Energy

Women Stand Their Ground Against Big Coal

February 9, 2015 Samantha Hargreaves and Hibist Kassa, www.sacsis.org.za Resist! Climate Change, Coal, Energy, Environment

Mama Life is right. Coal kills people and devastates local environments. Coal divides communities when corporations form local alliances that are detrimental to the majority. Coal exploits labour, both paid mining jobs and unpaid women’s work reproducing labour and community. Coal is notoriously fickle in price, with nearly a 40% price drop since 2011. And Coal contributes most significantly to climate change, and the destruction of our planet. More than 50 grassroots women activists gathered from around the region in late-January 2015 to stand their ground against Big Coal. Their six-day exchange and strategy meeting involved dozens of organisations in South Africa, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana.

Thousands In Oakland Protest Fracking

February 8, 2015 Victoria Colliver, www.sfgate.com Resist! Climate Change, Energy, Fracking

Thousands of anti-fracking activists took to Oakland’s streets Saturday to call for Gov. Jerry Brown to change his stance and ban the controversial practice, which uses large amounts of a pressurized water mixture to crack subterranean rocks and release oil or natural gas. Chanting, playing music and waving signs reading “Don’t Frack Your Mother” and “There’s No Planet B,” demonstrators wove their way along an almost two-mile route, starting at Oakland’s City Hall and then moving through downtown Oakland to Lake Merritt. “We’re here, marching in Jerry Brown’s hometown, to let him know climate leaders don’t frack,” said Linda Capato Jr., fracking campaign coordinator for 350.org, an international organization that fights climate change and one of the partner groups in the protest, called the March for Real Climate Leadership.

Oil Price Collapse Not Just Another Bust Cycle

February 8, 2015 Michael Klare, www.thenation.com Educate! Climate Change, Energy, Oil and Gas

Oil is the most valuable commodity in world trade, so any significant change in its price—whether upward or downward—has far-reaching economic consequences. Because oil also plays a pivotal role in world politics, such shifts can have equally momentous implications for international relations. It is hardly surprising, then, that the recent plunge in prices has generated headlines around the world. Many giant energy firms have announced massive cutbacks in employment and investment, and major producing countries like Russia and Venezuela have been forced to scale back government expenditures. While some analysts speculate that prices have now reached bottom and will soon begin climbing again, there are good reasons to believe that this descent is not just another cyclical event but rather the product of something far more profound and durable.

Seattle Activist Organizing To Block Shell’s Arctic Drilling

February 7, 2015 Martha Baskin, www.truth-out.org Resist! Energy, Environment, Oil & Gas, Seattle

Can a coalition of national and state environmental organizations that has vowed to stop Seattle from becoming the home port for Shell's Arctic oil drilling rigs send a message to the oil industry? "Hell yes," said Peter Goldman, a member of the coalition and attorney with the Washington Forest Law Center. "They know what's going on here. If we make it more expensive for them to operate by denying them the city of Seattle, we are essentially pushing the tipping point over to the point of no return to where they're going to go away and not come back." While the timing appears coincidental, a day after the coalition held a press conference on Seattle's waterfront, Shell's CFO announced it will pursue a drilling program in Alaska's Chukshi Sea this year.

Protest Puts Pipeline On Canada’s Political Agenda

February 6, 2015 David Gray-Donald, www.rabble.ca Resist! Canada, Energy, France, Oil & Gas

TransCanada's Energy East pipeline has been catapulted to centre stage in Quebec. It wasn't on the public radar a year ago. But now, after a summer of energetic citizen mobilization against it, a phone survey in October indicated only 33 per cent of the population was in favour of the pipeline being built. Since then opposition has continued to mount. TransCanada's west to east project has been hitting the tender nerve of Quebec sovereignty, the complex concept of who has the authority to make decisions about what happens there. The Albertan company is planning to build 700km of the largest tar sands pipeline on the continent through the 'nation' of Quebec to get to the Atlantic for export.

Indigenous Fight KXL With Spirit Camp

February 6, 2015 Katie Scarlett Brandt, www.huffingtonpost.com Resist! Energy, Environment, indigenous, Keystone, Land

If you head south on route 183 in central South Dakota, you'll see sprawling farmland all around you. Bald eagles, some as tall as children, will stand guard at the side of the road and swoop low over your car. And if you look to the left at the right moment, you'll see a circle of five giant, white teepees standing in the center of one of the fields. You may wonder what they're doing there, and if you're inclined to take a detour off the highway, the people living in the teepees will welcome you with food and stories of why they're there. Since March, Keith Fielder has been one of the people living in those teepees. The teepees make up a Spirit Camp, built in opposition to TransCanada Corporation's proposed Keystone XL pipeline.

Wales Joins Scotland In Banning Fracking

February 6, 2015 David Deans, www.walesonline.co.uk Resist! Energy, Environment, Fracking

Fracking should not be carried out in Wales until its safety is proven, the Welsh Government is expected announce in a move that will delight campaigners. A Plaid Cymru debate on Wednesday afternoon will call for ministers to do all they can to block the method of unconventional shale gas extraction, and the Welsh Government has confirmed it will support the opposition party’s motion. Proposals for the use of fracking in Wales have been met with high levels of opposition, as they have across the UK, amid fears of significant environmental impacts. Wednesday’s debate comes after Scotland also announced a moratorium on fracking – meaning that two UK constituent nations have now signalled their opposition to unconventional gas and oil extraction.

