Posts filed under ‘Energy’
The Gas Industry May be its Own Worst Enemy
Looks like the gas industry’s exuberance and greed — fracking, fracking, fracking everywhere — may be its undoing:
Photo: People Magazine
Natural-gas prices are on the floor. Could they go negative?
The probability that wholesale gas prices will drop below $2 per million British thermal units, from today’s almost $2.50, is rising. Gas hasn’t closed below $2 since September 2009. Today’s market shares one critical similarity to then: bulging gas inventories. This overhang of excess supply could crash prices even further this spring.
House Republicans Protect Gas Industry, Arrest Director of Gasland at DC Hearing
This is horrifying. Welcome to police state USA folks:
In a stunning break with First Amendment policy on Capitol Hill, House Republicans directed Capitol Hill police to detain a highly regarded documentary crew that was attempting to film a Wednesday hearing on a controversial natural gas procurement practice. Republicans also denied the entrance of a credentialed ABC News news team that was attempting to film the event.
Josh Fox, director of the Academy Award-nominated documentary “Gasland” was taken into custody by Capitol Hill police this morning, along with his crew, after Republicans objected to their presence, according to Democratic sources present at the hearing.
[...]
“Gasland” received strong critical acclaim and takes a critical eye toward the practice of hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” a process in which several tons of highly pressurized water and chemicals are injected into the ground, allowing valuable natural gas to escape.
[...]
Fox had hoped to film Wednesday’s hearing for a follow-up to “Gasland.”
Fox did not have formal Capitol Hill credentials, but such formalities are rarely enforced against high-profile journalists. … The right to a free press is protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Documentary crews are almost never denied access to public meetings of elected government officials.
A separate ABC News crew, which did have official Capitol Hill credentials, was also denied access to the publichearing.
Republicans to all journalists and to America: Fuck the First Amendment. I mean seriously. This was a public hearing being held in the United States Capitol, a building owned by We the People, and the hearing was being conducted by people who We the People elected and who work for us! What the hell is going on around here?
If this isn’t a form of terrorism I don’t know what is.
Global Warming — The Video
No wonder Republicans want to do away with government. It produces hippie, socialist videos like this that rely on hocus pocus, commonly referred to by pot smoking liberal tree huggers as “science:”
The global average surface temperature in 2011 was the ninth warmest since 1880.The finding sustains a trend that has seen the 21st century experience nine of the 10 warmest years in the modern meteorological record. NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York released an analysis of how temperatures around the globe in 2011 compared to the average global temperature from the mid-20th century. The comparison shows how Earth continues to experience higher temperatures than several decades ago. The average temperature around the globe in 2011 was 0.92 degrees F (0.51 C) higher than the mid-20th century baseline.
Nebraska Ranchers Cheer Keystone Rejection
You can be sure you won’t hear about this from the corporate media:
Image via BoldNebraska.org
Nebraska ranchers celebrated the Obama administration’s rejection of the proposed Keystone pipeline on Wednesday as a hardfought victory for the state’s environmentally sensitive Sandhills region – even as Republican lawmakers vowed to keep fighting for the project.
[...]
Ben Gotschall, a fourth-generation Sandhills rancher, said pipeline opponents shared the belief that the future safety of land and water and the health and wellness of people and communities were more important than foreign oil profits.
[...]
At the same time, many landowners in central Nebraska, where the pipeline would have run through a portion of a sensitive aquifer, cheered the pipeline’s rejection, which looks almost certain to become a key political issue in the upcoming presidential campaign.
“The president has done the right thing and it is my hope that a foolhardy attempt by the Republicans to go around him can be headed off,” said Randy Thompson, who owns land in central Nebraska on the pipeline’s original route.
The rejection was “a major victory for the environment and for the people of the state of Nebraska,” Nebraska Sierra Club lobbyist Ken Winston said, adding that the pipeline was pushed by “short-term profiteering and bad energy policies.”
“We do not want to go back down that road,” Winston said.
Bold Nebraska director Jane Kleeb said the advocacy group that organized protests in Nebraska and Washington would never stop fighting plans for the “risky export pipeline.”
It is stunning and tragic the extent to which the voice of We the People is absent from our media.
