veggie but an attempt to do their bit to slow climate change. "It’s an environmental conversation, not a vegetarian one," says Stella. "It’s ok to just give up meat for one day, it doesn’t make you a vegetarian if you hate vegetarians, it doesn’t make you a cranky, hemp wearing pot smoker. It’s alright, it’s allowed - it doesn’t make you a kind of the person you don’t want to be. It just means you are doing something positive."
Oh and in smaller news:
+ The US Congress passed a cap-and-trade bill (just), the first major action by the government to tackle climate change.
+ Iraq's $16bn (£9.7bn) worth of oil contracts are to be auctioned to the oil and gas companies in a live 'game show' style event. Really.
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02:15 pm
[smashboredom]
[Link] |
15 Year Old Invents Algae-Powered Energy System.
Thanks to ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) sonof2ravens who wrote this in greenparty:
"Thanks to 15 year old Texan Javier Fernández-Han, we feel a little more hopeful about the next generation’s ability to adapt to a world of limited resources. The high school student developed a fully featured algae-powered energy system that combines a dozen new and existing technologies to treat waste, produce methane and bio-oil for fuel, produce food for humans and livestock, sequester greenhouse gases, and produce oxygen. Dubbed the VERSATILE system, the project is this year’s winner of the annual Invent Your World Challenge $20,000 scholarship. Full Article"
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07:52 pm
[smashboredom]
[Link] |
Thanks a lot to pikake.
Nonviolent Goldman Prize Winner Attacked by Massey Supporter: 94-Year-Old Hechler, Hannah, Hansen Arrested at Coal River
"When I get to the other side, I shall tell God Almighty about West Virginia!" -- Mother Jones
"The abuse of the land always goes hand in hand with the abuse of the people." -- Don West
"I started out an as activist, but founded it necessary to be a hell raiser. We are going to need hellraisers to stop this devastating practice."--Ken Hechler
Video of former US Representative Ken Hechler (D-WV), who introduced the first bill to end mountaintop removal and stripmining in 1971. As a hero to coal miners, Hechler led the campaign for better mining workplace safety and black lung laws and compensation. The 94-year-old Hechler was arrested at the Coal River action, along with coalfield residents and parents, 88-year-old West Virginia activist Winnie Fox, Daryl Hannah, and James Hansen, and Goldman Prize Award winner Judy Bonds, RAN director Michael Brune and many others.
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In the face of recent Obama administration actions to regulate and not abolish mountaintop removal, which has wiped out 500 mountains and destroyed historic communities, the action launched a yearlong national campaign to bring mountaintop removal to an end.
"I am not a politician; I am a scientist and a citizen," said Dr. James Hansen. "Politicians may have to advocate for halfway measures if they choose. But it is our responsibility to make sure our representatives feel the full force of citizens who speak for what is right, not what is politically expedient. Mountaintop removal, providing only a small fraction of our energy, should be abolished."
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07:39 am
[birdbard]
[Link] |
Cornell opens new biofuels laboratory
Cornell University is the proud new home to a state-of-the-art Biofuels Research Laboratory, lauded as a unique research, educational and economic development facility rolled into one.
Advertisement
"This research facility will catapult Cornell to the forefront of biofuels research," said Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Susan Henry at a ribbon-cutting for the lab Tuesday.
http://www.theithacajournal.com/article/20090624/NEWS01/906240358
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11:00 pm
[smashboredom]
[Link] |
Make it a fair fight between train and plane: Cut train fares
Join our new campaign: high cost train versus low cost plane: fair fight?
That sneak preview from my campaigns update last month is now a great little video (“Train V Plane”) we’re using to launch a new campaign to bring down train fares. I’m sure you agree with me that more people need to know about the unfairness of the Government effectively favouring high-carbon air travel over low-carbon train travel. Our video should help: Train V Plane is making the rounds of websites, blogs and newsletters - if you know of a website that should be promoting the video, let me know. And please, spread the word too by telling your friends. (Send them this link: http://www.bettertransport.org.uk/train-fares)
TAKE ACTION: Ask Ed Miliband to join the fight
( Have you been outraged by the price of a bus ticket? )
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10:05 pm
[smashboredom]
[Link] |
Recent Plane Stupid actions, Manchester/London.
"Manchester Plane Stupid disrupt airport industry conference" (Tuesday 16th June 2009)
Campaigners disrupted an airport industry conference today using rape alarms tied to helium balloons. The protesters from the group Manchester Plane Stupid entered the Manchester Central conference venue (formerly GMEX) and sent five bunches of helium balloons reading 'Happy Retirement' to the top of the ceiling where they remained with the alarms ringing. This occurred at exactly the time when the industry delegates were posing for a photo shoot for the launch of a new carbon reduction scheme at European airports which will not include emissions from aircraft.
