CO2nned / ACTION
Be Carbon Positive!
Because climate change is an issue we shouldn’t be ‘neutral’ on.
Keeping the oil in the ground
In 1999 the Costa Rican government signed an oil development contract with US President George W Bush’s former company Harken Energy. When a ship arrived at the port of Limón that year to set off 20,000 seismic blasts on the sea floor during the height of the annual lobster migration, local people were outraged. Thanks to strong public pressure the Government declared a moratorium on oil, gas and mining activities in the country in 2002 and set in motion efforts to repeal the controversial Hydrocarbons Law – a piece of legislation brought in as part of a World Bank loan restructuring arrangement which carved up the country into 27 land and marine exploration blocks. The moratorium is the first of its kind in the world, and was presented to the UN climate talks in Montreal in 2005, as Costa Rica’s ‘contribution to solving climate change’. Where Costa Rica leads, others can follow. Groups like Oilwatch International and campaigns such as against BP’s Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline (see NI 361, October 2003) are playing a vital role in keeping the oil in the ground.
Some campaign groups fighting against the expansion of the oil industry:
Oilwatch International http://www.oilwatch.org
Oil Change International http://www.priceofoil.org
Baku-Ceyhan Campaign http://www.baku.org.uk
Plan B http://planb.org
Ending climate spam
After years of campaigning on climate change in local, national and international fora, many groups began to see that the burgeoning carbon market was undermining their efforts. As a result the Durban Network for Climate Justice was formed to highlight the problems of the carbon market, support communities affected by offset projects and promote positive alternatives. Durban Network for Climate Justice Weblog: http://climatejustice.blogspot.com Some Durban Network members include:
Carbon Trade Watch/The Transnational Institute http://www.carbontradewatch.org
The Corner House http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk
Sustainable Energy and Economy Network http://www.seen.org
Rising Tide http://www.risingtide.org.uk
World Rainforest Movement http://www.wrm.org.uy
Global Justice Ecology Network http://www.globaljusticeecology.org
Indigenous Environment Network http://www.ienearth.org
Sinkswatch/FERN
http://www.sinkswatch.org
http://www.fern.org
Friends of the Earth International http://www.foei.org
For more comprehensive coverage of climate solutions, see NI 357, June 2003
Challenging the CO2 culture
The fossil-fuel economy is something that the industry constantly needs to protect and promote. Feelgood vibes via the arts and culture are but one means to that end. Prompted in part by BP’s sponsorship of the British National Portrait Gallery and Shell’s funding of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year award, artist-activists have launched their own exhibitions highlighting the destructive role played by the oil industry as well as the alternatives. Artists from all over the world are welcome to submit their work to initiatives like Art Not Oil – ‘First prize is justice, second is survival. Now that’s got to be better than climate chaos.’ Art Not Oil http://www.artnotoil.org.uk
National Petroleum Gallery http://www.nationalpetroleumgallery.org.uk
Museum of the Corporation http://www.museumofthecorporation.org
Remember Ken Saro-Wiwa http://www.remembersarowiwa.com
Recommended reading:
Ben Pearson, Market Failure: Why the Clean Development Mechanism won’t promote clean development, CDM Watch, November 2004. http://www.sinkswatch.org/pubs/Market%20failure.pdf Brian Tokar, ‘Climate Talks in Montreal: Can we save the planet?’, Z Magazine, Volume 19, Number 2, February 2006. http://zmagsite.zmag.org/Feb2006/tokar0206.html
Carbon Trade Watch/TNI, The Sky is Not the Limit: The emerging market in greenhouse gases, TNI, 2003. http://www.carbontradewatch.org/pubs/skyeng.pdf
Carbon Trade Watch/TNI, Hoodwinked in the Hothouse: The G8, climate change and free-market environmentalism, TNI, 2005. http://www.carbontradewatch.org/pubs/hothousecolour.pdf
Daphne Wysham, ‘A Planet for Some Carbon?’, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 12 December 2005. http://www.fpif.org/fpifoped/3015
Durban Group for Climate Justice, Climate Justice Now! The Durban Declaration on Carbon Trading. http://www.carbontradewatch.org/durban/durbandec.html
Durban Group for Climate Justice, To Keep the Oil Flowing: A Conversation on Carbon Credits (DRAFT), Dag Hammarskjold Foundation, 2006. http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/pdf/document/CarbConv.pdf
FASE-ES/Carbon Trade Watch/TNI, Where the Trees are a Desert: Stories from the ground, TNI, 2003. http://www.carbontradewatch.org/pubs/trees.pdf
Friends of the Earth International/World Rainforest Movement/FERN, Tree Trouble: A Compilation of Testimonies on the Negative Impact of Large-scale Monoculture Tree Plantations. http://www.fern.org/pubs/reports/treetr.pdf