Fox’s Spin on Obama Rejecting the Keystone XL Pipeline
OMG, Fox’s spin on Obama’s rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline is just juvenile and ridiculous and silly. They’ve really outdone themselves with this one:
Here is the accompanying article together with a — bonus! bonus! — August 30 video of Daryl Hannah appearing on the O’Reilly Factor:
O’Reilly: It’s interesting. You’re running up against Hillary Clinton and President Obama. It’s you, Daryl Hanna…
Hanna: No…
O’Reilly: Against Hillary Clinton and President Obama.
So there you have it. Daryl Hanna won. Obama caved to liberal Hollywood* hippie chick Daryl Hanna. On Fox, it’s that simple folks.
Is it any wonder people who watch no news at all are better informed than people who watch Fox?
Huzzah!
* On Fox, all those drug-crazed, hedonistic, nonbeliever Hollywood-types are nutzo liberals who pour money into the Democratic party and hate Republicans. That’s the deeper message here.
Colorado Says No to Xcel Energy!
Wow, this is great news. For once the Colorado Public Utilities Commission shows some balls. I think this is the first time they’ve ever said no to Xcel:
Colorado regulators have denied Xcel Energy.’s request for a $100 million interim electricity-rate hike while regulators review its request for a $141.9 million increase, which would raise the average residential monthly electric bill by about 6 percent.
Xcel in November requested a $141.9 million increase, starting Dec. 23. But since it could be summer before there’s a decision on the request, Xcel asked for the interim hike. The Public Utilities Commission rejected the request Wednesday, saying the company failed to show it would be adversely impacted by maintaining current rates while the commission reviews the $141.9 million request.
Can you imagine? Xcel asked for a rate increase but they didn’t want to wait for the process to play itself out via the Public Utilities Commission, so they asked the Commission to approve an interim hike while it mulled the permanent one.
Geezus. Are these guys coddled or what?
Is Iran Exaggerating its Missile Capability?
A friend sent me a link to this interesting tidbit about Iran possibly exaggerating its ballistic missile capabilities. It seems to me this is something we should bear in mind while listening to the fear mongering about nuclear this and that coming from Washington and Jerusalem. And this is from Fox no less:
At first, Iran claimed it had launched three long range missiles; a pronouncement at the end of ten days of war games in the Strait of Hormuz designed to test the patience of western nations as they weigh how to sanction Iran’s oil exports.
“We are able to announce that our shore-to-sea missile systems are so powerful that we can hit any target, any time, if it’s necessary” announced Habibulah Sayari, Iranian Navy Commander.
Seyyed Mahmoud Moussavi, Iranian Military Drills Spokesman, stated “Both missiles hit the intended targets successfully.”
It turned out the missiles weren’t that long range after all.
The Qhader missile, introduced in September, has a range of just 124 miles. The U.S. Navy’s fifth fleet in Bahrain is 150 miles from Iran. Israel is four times farther.
“We’ve seen that they’ve photoshopped, for example, photographs of missile tests before to make it look more impressive than it actually is, so I would take all this with a grain of salt. I think this is mainly posturing. It’s gamesmanship. And it’s again meant to send a message that the Iranians aren’t simply going to sit back while their oil is sanctioned,” said Michael Singh, Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Read more and see a video here.
(H/t Beth.)
No to Tar Sands!
Given how ingenious and creative we humans can be, do you mean to tell me we have to tear up the planet like this because we can’t wean ourselves off of oil? The answer is apparently yes, because the damn oil and gas lobby owns the place.
Look at this beautiful forest, then and now:
Here’s what happens when you turn a carbon sink like the Boreal Forest into a carbon-spewing pit of tar sands.
(Via.)
Grover Norquist (R) Hopes to Crush the Renewable Energy Movement
Here’s a heads up regarding Grover Norquist’s new project. (Was I asleep when he was elected president of everything?)
Rethink Renewable Energy Mandates
Sorry for the lack of a snipet. I’ve had it up to here with dictators today.
Read his craziness at the link above. He thinks building wind turbines and installing solar energy panels on homes across the country will kill jobs.
Ugh. There are no words…
14,000 Americans Dead Due to Radiation from Japan’s Fukushima Reactor Meltdown?