*FOR PICTURES* http://stopmanchesterairport.blogspot.com/
Click here for the rest of the Manchester Climate Fortnightly Ebulletin (some good local and global news, including calender of upcoming events).
PLANE SELFISH
In the early hours of Wednesday morning five people cut through the perimeter fence of London City Airport and locked themselves to a private jet forming a large human wheel-clamp out of their bodies and metal tubes.
The five protesters from Plane Stupid were highlighting the selfishness of private jet use which until the recession was the fastest growing section of the aviation industry. A spokesperson for Plane Stupid said “Because of their low passenger capacity, small jets emit between five and ten times more carbon per passenger than commercial flights. In an age where we face potentially catastrophic climate change, this is no longer an acceptable form of transport. It’s time that private jets were grounded for good.”
London City Airport, while being a hub for rich business people, does very little for the residents of Newham: air pollution levels regularly exceed European safety limits and Newham has the highest levels of mortality in under 30s in the UK from asthma. In just over 20 years the airport has only managed to directly employ 120 Newham residents out of the 406 directly employed staff the airport claim to employ.
The five were arrested for criminal damage and aggravated trespass.
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05:49 am
[alan_fromthe50s]
[Link] |
Turmoil in Iran, and look at what Obama does
I don't even know HOW he became president of the most powerful nation of the world.
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08:06 pm
[smashboredom]
[Link] |
Good news, bad news.
Bringing you the top news stories from Stupid Towers on the climate action scene...
BAD NEWS
The latest round of UN talks in Bonn has brought us no closer to an agreement at Copenhagen, and the outlook for a science-based policy outcome from that meeting is looking bleaker than ever. As the UN’s climate chief Yvo de Boer put it, "I don't think in Copenhagen we're going to get an agreement on an 80-percent global emission reduction [by 2050] and I think that, at the end of day, is what we need."
Japan also disappointed everyone with the much-anticipated unveiling of their own policy position – a less than half-hearted 8% cut in emissions by 2020. Given that a recent poll showed that nearly two thirds of the Japanese public want a commitment to at least 25% cuts by 2020, this is unforgiveably weak, and can only serve to worsen the chances of a strong deal at Copenhagen.
Peru's government has been massacring indigenous protestors who are are unhappy about plans to chuck them out of their forest homes so that the virgin rainforest land can be logged, mined and drilled for oil and gas by multinationals. See www.amazonwatch.org for more on this horrible story as it unfolds.
GOOD NEWS
The Scottish Parliament are finalising the details of their own Climate Bill at the end of this month, which is already actually quite good, though still a long way from perfect. If you’re up that way, then get involved with the mass lobby of the Scottish Parliament on June 24th, organised by Stop Climate Chaos. A Bill that beats the English version should be a matter of nation pride, frankly. Come and have a go if you think you're hard enough?
( Again, good articles largely outnumber the bad ones )
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11:49 pm
[smashboredom]
[Link] |
E-news special: Peru Indian leader forced into exile.
Indian leader forced into exile as President labels protesters ‘savages’
The President of Peru’s Amazon Indian organisation AIDESEP, Alberto Pizango, has been forced into exile after he was charged with sedition. Read more »
The move follows the violent confrontation between hundreds of indigenous protesters and riot police near Bagua, northern Peru, on June 5th.
This is the first time that a regional-wide Amazon Indian clamour to protect their lands has resulted in many killings since 1742.
Over 30 Indians are thought to have been killed, and the police have been accused of throwing large numbers of bodies into the Marañon river. More than 20 police officers are also believed to have died.
Peru’s President Alan Garcia has labelled the indigenous protesters ‘savages’, ‘barbaric’, ‘ignorant’ and ‘second-class citizens’.
The cause of the protests is the government’s push to open up Indian territories in the Amazon to oil and gas companies.
Please write to the Peruvian President:
+ Oil and gas companies must suspend their operations in the Amazon until the government holds negotiations with the Indians’ representatives.
+ There must be an independent inquiry into the tragic events of June 5th.
+ All charges against Sr. Pizango should be dropped.
You can use Survival's online letter-writing tool to prepare your letter.