Heidi Bachram, ‘Climate Fraud and Carbon Colonialism: The New Trade in Greenhouse Gases’, Capitalism, Nature, Socialism, Volume 15, Number 14, December 2004. http://www.carbontradewatch.org/pubs/cns.pdf
Larry Lohmann,‘Climate Politics After Montreal: Time for a Change’, Foreign Policy in Focus, 10 January 2006. http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/3025
Larry Lohmann, Democracy or Carbocracy? Intellectual corruption and the future of the climate debate, The Corner House, October 2001. http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/item.shtml?x=51982
Larry Lohmann, The Dyson Effect: Carbon ‘Offset’ Forestry and The Privatization of the Atmosphere, The Corner House, July 1999. http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/item.shtml?x=51971
Patrick Bond and Rehana Dada (editors), Trouble in the Air: Global warming and the privatised atmosphere, Centre for Civil Society/TNI, 2005. CCS energyseries 1005
Platform Research/Friends of the Earth/London Rising Tide, Beyond Oil: The oil curse and solutions for an oil-free future, October 2004. http://www.carbonweb.org/beyond%20oil.htm
Graham Erion, ‘Low Hanging Fruit Always Rots First: Observations from South Africa’s Crony Carbon Market’, Carbon Trade Watch/TNI, October 2005. http://www.carbontradewatch.org/pubs/CDMsouthafrica.pdf
Anne Petermann & Orin Langelle, ‘UN Global Warming Convention Meets US Resistance While Activists Criticize Carbon Trading As “Privatization of the Atmosphere"’, Z Magazine, February 2005. http://zmagsite.zmag.org/Feb2005/petermann0205.html
Sinkswatch/FERN, Carbon ‘offset’ - no magic solution to ‘neutralise’ fossil fuel emissions, FERN Briefing Note, FERN, June 2005. http://www.sinkswatch.org/pubs/carbon%20offset.pdf
Sinkswatch/FERN, Forest Fraud: Say ‘no’ to fake carbon credits, FERN, December 2003. http://www.sinkswatch.org/pubs/forestfraud.pdf
Recommended Viewing:
Raised Voices Film and audio testimonies from people in the Majority World on various issues including climate change, carbon trading and oil. http://www.raisedvoices.net Green Gold Documentary about the World Bank’s promotion of a carbon offset project in South Africa. http://clearerchannel.org/media/page.php?id=430&prefix=video
Where the Trees are a Desert, photo essay http://www.tni.org/exhibit/
Recommended Events, Action and Initiatives
The Camp for Climate Action (UK) 26 August - 4 September ‘The camp will be a place for this movement to get together. It will be a place for new people, people who have never been “political” before but who want to move beyond concern into action. It will be a place for experienced activists: old and young, cynical and hopeful. We all need courage, the guts to step beyond the comfort of our concern or the borders of our group. Climate change casts a long shadow over the future. But we believe this time can be an opportunity, a moment when people come together and say “enough”.’ http://www.climatecamp.org.uk The Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative (US) A diverse, consensus-based group of US environmental justice, religious, policy, and advocacy networks working together to promote just and meaningful climate policy. Offers many training and educational opportunities. http://www.ejcc.org
Friends of the Earth Climate Justice Campaign (Australia) A national campaign incorporating a climate justice roadshow and many action possibilities and educational opportunities. http://www.foe.org.au/nc/nc_climate.htm
Energy Action (Canada/US) A Canadian and US student and youth coalition working to build a clean energy movement in North America. Currently running a very successful Campus Climate Challenge among other initiatives. http://www.energyaction.net
‘I felt then that excruciating pain which knowledge confers on those who can discern the gulf that divides what is and what could be.’
Ken Saro-Wiwa (1941-1995), writing in Home, Sweet Home
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Voices from the margins:
Multimedia: video, podcasts, and more.
- Poetry Slam in Zimbabwe
- The House of Hunger poetry slam held in Zimbabwe in 2006, and organised by the Pamberi Trust, showcased young artists performing inspirational work on issues from corporate power to child soldiers. The video features four of the poets.
Published by Pambazuka News.
- Iranian women speak out
- 3 March 2007, London. Women's rights activists marched through the English capital last week to celebrate International Women's Day with a protest against the misogyny of the Islamic regime in Iran and the threat of invasion by the US. Hear the voices of Iranian feminists Azar and Leila Parnian and the sounds of the demonstration as it passed through the heart of the city. Click here to learn more about the campaign.
Produced by Heidi Bachram.
- Raised Voices audio:
- Benny from West Papua on Corporate Power
- Vinayan from India on agriculture