Wow.
(Image via.)
14,000 U.S. DEATHS TIED TO FUKUSHIMA REACTOR DISASTER FALLOUT
WASHINGTON, D.C. – December 19, 2011 – An estimated 14,000 excess deaths in the United States are linked to the radioactive fallout from the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear reactors in Japan, according to a major new article in the December 2011 edition of the International Journal of Health Services. This is the first peer-reviewed study published in a medical journal documenting the health hazards of Fukushima.
Authors Joseph Mangano and Janette Sherman note that their estimate of 14,000 excess U.S. deaths in the 14 weeks after the Fukushima meltdowns is comparable to the 16,500 excess deaths in the 17 weeks after the Chernobyl meltdown in 1986. The rise in reported deaths after Fukushima was largest among U.S. infants under age one. The 2010-2011 increase for infant deaths in the spring was 1.8 percent, compared to a decrease of 8.37 percent in the preceding 14 weeks.
The IJHS article will be published Tuesday and will be available online as of 11 a.m. EST at http://www.radiation.org.
I’ll follow up tomorrow with the article.
FYI — here are my previous posts about radiation from Fukushima traveling around the world.
Keystone XL Pipeline Lobbyists Buy Congress
This is our Tweet of the Day and yes, it’s gross alright:
Slap Your Face Quotes from the Durban Climate Change Conference
I haven’t put up any posts about the climate change conference that took place over the last two weeks in Durban, South Africa because because, well, because of a general sense of outrage overload and a feeling that nothing would get done there.
I’ve been peeking in on it and now though and now that the conference has ended, I’m reading some summaries that pretty much confirm what I feared. Like this one from CommonDreams. (This is the second half of an article you can read in its entirety at the link above.)
Chris Huhne hailed the conclusion of the talks as “a triumph of European co-operation”.
I’m thinking we need worldwide cooperation, not just European cooperation.
“We have taken a significant step forward. This will give business confidence and stop us locking in a whole generation of high-carbon technology,” he said.
I’m sick beyond belief of thinking about giving “business confidence.” How about we give the planet and We the People confidence once and for all already?
But Martin Khor, director of the intergovernmental South Center in Geneva, said poor countries would be obliged to cut emissions proportionally more than the rich. “It’s like the starving will be made to give up half their small amount of food but the rich just a bit,” he said.
The powerful countries shit on the little ones.
Green groups said the ambition shown by countries to reduce emissions was paltry. “Negotiators have sent a clear message to the world’s hungry: let them eat carbon,” said Celine Charveriat, director of campaigns and advocacy for Oxfam.
When will the rich and powerful countries come to grips with the fact that we’re all in this together?
“Governments must immediately turn their attention to raising the ambition of their emissions cuts targets and filling the Green Climate Fund. Unless countries ratchet up their emissions cuts urgently we could still be in store for a 10-year timeout on the action we need to stay under two degrees [of temperature increase].”
Greenpeace International director Kumi Naidoo said: “The chance of averting catastrophic climate change is slipping through our hands with every passing year that nations fail to agree on a rescue plan for the planet.”
“This will force governments to admit their current pledges to cut emissions are not enough to achieve 2C rise and will have to be strengthened,” said Michael Jacobs, of the Grantham climate research institute of climate change.
Nnimmo Bassey, chair of Friends of the Earth International, said: “Delaying real action till 2020 is a crime of global proportions.
“This means the world is on track to a 4C temperature rise, a death sentence for Africa, small island states and the poor and vulnerable worldwide. The richest 1% of the world have decided that it is acceptable to sacrifice the 99%.“
I have friends and neighbors who have babies. Babies as in cherubic 7-week-olds and enthusiastic 2-year-olds. When I look at them I wonder what kind of world they will live in when they’re 30 or 40 or 60. I think it will be awful.