( A similar appeal from Avaaz.org with more sources and a petition, explaining the link between saving the rainforest from oil and gas extraction, the climate and indigenous peoples rights. )
SchNEWS story here
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02:23 pm
[smashboredom]
[Link] | TARA FOR NOW
Fourteen protesters against the motorway development at the Hill Of Tara, Ireland (See SchNEWS 585), have had their cases dismissed in Trim District Court. Most cases arose from the ‘Battle Of Soldiers Hill’, on July 18th last year (See SchNEWS 597), where seven were arrested after being on the end of violence from security during some digger diving to prevent the road-building.
The protesters’ defence in court was that they had a lawful excuse to stop the road building which was illegal under EU directives. The judge questioned the Gardai as to whether they’d asked the protesters if they believed they had a lawful reason, and Gardai admitted they had failed to. After the Gardai and Siac/Ferrovial security gave contradictory evidence, it seems the judge decided to drop the cases, and avoid any unnecessary scrutiny into the illegality of the road.
There is still a protest camp – the Vigil Camp - and direct action at the site, despite the fact that a lot of the destruction has happened, and the road could be finished some time next year. A decade-long campaign has been waged to stop this road and the desecration of land near the ancient monument, with protest camps and direct action since the summer of 2007. The Vigil Camp are still inviting all to come to the site and take part.
* For Vigil Camp see www.tarapixie.net
* For more info about the protests see www.savetara.com
* On August 30th there will be a Heritage Week event at the Hill Of Tara
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10:27 pm
[smashboredom]
[Link] |
Campaign against Climate Change.
Climate Emergency Parliament, Outside Parliament, Wednesday 15th July at 6.00 pm
Join the Online Alternative Parliament for the Climate Emergency
Submit your Climate Emergency Measures:
Go to www.campaigncc.org/onlineemergencyparliament
Measures to reduce the UK Greenhouse gases by 10% by the end of 2010
Measures we need to take now to put in train longer term deep emission cuts
We’re looking for arguments for Green Jobs, an emergency insulation program, banning all domestic flights by the end of 2010, a 55 mph national speed limit, halving the cost of public transport, terminating the roads program or your suggestions on how to reduce emissions fast.
Give us your views and expertise: we will select best submissions for presentation to the Climate Emergency Parliament on the 15th July. Also you can vote for what you think is the best of other peoples submissions.
The current parliament is not facing up to the climate emergency and there is still a huge gap between what the science is telling us we need to do ….and what politicians are willing to do. Tell the politicians what they need to do!
And add your voice to the demand for radical action now – we should not just be on the defensive saying ‘no’ to airports, new coal, road building etc.. etc.. we should be pushing forward our own positive agenda for real solutions to the climate crisis!
We in the UK cannot deal with this problem on our own but our best chance of influencing the critical international Climate Talks in Copenhagen at the end of the year is by committing to really radical measures here in the UK in order to lead in the only effective way we can: by example. And the time to do that is RIGHT NOW.
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09:25 pm
[smashboredom]
[Link] | Naked cyclists ride through London
More than 1,000 cyclists stripped off to take part in the World Naked Bike Ride.
The sixth annual protest against oil dependency and car culture saw riders stage nude rallies in more than 40 locations around the world.
In London, the cyclists, many of them painted with anti-oil slogans, followed a six-mile (10km) route from Hyde Park Corner past the Houses of Parliament and through the West End.
Hundreds of tourists and shoppers gathered and cheered them on as the Metropolitan police stopped traffic to allow the cyclists an easy passage through London's busiest streets.
Organiser Jesse Schust said: "It's us taking back the streets with our bodies and making ourselves visible so the politicians can't ignore our demands.
"This is naked because we want to show the vulnerability of the cyclist, the cyclist in the street now is no safer than if they had absolutely no clothing on, and we're showing that by going out onto the streets without our clothes."
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01:28 am
[smashboredom]
[Link] |
If you thought this was going to be big, think again... (350.org)
...It's going to be HUGE.
As of two minutes ago, the 350 Day of International Climate Action is 1006 actions strong. We flew past the 1000 action mark sometime this morning, and the number continues to grow. Two more came in as I wrote this. This is incredible progress--so incredible that our website can't keep up with it. Our counter is frozen at 999, as high as it can go:
We'll be fixing it ASAP, but I have two things to ask you right now, one big and one not quite so big.
First the big one: What kind of iconic or meaningful action can you take in your community?
If you haven't registered your action already, click here to get started: http://www.350.org/oct24
We're a little less than five months away from the 24th of October, when all kinds of creative, meaningful, powerful actions and events will occur in every part of the world showing the number 350 - the safe upper limit of CO2 in the Earth's atmosphere measured in parts per million.
On October 24th, we're giving that number meaning, from the heart of Mexico City to the heights of the Himalayas. If enough of us stand together, world leaders won't be able to deny our call for strong, immediate climate action that gets the world back to 350.
