Osama bin Laden is quite probably the most hated and vilified figure in the American consciousness.  And rightly so.

The man has said that he wants to destroy the America’s global economic dominance.  As Casper wrote, today he took aim at the United States’ failure to curb carbon emissions.

To stop global warming, he called for the “wheels of the American economy” to be brought to a halt. “This is possible … if the peoples of the world stop consuming American goods.”

First off, even if the American economy came to a halt, emissions would still rise, global consumption would rise and the US would be deprived of its capacity to transition to clean energy.  If he really wanted to help the “tens of millions [driven] into poverty and unemployment” he would not seek to tear down the markets required to produce clean energy.  Access to reliable energy is directly associated with raising living standards.  Unless bin Laden wants the world’s population to continue using  fossil fuels, he must recognize the need for clean energy development, which requires investment and robust markets.

His strategy is not to stop global warming, but rather to draw broader global support for his anti-American efforts.  What better way to wreak havoc and chaos in the nation of his enemies than to associate himself with one of the fastest growing sectors of the US economy: clean energy.

After all, bin Laden is the new Hitler.  Folks throw his name around when they want to paint something or someone as un-patriotic, irrational or evil.  By highlighting the climate challenge, bin Laden opens the floodgates for climate deniers to claim that taking action on climate issues is now un-American, anti-American and that seeks to destroy the economy.

These claims of course are untrue, offensive and unacceptable.

But they sure as hell create yet another barrier to developing a clean energy economy (added to fossil fuel interests entrenched in Congress, a tough investment environment and the infuriatingly slow pace of climate negotiation).

So while yes, the US has shirked its responsibility to tackle climate change, I cannot see how bin Laden’s call to action actually advances this goal.  Instead, Osama bin Laden just handed the enemies of clean energy a grenade launcher, which they eagerly received.

Filed under: global warming, innovation, Politics

The U.S. youth climate movement has rightfully been dissecting Obama’s State of the Union speech and its aftermath – the good, the bad, the really? – and taking action of our own.

But this week, Obama did more than just talk, he acted, putting a big down payment on a high speed rail network that will cut pollution, save energy, and provide good jobs in the clean energy economy.

On Thursday, President Obama and U.S. Transportation Secretary (and former Illinois Republican congressman) Ray LaHood announced $8 billion in economic recovery money dedicated to building high speed rail and otherwise improving rail transportation across much of the country.

That’s good for cutting climate change and improving air quality, since rail transportation is more energy efficient and overall less polluting than cars or planes. That’s assuming people actually use it, though, and long travel times compared to flying have hurt Amtrak’s public acceptance, even as it’s fastest routes grew their ridership (page 6).

It’s good for creating American manufacturing and other blue collar jobs, too. The administration estimates it will add and protect tens of thousands by the time the money is fully spent.

It’s also a big change from the last administration. In 2007, when the independent, congressionally mandated National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission released its final report on funding and improving our road and rails, recommending $7-$9 billion per year in passenger rail investments (sound like a familiar number?), then-Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters was one of only three commissioners to object (page 65) to passenger rail funding, and President Bush showed little interest in the issue.

Filed under: Americas, Cascade Region, Efficiency, Government, green jobs, innovation, News and Media, North East, Oil, Region, Transportation, United States, Victories

Minnesota is moving to encourage renewable energy by slapping a tariff on coal energy produced in North Dakota, and challenging the global economic order in the process.

And so opens another front in a much larger battle for the legal and policy space to enact common sense public interest regulations and curb the corporate profit crusade. It’s a fight that’s vital to the creation of a economic model that averts climate catastrophe and provides dignified living for workers.

Penalizing unsustainable or unethical products, or supporting sustainable and
ethical ones, is seen by public interest groups across the globe as a key tool for improving labor conditions and environmental standards. But free-market fundamentalists have long insisted that ’similar’ products, in this case electricity, must be treated ’similarly’.

Disgracefully, substantial differences in the ways a product is made are purposefully erased for policy-makers so corporations can hunt for cheaper inputs and thus higher profits. A toy made by a toxic-pollution dumping factory vs. a clean factory? Same. Clothes made with slave labor vs. union labor? Same. Energy generated in a way that fuels climate change vs. renewable energy? Its all the same under corporate free-market logic.

Correction: the original post said South Dakota, when it should have been North Dakota – changed above.

But the corporate types have been winning. They’ve gotten their faulty logic inscribed in our global trade pacts like NAFTA and the WTO, which provide harsh penalties for transgressions. In so doing they’ve been able to use the bogeyman of trade sanctions to stifle innovative, quality of life-improving policy tools.

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But this hasn’t stopped Minnesota from pushing forward. Joshua Frank at Truthout tells more about Minnesota’s scoffing at the corporate scheme with their plan to tax high-carbon energy crossing state lines from North Dakota:

Like the climate legislation passed in the House last year, which also would impose penalties on imports with insufficient carbon regulation, this time from other countries, the proposed Minnesota policy rubs up against the same profit-hungry logic by ‘discriminating’ against high-carbon energy.