I’m Very Suspicious Of Today’s Keystone XL Pipeline News
President Obama just issued this statement regarding his impending decision as to whether to allow the Keystone XL Pipeline to go through:
I support the State Department’s announcement today regarding the need to seek additional information about the Keystone XL Pipeline proposal. Because this permit decision could affect the health and safety of the American people as well as the environment, and because a number of concerns have been raised through a public process, we should take the time to ensure that all questions are properly addressed and all the potential impacts are properly understood. The final decision should be guided by an open, transparent process that is informed by the best available science and the voices of the American people. At the same time, my administration will build on the unprecedented progress we’ve made towards strengthening our nation’s energy security, from responsibly expanding domestic oil and gas production to nearly doubling the fuel efficiency of our cars and trucks, to continued progress in the development of a clean energy economy.
Obama implies that this was the State Department’s idea, as if he had nothing to do with it, which I don’t believe.
Additionally, the global warming and environmental community is overjoyed, claiming victory as a result of their very impressive work opposing the pipeline. The thinking is that this effectively delays Obama’s decision until after the 2012 election. If that is true, I say this is purely a sly political move. Obama doesn’t want to alienate environmentalists prior to the election (i.e., they won the battle but not the war) and I predict, sorry to say, if he is re-elected, Obama will approve the pipeline in his second term.
Easthampton Residents Reject Small Solar Farm Because it Would Block Their View…of a Dump
No, this is not from The Onion:
Photo: Matthew Cavanaugh / The Boston Globe
Who knew sealed landfills had more aesthetic value than solar panels? The city of Easthampton deserves credit for erecting 10,000 solar panels on one landfill to provide enough electricity for 600 homes. But residents of the same city raised NIMBY-ism to head-scratching extremes by successfully blocking a proposal to put panels at another dump. Neighbors complained that the their view of the capped mounds would be disturbed. Neighborhood opposition could be a significant problem as the state looks to its 500 closed landfills as settings for solar-energy farms that would help Massachusetts achieve its goal of 20 percent renewable energy by 2020.
Unbelievable.
“Liberal Media” Dismisses Keystone XL Protest at the White House
UPDATED @ 1:07 p.m. ET
You may have heard that approximately 10,000 people gathered in Washington, D.C. yesterday and formed a human chain around the White House in an effort to convince President Obama to block the Keystone XL pipeline project. Then again, you may not have heard about that because despite the fact that this was a major demonstration, the “liberal media” is blowing it off.
This morning beginning at 7:00 a.m. ET I monitored both CNN and MSNBC — those bastions of the “liberal media” — for 30 minutes to see if they covered this event. Shamefully, neither of them did.
This is what CNN covered during those 30 minutes: The Penn State coaching “crisis;” the transfer of power in Greece; the stability of Italy’s economy; the Conrad Murray trial; back to Penn State; earthquakes in Oklahoma; US stock futures; Bank Transfer Day; Barnes & Noble introducing a new e-reader; Robert De Niro playing Bernie Madoff in a new movie and the introduction of casino gambling in NYC. For a minute there I thought I was watching TMZ.
MSNBC spent the first nine minutes, yes, nine minutes, on Herman Cain, then they moved to the “most qualified” GOP presidential candidate (Newt) and then to the Super Committee.
I know it’s been said many times before, but imagine if 10,000 Tea Partiers formed a human chain and surrounded the White House. It would have been covered live for one, and for two, news of the action would have been the headline every hour (and possibly every half-hour) for at least the following 24 hours.
So shame on the media for not giving this event the importance it deserves and hey, the next time someone whines that the media is “liberal,” particularly CNN and MSNBC, respond with a good ol’ knee-slappin’ belly laugh.
UPDATE: Here’s more. Listen to the wingers and they’ll tell you the Washington Post is part of the “liberal media” too. (I hope you catch the sarcasm about the Tea Party.)
Human Chain Encircles the White House
I don’t know if you have or will hear about this, giving the proclivities of the “liberal media,” but the world needs to know that this happened today:
Today, more than 12,000 people from across the United States and Canada gathered at the White House to call on President Obama to stop the TransCanada Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. After a rally in Lafayette Square addressed by elected officials, youth climate activists, environmental leaders, climate scientist James Hansen, religious leaders, Nobel Peace Laureate Jody Williams, Naomi Klein, and local opponents of the pipeline from South Dakota, Texas, and Nebraska, the boisterous crowd formed a human chain that completely encircled the White House.