We're already well on our way--from the sounds of church bells ringing 350 times to the smell of 350 paellas cooking with solar energy, this promises to be a day for the record books.
( Read more... )
PS. The powerswitch mods are away this coming week - please post your own news!
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02:31 pm
[smashboredom]
[Link] |
[Age-of-Stupid] Bad News / Good News from the climate front line.
Hi Everyone,
Leo here, content producer for the Stupid websites and campaign strategist for Not Stupid. I'll be pitching in to some of these mailing list messages from now until Copenhagen, to keep you up to speed on the campaigny side of things at Stupid Towers, as well as flagging up major developments in the wider world of climate science and politics. Experience has, sadly, taught us that news from the world of climate science is seldom good - but I'll try to make up for this by giving you the word on the street about where the climate action is too, so you can get involved, or at the very least be inspired. OK, take a deep breath. Here's...
The Bad News
- MIT's centre for Global Climate Change Science have revised their best guess of temperature rise by the end of the century if humanity continues with business-as-usual - to 5.2˚C. This is well in excess of the median estimate in the worst-case scenario looked at in the most recent IPCC report in 2007. With a 5˚ rise, we all fry of course, but this would still be better than the 9% chance they now think there is of a 7˚ rise. 7˚C! The conclusions of the MIT study confirm other recent revisions of temperature rise by the International Energy Agency (IEA), which has warned of a 6˚ rise if we remain on our current emissions trajectory, and the MET office's Hadley Centre, which also guesstimated a 5-7˚ rise if we don't change course.
- Meanwhile Kofi Annan's charity, the Global Humanitarian Forum, reports that global warming is already causing 300,000 deaths each year, and the Inernational Organization for Migration predicts 200 million climate refugees by 2050. (Franny and Pete P will be speaking alongside Kofi Annan at the Forum's event in Geneva on June 24th.)
- The Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade Bill passing through the US Congress has been hailed as good news by many, and in some ways it is. Unfortunately its bloated and dizzying array of measures look set to repeat all the mistakes of the first round of the EU emissions trading scheme, with ludicrously inadequate targets, massive loopholes and 85% of the pollution permits handed out to big polluters for free. The coal industry have warmly welcomed the latest draft.
And... breathe. It's time for:
( The Good News (of which there is significantly more) (includes info on what to do if you want to get involved putting on a screening of The Age of Stupid in the US!) )
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11:17 pm
[smashboredom]
[Link] | The Real Expenses Scandal
It’s a thousand times bigger than the one we’re talking about, so why doesn’t it ignite public anger?
I understand the public anger and fascination about MPs’ expenses, and the burning question of whether you can obtain capital gains tax exemption on your second duck house. But it is microscopic by comparison to the corruption that has been bubbling along merrily for 15 years in the UK, unmolested by the tabloid press.
In April, the widening of four sections of the M25 was to have cost you and me £5bn. This was already a spectacular rip-off. The Campaign for Better Transport had calculated that the same amount of extra road space - if it were really needed - could have been created for £478m(1). But somehow, over the past four weeks, the £5bn for widening four sections of motorway has mutated into £6.2bn for widening two(2). In Sicily, officials agree to terms like this with the help of dainty gifts like horse’s heads and waistcoats full of fish. In the UK, the government volunteers them without any obvious inducement.
There’s nothing remarkable about this inflation: it appears to be an inherent property of the government’s private finance initiative schemes. The PFI allows consortiums of banks, construction and service companies to build and run our public infrastructure. Though the government maintains that this offers better value than using public money, in reality the numbers behind all PFI projects are rigged(3,4). While the government retains much of the risk, the investors keep the profits, which often run to many times the value of the schemes. The public liability incurred so far by the private finance initiative is £215bn(5). Much of this spending (half? three-quarters? - the deals are so complex and opaque that we will never know for sure) is pure pork fat. One day the repayments will destroy Britain’s public finances. This extravagance makes our MPs look like ascetics.
...
The terms offered by the new M25 scheme are so generous that an orang utan in a suit and tie couldn’t fail to clean up. The new price appears to represent the cost to the government of keeping the banks in the deal. The scheme is meant to be ready in time for the Olympics, but the companies involved have spun out the negotiations for so long - demanding ever more outrageous terms - that the government is now prepared to pay almost any price to get the road widened on time, regardless of future liabilities. The option of tackling the problem by reducing the volume of traffic - an orbital coach network is the most obvious solution - was never considered. When Alistair Darling was transport secretary, he was asked about this alternative in the Commons. He dismissed it out of hand(6).
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