But, even experts from vastly differing philosophical bents agree that in order to address the climate crisis, this logic is no good. Not only should the government intervene in the market to penalize high-carbon goods to stave off climate catastrophe, but it will have to do so in order to change failed trade rules to do so.

The corporate market fundamentalists won’t go down without a fight, and neither should we. That’s why groups like Public Citizen, Friends of the Earth, the Sierra Club, the United Steelworkers union, the Teamsters, and a broad array of other unions and family farm groups are pushing to take back the space to protect workers and our environment with the TRADE Act. It’s a comprehensive blueprint for fixing our failed trade policies and restoring space for democratic policy space needed to trump corporate power. put people back to work, and save the planet.

Whether or not the Minnesota policy is implemented and upheld, the fight is on to take back the policy space necessary to win concrete improvements in production methods and labor conditions. The more we fight to shift the paradigm in favor of a sustainable global economy, the better.

(CrossPosted from EyesOnTrade)

Filed under: Act Locally, Climate Policy, Economics, global warming, Renewable Energy

Friday, DC Students for a Democratic Society and DC Rising Tide led a direct action parade against the Fossil Hawks. The War on Terror and the Corporate War on the Earth are one in the same. The same corporations that lead the world in CO2 pollution are the main lobbying force behind the Resource Terror Wars on Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Palestine. The Fossil Hawks are growing ever wealthier off the war while military recruiters feast on 50% youth unemployment like vultures.

“Young people are turning up the pressure because we are not convinced by Obama’s promises to draw back from war and support a clean energy-driven economic recovery,” says Brian Menifee, Howard University student activist.

video from dc.indymedia.org

Stay tuned for more footage from the parade, including our Green Jobs Not War action at the Armed Forces Recruiting Center.

From the press release…

WASHINGTON DC – Young anti-war and environmental organizers are mobilizing in response to the failure of the UN Copenhagen climate talks, escalation of the War on Terror in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the crisis of 50% youth unemployment. “Young people are turning up the pressure because we are not convinced by Obama’s promises to draw back from war and support a clean energy-driven economic recovery,” says Brian Menifee, Howard University student activist.

Funk the Warming participants will parade and dance with a mobile sound system behind a banner reading, “Student Power for Climate Justice, Down with the Fossil Hawks.” Organizers have choreographed a diverse sequence of rowdy non-violent actions targeting corporate and military sites on K Street. “We’re dropping beats, not bombs to show that youth have the power and creativity to build a peaceful green economic recovery,” explains GWU student activist, Drew Sherlock.

Chevron and Halliburton will be targeted for their involvement in the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars and their contribution to global warming. Halliburton provides military logistics, oilfield services, and builds power plants. Chevron owns Unocal, the company that planned the trans-Afghanistan pipeline in the 1990s. Sam Daly from DC Rising Tide: “Piping Central Asian gas and oil through Afghanistan and controlling Iraqi oilfields are the true motivations behind the US occupations. Resource wars abuse the earth and exploit the young people who inevitably fight them.”

Military recruitment is flourishing thanks to mass youth unemployment and the $20 billion recruiting budget. Meanwhile, the Green Jobs training program is pinching its meager $500 million stimulus funding. Brian Menifee: “College tuition hikes are out of control and too many of our peers can’t afford school or find a job other than war. We want green jobs and education not these resource wars that are killing our future.”

Students from American University, George Mason University, UMD College Park, Howard U, GWU, Arne Arundel Community College, and local high schools will make-up the groundswell of the parade. DC Students for a Democratic Society, an education justice network, and DC Rising Tide, a direct action climate justice collective, are coordinating the event

Filed under: Campuses, Climate Generation, Copenhagen 2009, Direct Action, global warming, green jobs, mountain top removal, Oil, Youth Leaders

Amber Nitchman and Eric Blevins descended from their trees on Coal River Mountain Friday at noon in the face of an oncoming winter storm. The action brought attention from Governor Manchin, the Washington Post, and stopped the destruction for nine days. But our work is far from over.

Nitchman, Blevins, David Aaron Smith, David Baghdadi, Benard Fiorillo, Josh Graupera and Isabelle Rozendaal stopped a blast site on Coal River Mountain for nine days, and their total bail amounts to $9,625.00. Nitchman and Blevins are still in jail, held for a combined cash-only total of $5,000. Bail is paid to the state of West Virginia to release people who have been arrested. The state then returns it in full when the person goes to trial. A donation to the legal fund stays in the campaign and enables us to expand the campaign of civil resistance.

Please donate to the Mountain Justice legal defense fund: Paypal, or another method.

The most egregious charge out of all seven people was the concealed weapon charge levied against Baghdadi for a tree limb saw. He was trying to get the saw to Nitchman so she could saw off a sapling that was being repeatedly slammed into her platform. The three sitters were charged with trespass, conspiracy and obstruction, while the remaining four were charged with trespass and conspiracy.

Thank you everyone who has supported us for almost a year. We’ll bring you all updates from Eric and Amber when they are out of jail, warm and well rested.

You can also support us in a more indirect fashion through the purchase of the critically acclaimed Still Moving Mountains CD, or the long-awaited photography exposé, Dragline.

Filed under: global warming