I read somewhere in the run-up to this event (sorry, I don’t remember where) that the last time the White House was completely surrounded by protesters was in the 1960s. So, this is BIG.
More here via the AP:
And here’s a photo from DailyKos:
Bravo to all those who took the time to participate! I was there in spirit (stuck in Colorado).
Nuclear Emergency?
Here’s a thing you should know about:
Emergency Reported At San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant
An alert has been declared at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in San Diego County.
Orange County Sheriff’s officials say that there was an incident at the plant at approximately 3:10 p.m. Tuesday, prompting an alert.
Southern California Edison tells CBS 2 that the incident is “an ammonia leak that is being contained.” The leak occurred in a steam system used to drive the station’s turbines, SCE said. The leak is not nuclear.
Love how CBS, the supposed “liberal media,” takes Southern California Edison at its word.
Ben Nelson (D-NE) — You’re Worthless
Here is our Tweet of the Day, which proves that Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson (D) is a worthless piece of s**t:
The World is Leaving America Behind
This would be our Tweet of the Day:
It sure frees a country up to do other things when it isn’t spending something like 58¢ out of every dollar on the military, like the U.S. does.
America For Sale — Going, Going, Gone
So, Senate Republicans and Democrats have finally found something they can agree on — coddling the energy industry, polluting our air and giving us cancer:
Five Republican and five Democratic senators, mostly from coal-rich states, introduced a bill that largely mirrors recently passed House legislation to block the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating disposal of coal ash for the first time.
The bill, whose main sponsor is Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., would block the EPA rule and instead let the states regulate the ash like municipal solid waste. Last week the House passed a highly similar bill fronted by Rep. David McKinley, R-W.Va.
The EPA has proposed to classify coal ash under federal hazardous-waste management law, or let states regulate it as a non-hazardous waste. The proposed rule comes in the wake of coal-ash facility spills, including one in Kingston, Tenn., in 2008 in which 1 billion gallons of ash-containing liquid flooded the nearby area.
For more on the horrors of coal ash, watch this, posted by Tennessee Riverkeeper:
What a Great Idea
Hey, let’s put these up on every single roof in the country:
Dow Solar company has started mass marketing solar shingles. Solar shingles are roof shingles with solar cells (electricity generating material) integrated into them, so the shingles are the solar panels. The solar shingles plug into each other and help to hold each other down very securely during strong winds.
Dow’s shingles incorporate thin film solar cells, which are printed onto the shingles which permits some extent of flexibility, and have been in the works for awhile. We first wrote about the solar shingles back in 2009. Thin film solar cells may sound flimsier to some people, but they are actually more durable than traditional silicon wafer cells, because silicon wafer cells are very brittle. Both types of cells, however, are encased in protective solar panels (which is the complete product that you purchase). Thin film cells are more durable primarily because they can withstand more shock than traditional cells.
Solar shingles also have potential aesthetic benefits, because they resemble ordinary shingles, and the aesthetic appearance of traditional solar panels is a problem for some people.
Why Isn’t the U.S. Intervening in the Syrian Conflict?
Why did the United States decide to get involved in the Libyan conflict and why has it not done the same in Syria?
I wonder if (ya think?!) oil might have something to do with it.
Check out this map of oil production ranked by country. Look at little ol’ Syria, down there at #32 (whereas Libya is ranked #17).
See the full list of 208 countries here.
The EPA Rules in Favor of Cabot Oil & Gas, Tells Citizens of Dimock, PA to Die Already
This is outrageous. More power to the Occupy Wall Street movement. We need change around here!
ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania environmental regulators said Wednesday they have given permission to a natural-gas driller to stop delivering replacement water to residents whose drinking water wells were tainted with methane.
Residents expressed outrage and threatened to take the matter to court.
Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. has been delivering water to homes in the northeast village of Dimock since January of 2009. The Houston-based energy company asked the Department of Environmental Protection for approval to stop the water deliveries by the end of November, saying Dimock’s water is safe to drink.
DEP granted Cabot’s request late Tuesday, notifying the company in a letter released Wednesday morning. Scott Perry, the agency’s acting deputy secretary for oil and gas management, wrote that since Cabot has satisfied the terms of a December settlement agreement requiring the company to remove methane from the residents’ water, DEP “therefore grants Cabot’s request to discontinue providing temporary potable water.”
