World Bank Action - London
'Free us from fossil fuels’ demands climate chain gang " People & Planet
Today is the International Day of action against the World Bank's ongoing and increasing funding of fossil fuels, and photos are streaming in from rallies in London, Paris, Berlin, Rome, Johannesburg and other cities across the globe.
And as the United States waits -- jittery prisoners, all, of learned helplessness and collective ennui -- for the vast right wing climate denial machine to shoot down funding for the EPA, with threats of a government shutdown hovering over our amygdala-heavy heads, the Sierra Club provides We, America's armchair eco ranters, with an online hyperlinked primer of tools for virtual engagement. Replete with samples you can just cut and paste and a petition right on the same page if 1 click away is just too demanding of you.
For the more motivated and web 2.0 savvy, everything you are being asked to do is just a cellphone or computer screen away!
Here's a link to the page listing the locations of today's rallies -- n'ary a one in the USofA!
Shame on us!
Where the hell was American on Saturday, February 26? That's what I'd like to know.
A protestor at Saturday's San Francisco rally in support of public unions and their right to retain collective bargaining
After attending San Francisco's pitiful (2000 showed up) rally in support of Wisconsin's ongoing and relentless campaign against the once surreptitious, now in your face Koch-machine funded takeover of what remains of democracy in America, I say let's move Washington, D.C. to Madison, WI. Maybe, just maybe, some of that passion and motivation is catching!
(And it wasn't just SF that disappointed. With Van Jones Friday predicting a million would show up in state capitals and cities on Saturday, reports put the total attendance at circa 70,000, with some 50,000 representing the Madison rally).
'Free Us from Fossil Fuels.'
But back to the business at hand. Business which perhaps we have the energy and social media acumen to engage in.
Some background on the World Bank, Fossil Fuels, Energy & The Poor
Since 2006 -- and despite its much publicized pro-climate, pro poor public posturing -- the World Bank has increased its 'fossil fool funding 'by 400% In fact, in an independent analysis by Oil Change International determined that NONE of the WB funded projects link the poor with access to energy.
According to International Energy Agency (IE) predictions, reliance on obsolete and centralized coal power not only fails to provide energy access to the world's most vulnerable, it also will by 2030 result in a mere .2 billion decrease in the number of people who have ongoing access to power.
Act Now
It's not too late today to add your voice to the international day of action against the WB fossil fools by participating in campaigns on Twitter, Facebook, and the World Bank's blog.
World Bank Action - Rome
1. Twitter: @WorldBank to 'Free Us From #fossilfuels' #WBDayOfAction
Some sample tweets:
@Sierra_Club: Listening is good. Now please stop funding #fossilfuel RT @WorldBank: We're listening. Draft energy strategy ready in April. #WBDayOfAction
One more person calling on @WorldBank to 'Free Us From #fossilfuels' #WBDayOfAction
2. Facebook!
Possible comments: Facebook: Today people are calling on the World Bank to free us from fossil fuels. Are you listening?
World Bank Action - Berlin
World Bank Action - Madrid
3. Make your voice heard on the World Bank's blog!
4. Sign the Sierra Club petition
US Climate Movement Derailed -- Again
As the Guardian Reported yesterday , to avoid a complete government shutdown, Obama may be forced to delay US climate action, the current admin just may have no choice but to order a two-year delay in the EPA's proposed action to addresss GHGs and climate change by ordering a 30% cut in its budget.
Pressured by the Repugs to roll over and eat crow as they stuff their $61 billion budget down our throats, the President may have little choice but to, once again, ignore the most pressing problem of his presidency and abandon his 'green agenda' by stripping funds for clean energy research and high-speed rail.
Obama may be forced to sacrifice the EPA's efforts to take the first steps this year towards regulating greenhouse gas emissions if it means he can continue funding the federal government for the next seven months.
"If I was predicting, I would say that he might sign a delay provision, to delay the EPA effort for two years or something like that. It probably depends on the particular circumstances," Eileen Claussen, president of the Pew Centre on Global Climate Change, told a conference at the Georgetown Climate Centre.
Writing from South Africa, Climate Justice Activist and author Patrick Bond comments on what a successful US climate justice movement would look like:
a) first prize would be a sign-on to a meaningful global treaty plus a new national climate/energy law without any of the typical objectionable features, but this has been impossible for years, given the adverse balance of forces;
b) second prize is getting the EPA to use existing Clean Air Act and other regulatory authority to halt emissions and fossil fuel exploitation, and some slow progress was being made in this area, including the threat of banning West Virginia mountain top removal of coal - but the House Republicans now want to prevent such measures and Obama may, if this article's sources are correct, agree; so
c) the only ways forward are fighting to defend EPA activity by making it politically costly for Obama to ditch its oversight, and increasing direct action to halt the fossil fuel financing, extraction, refining, distribution, consumption and disposal systems.