Anti-Fracking & No-Nukes Activists Join Forces For Renewable Energy

February 6, 2015 Harvey Wasserman, www.commondreams.org Organize! Energy, Environment, Fossil Fuel, Nuclear Energy, Renewable Energy

In the wake of Fukushima, the global campaign to bury atomic power has gained enormous strength. All Japan’s 54 reactors remain shut. Germany is amping up its renewable energy generation with a goal of 80 percent or more by 2050. Four U.S. reactors under construction are far over budget and behind schedule. Five old ones have closed in the last two years. In New England and elsewhere, as the old nukes go down, safe energy activists shift their attention to the deadly realities of fossil fuel extraction. The issues are familiar. Fracking in particular poisons our water and spews out huge quantities of lethal radiation. Ironically, in Ohio and elsewhere, the seismic instability it creates threatens atomic reactors still in operation.

Pressure Mounts To Halt Storage Permit Near Seneca Lake

February 5, 2015 Julie Sherwood, www.irondequoitpost.com Resist! Energy, Environment, Oil & Gas

As the state moves into what could be the final stage in permitting liquid propane gas storage in former salt mines along Seneca Lake, those against the plan are stepping up efforts to stop it. Next week the state Department of Environmental Conservation holds an “issues conference,” which determines if the DEC will pursue further investigation of citizens’ concerns on the proposal's environment effects. “This is the endgame,” said Doug Couchon, a key organizer of the “We Are Seneca Lake” group opposed to the plan. Couchon, who lives in Elmira, was a speaker at a rally Saturday in Geneva dubbed We Are Seneca Lake, Too.

Solar Village: Produces 4x More Energy Than Used

February 4, 2015 Minds, www.minds.com Create! Energy, Environment, Renewable, Solar Energy

After architect, Rolf Disch, built the Heliotrope (the first building in the world to capture more energy than it uses) he set his sights higher. He successfully created a retail, commercial and residential space called Sonnenschiff, translating to "Solar Ship," that was energy net-positive in 2004. The building was a hit, and over the following years 60 more residential buildings have been constructed surrounding the solar ship, all with energy positive electrical systems. Today the village, dubbed Solarsiedlung (Solar Village), is producing 4x more energy than it consumes. Solarsiedlung is located in Freidburg, Germany, which is known as the ecological capital of the country. It is the home of Europe’s largest solar research center.

Spectra: Now They Respect Us

February 3, 2015 Anthony Surge, www.wagingnonviolence.org Resist! Energy, Environment, Oil & Gas

The action in Waltham was part of the Week of Respect and Resistance, a series of demonstrations, sit-ins, and lock-downs aimed at Spectra Energy, their investors, and the politicians who support them in their plan to expand a fracked gas pipeline — the so-called Algonquin, a name which many activists describe as insulting to the indigenous speakers of the Algonquian language — through New England. With FERC poised to present its final Environmental Impact Statement any day, and with New England politicians and Big Greens voicing their unwavering support for their favorite “bridge fuel,” climate justice organizers and pipeline fighters in New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island knew they had to escalate their already long-running campaign against Spectra.

Group Plans To Monitor Proposed Pipeline Construction

February 2, 2015 Khiree Stewart, www.whsv.com Resist! Energy, Environment, Oil & Gas

After months of rallies and protests against Dominion's proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline, some people in Augusta County plan to watch what goes on underground from above ground. Time continues to tick as plans for Dominion's proposed pipeline move forward. Whether the pipeline will be built is still up in the air, however the project is still concerning. "Sick in the pit of your stomach to think this incredibly beautiful landscape in this part of the world that we are fortunate enough to live in and has been on a certain economical and societal track for 250 years. Gosh! To have that radically altered now to become an extracted economy," said Michael Godfrey, who has lived in the Valley for over 15 years. He is concerned that the land he grew up on could become dangerous.

Newsletter: What Would Zinn Do?

January 31, 2015 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, www.PopularResistance.org Newsletter CODE PINK, Energy, European Union (EU), Fight for 15, Fracking, Greece, Howard Zinn, indigenous, Russia, Spain, Ukraine, Wars and Militarism, Zero waste

This week marks the fifth anniversary of the death of Howard Zinn who is best known for his “People’s History of the United States” which looks at history from the bottom up, through the lenses of classism, racism and sexism. We remember Zinn for the advice he gave activists a year before his death. When he was asked what should people be doing, he gave advice that is good no matter what the era: Go where you are not supposed to go; Say what you are not supposed to say; and Stay when they tell you to leave. We are pleased to see people around the world instinctively following the advice that Howard Zinn gave to US activists. The world over we are facing governments corrupted by money and not representing the people. Zinn’s recipe for change – Go, Say and Stay – one we should be consciously following.

KXL Vote Brings Out Fissures On Future Energy Policy

January 31, 2015 John H. Cushman Jr., www.insideclimatenews.org Strategize! Energy, Environmental Justice, Keystone XL, Senate

The moment the gavel hammered through Thursday's vote in Congress to approve the Keystone XL pipeline, some in the Senate were predicting that a bipartisan consensus on energy policy was just around the corner. The Republican and Democratic senators who stage-managed the pipeline bill—Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Maria Cantwell of Washington—both surmised after the 62-36 vote that before long they might be working in tandem. "Maybe it bodes well for a bigger, bipartisan energy bill," said Cantwell, the ranking minority member on the Energy Committee chaired by Murkowski. Cantwell opposes Keystone and is a climate hawk, but saw glimmers of hope in the way a pair of energy-conservation amendments were waved through on voice votes.

«1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 »

Daily movement news and resources