Residents who are suing Cabot in federal court say their water is still tainted with unsafe levels of methane and possibly other contaminants from the drilling process. They say DEP had no right to allow Cabot to stop paying for replacement water.
Bill Ely, 60, said the water coming out of his well looks like milk.
I read something earlier today that someone wrote — apologies for not remembering who or where I saw it — about how the American people (and the people of the world, for that matter) are just flat out emotionally exhausted due to the corporate takeover of the planet. This a prime example. Crap like this is happening everywhere.
Enough. Just fucking ENOUGH!
The Most Important Thing in the World
If you read nothing else today (or this week or this month), read this from Naomi Klein regarding OccupyWallStreet.
I’m serious. Take eight minutes and read it because, what’s happening with OccupyWallStreet is “the most important thing in the world,” as Klein says, and I agree. This is make it or break it time for all of us — we humans, the animals, the planet.
I’m copying Klein’s thoughts in their entirety from The Nation’s website. I hope they don’t mind. Chances are they agree that this has got to get out:
I love you.
And I didn’t just say that so that hundreds of you would shout “I love you” back, though that is obviously a bonus feature of the human microphone. Say unto others what you would have them say unto you, only way louder.
Yesterday, one of the speakers at the labor rally said: “We found each other.” That sentiment captures the beauty of what is being created here. A wide-open space (as well as an idea so big it can’t be contained by any space) for all the people who want a better world to find each other. We are so grateful.
If there is one thing I know, it is that the 1 percent loves a crisis. When people are panicked and desperate and no one seems to know what to do, that is the ideal time to push through their wish list of pro-corporate policies: privatizing education and social security, slashing public services, getting rid of the last constraints on corporate power. Amidst the economic crisis, this is happening the world over.
And there is only one thing that can block this tactic, and fortunately, it’s a very big thing: the 99 percent. And that 99 percent is taking to the streets from Madison to Madrid to say “No. We will not pay for your crisis.”
That slogan began in Italy in 2008. It ricocheted to Greece and France and Ireland and finally it has made its way to the square mile where the crisis began.
“Why are they protesting?” ask the baffled pundits on TV. Meanwhile, the rest of the world asks: “What took you so long?” “We’ve been wondering when you were going to show up.” And most of all: “Welcome.”
Many people have drawn parallels between Occupy Wall Street and the so-called anti-globalization protests that came to world attention in Seattle in 1999. That was the last time a global, youth-led, decentralized movement took direct aim at corporate power. And I am proud to have been part of what we called “the movement of movements.”
But there are important differences too. For instance, we chose summits as our targets: the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund, the G8. Summits are transient by their nature, they only last a week. That made us transient too. We’d appear, grab world headlines, then disappear. And in the frenzy of hyper patriotism and militarism that followed the 9/11 attacks, it was easy to sweep us away completely, at least in North America.
Occupy Wall Street, on the other hand, has chosen a fixed target. And you have put no end date on your presence here. This is wise. Only when you stay put can you grow roots. This is crucial. It is a fact of the information age that too many movements spring up like beautiful flowers but quickly die off. It’s because they don’t have roots. And they don’t have long term plans for how they are going to sustain themselves. So when storms come, they get washed away.
Being horizontal and deeply democratic is wonderful. But these principles are compatible with the hard work of building structures and institutions that are sturdy enough to weather the storms ahead. I have great faith that this will happen.
Something else this movement is doing right: You have committed yourselves to non-violence. You have refused to give the media the images of broken windows and street fights it craves so desperately. And that tremendous discipline has meant that, again and again, the story has been the disgraceful and unprovoked police brutality. Which we saw more of just last night. Meanwhile, support for this movement grows and grows. More wisdom.
But the biggest difference a decade makes is that in 1999, we were taking on capitalism at the peak of a frenzied economic boom. Unemployment was low, stock portfolios were bulging. The media was drunk on easy money. Back then it was all about start-ups, not shut downs.
We pointed out that the deregulation behind the frenzy came at a price. It was damaging to labor standards. It was damaging to environmental standards. Corporations were becoming more powerful than governments and that was damaging to our democracies. But to be honest with you, while the good times rolled, taking on an economic system based on greed was a tough sell, at least in rich countries.
Ten years later, it seems as if there aren’t any more rich countries. Just a whole lot of rich people. People who got rich looting the public wealth and exhausting natural resources around the world.
The point is, today everyone can see that the system is deeply unjust and careening out of control. Unfettered greed has trashed the global economy. And it is trashing the natural world as well. We are overfishing our oceans, polluting our water with fracking and deepwater drilling, turning to the dirtiest forms of energy on the planet, like the Alberta tar sands. And the atmosphere cannot absorb the amount of carbon we are putting into it, creating dangerous warming. The new normal is serial disasters: economic and ecological.
These are the facts on the ground. They are so blatant, so obvious, that it is a lot easier to connect with the public than it was in 1999, and to build the movement quickly.
We all know, or at least sense, that the world is upside down: we act as if there is no end to what is actually finite — fossil fuels and the atmospheric space to absorb their emissions. And we act as if there are strict and immovable limits to what is actually bountiful — the financial resources to build the kind of society we need.
The task of our time is to turn this around: to challenge this false scarcity. To insist that we can afford to build a decent, inclusive society – while at the same time, respect the real limits to what the earth can take.
What climate change means is that we have to do this on a deadline. This time our movement cannot get distracted, divided, burned out or swept away by events. This time we have to succeed. And I’m not talking about regulating the banks and increasing taxes on the rich, though that’s important.
I am talking about changing the underlying values that govern our society. That is hard to fit into a single media-friendly demand, and it’s also hard to figure out how to do it. But it is no less urgent for being difficult.
That is what I see happening in this square. In the way you are feeding each other, keeping each other warm, sharing information freely and proving health care, meditation classes and empowerment training. My favorite sign here says “I care about you.” In a culture that trains people to avoid each other’s gaze, to say, “Let them die,” that is a deeply radical statement.
A few final thoughts. In this great struggle, here are some things that don’t matter.
- What we wear.
- Whether we shake our fists or make peace signs.
- Whether we can fit our dreams for a better world into a media soundbite.
And here are a few things that do matter.
- Our courage.
- Our moral compass.
- How we treat each other.
We have picked a fight with the most powerful economic and political forces on the planet. That’s frightening. And as this movement grows from strength to strength, it will get more frightening. Always be aware that there will be a temptation to shift to smaller targets – like, say, the person sitting next to you at this meeting. After all, that is a battle that’s easier to win.
Don’t give in to the temptation. I’m not saying don’t call each other on shit. But this time, let’s treat each other as if we plan to work side by side in struggle for many, many years to come. Because the task before will demand nothing less.
Let’s treat this beautiful movement as if it is most important thing in the world. Because it is. It really is.
Cash Warfare
Rachel Maddow said it all just now as to what the 2012 election is going to be about. Forget the 99ers. Forget jobs. Forget education. Forget healthcare. Forget infrastructure.
Thanks to Bush’s Supreme Court and Citizens United, 2012 is all about:
CASHWARFARE.
I’ll put video up as soon as it’s available but ain’t that the truth?
I don’t know about you but I can’t afford to buy my representative. But Bank of America can!
Does the Oil and Gas Industry Own the Government or What?
Look at this disgusting graph. Geez Louise. All those lobbying dollars spent by the oil and gas industry sure have paid off:
Go here for a larger version.
Why Are Our Tax Dollars Being Used to Clean Up Their Spill?
Since when is the United States Coast Guard — funded, of course, by our tax dollars — charged with cleaning up an oil spill that came from a corporate-owned oil well? Hello?
The U.S. Coast Guard says an oil leak from an abandoned wellhead in Bayou Dupont in Jefferson Parish is under control.
On Thursday, officials said about 1,470 gallons of oil had been recovered. The Coast Guard says boom has been placed in the water to contain the leak and about 40 workers are cleaning up the spill.
The Coast Guard says one leak in the wellhead has been plugged and two other spots where oil was oozing out have stopped leaking.
The leak was reported to the Coast Guard on Sunday. Officials say Houston-based Cedyco Corp. owns the abandoned wellhead.
