Rep. Joe Barton is a long-time Texas Congressman with a love for fossil fuels and a penchant for the dramatic. So it shouldn't be a great surpise that yesterday, during a House hearing on the Keystone XL pipeline, Rep. Barton went biblical when talking about his support for the project.

Said. Rep Barton: “I would point out that if you’re a believer in in the Bible, one would have to say the Great Flood is an example of climate change and that certainly wasn’t because mankind had overdeveloped hydrocarbon energy.”

That's an interesting point of view. It's not one, however that's held by the scientific community, who actually studies this stuff. As you know somewhere around 97% of atmospheric scientists believe in anthropegenic climate change. They may believe in the Great Flood too, but I doubt they would cite that as evidence that man is not affecting the climate. Leave that to Rep. Barton.

Photo credit: David Hoffman

For immediate release

April 11, 2013

LONDON -- Approximately 60 activists, including some from Texas and the Gulf Coast, gathered outside the G8 foreign ministers’ meeting at Lancaster House in London today to tell US Secretary of State John Kerry to reject the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, address the global climate crisis, and keep tar sands out of Europe.

Over the past month, activists have confronted Kerry and President Obama at nearly all of their public appearances, including an event last week that drew over 1,000 people in San Francisco to a rally outside of an Obama fundraiser. This is the first time a US politician has been met with an anti-Keystone protest on foreign soil. The activists were joined by representatives of Texas and Gulf Coast communities opposed to the pipeline.

Bryan Parras, a resident of Houston, Texas and environmental justice advocate with TEJAS (Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services), who joined the UK campaigners at the protest said:

"The KXL Pipeline is set to deliver a toxic slurry of dirty oil to communities across the US. If exported to the UK, it could soon start poisoning these shores too. As we have seen from all the pipeline spills in the last two weeks, the delivery of tar sands is too risky and too costly for the communities in harm's way. Keep the oil in the soil, and just say no to the KXL tar sands pipeline."

President Obama is expected to make his decision on the pipeline in the autumn. Keystone XL has become a flashpoint in the climate fight. Thousands have been arrested over the pipeline, and on Feb 13 over 40,000 people came to the White House to tell Obama to reject the pipeline.

The pipeline is intended for export, and UK campaigners are concerned that, if it's approved, imports of tar sands oil into Europe will increase. There is currently a battle raging in Europe over the issue of future tar sands imports.  The European Union is trying to pass a piece of legislation to reduce emissions from transport fuels. Known as the Fuel Quality Directive, it would strongly discourage tar sands imports, but lobbying by the Canadian government and the oil industry has seriously delayed it. A vote is now expected in October 2013, and if passed, the case for the Keystone XL pipeline would be seriously weakened.

Ruthi Brandt from the UK Tar Sands Network said: “People in London are here today to stand with those resisting tar sands expansion in Alberta and pipelines in the US. The Keystone XL will affect us too, because the pipeline is intended for export. The reality of tar sands oil coming to the UK is not far off, with a refinery in Pembrokeshire lined up by Valero to bring imports of tar sands from the Gulf of Mexico. So we're here to let John Kerry know that we don't want this dirty oil. In the EU we are pushing for legislation to make sure that tar sands imports are strongly discouraged due to their high emissions. We hope other countries will follow suit. We need to leave the tar sands in the ground, and make the transition to sustainable transport fuels that don't devastate local communities and cost the Earth.”

The protest was organised and supported by:

350.org, Campaign Against Climate Change, Climate Rush, The Climate and Health Council, Friends of the Earth England, Wales and Northern Ireland, Healthy Planet UK, Occupy London: Energy, Equity and Environment group, Push Europe, Pembrokeshire Friends of the Earth, People & Planet, TEJAS (Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services), UK Tar Sands Network, UKYCC, World Development Movement.

For more information, quotes and photographs, contact:

In the UK, Nicolò Wojewoda, nicolo@350.org, +44 (0) 758 264 2004

In the US, Daniel Kessler, dk@350.org, +1 510-501-1779

Photo credit: David Hoffman

On March 29th, ExxonMobil's Pegasus pipeline, which was retrofitted to transport tar sands oil spilled an unknown amount of oil into the town of Mayflower, Arkansas.

This spill highlights the risks of building the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, which would carry 9 times more oil than the pipeline that broke. Even if the oil doesn't spill, it still pours into the atmosphere as climate-warming CO2.

We're working with allies across the movement to submit 1 million comments to the State Department to stop Keystone XL -- click here to add yours: act.350.org/letter/a_million_strong_against_keystone/

Below is a post from Doug Miller who helped organize an action targeting Sen. Bill Nelson in Tallahassee, Florida:

After Wednesday's action against the KXL in Tallahassee, I'm convinced that the greatest source of renewable energy in the climate justice movement is the courage of my fellow activists.

Despite a last-minute venue change, no mainstream press, and a cancelled visit from Senator Bill Nelson's aide, I saw 25 activists venture through the stormy Tally spring evening and turn their personal feelings of powerlessness and neglect into collective hope and power.

Elected officials Martha Lang, Tabitha Frazier, and FSU student-leader Jessica Blackburn reminded us of KXL's true cost to Floridians. I got to speak with everyone about the significance of the long-term zero-sum game over building KXL: to win we must play smart, take care of ourselves and each other, and model the courage-to-hope.

After speaking, the group talked about 350.org's university divestment campaign, and strategic connections were made between local university boosters and student-activists.

Then we climbed uphill in the now-light rain, and mailed approximately 30 postcards to Senator Bill Nelson's Washington office.

There are many more coming.

RUN 350 is Southeast Asia's premier eco-run that will take place in Singapore to support the global 350 movement organized by Young NTUC to promote the 350 movement and inspire positive change. The event will kick off this Sunday, April 7, 2013 at The Float@Marina Bay and is expected to draw 15,000 runners who will run 21km, 10km and 350m.

This year's 350 RUN will be lead by Lincoln Han. By his own admission, Mr Han is an average guy with average hobbies and an average job as a freelance market research analyst. But the average person can do a lot to save the planet, he said, such as recycling and taking public transport when possible.

Koolstofbubbel. That’s how you say “carbon bubble” in Dutch. Last week, students from the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, together with the non-profit organization Urgenda, launched their national divestment campaign. De Volkskrant, the third biggest daily newspaper in The Netherlands, covered the story with a title that roughly translates as “The carbon bubble looms”.

In a letter to their university board, students demanded a freeze on oil, gas, and coal investments – mostly through shares and pension funds the university has control of. The logic behind the call for divestment is the familiar one from Bill McKibben’s Rolling Stone article, one that we hope to see more in European media, in the next few months.

Princess Attia, from student union SRVU, put it quite succinctly: "In the eighties, we set up a similar action against apartheid. [...] Climate change is the new apartheid."

We’re excited to hear about the campaign launch and we look forward to working with more university students across the region, to bring divestment efforts to Europe on a large scale. Let’s burst that koolstofbubbel!

Photo credits: Urgenda and @WijZijnMorgen

Dr. James Hansen, the top climate scientist in the US has just announced his retirement from NASA.

He's been one of the best advocates a planet could ask for -- he even gave us our name when he wrote that 350 parts per million is the safe level of CO2 in the atmosphere. 

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If you're on Facebook, please SHARE this image to thank him for his work. 

And then submit a comment to stop Keystone XL in his honor. 

Dear friends,

Big news has just emerged: Dr. James Hansen, the planet’s premier climate scientist, announced his retirement as head of NASA’s Goddard Institute of Space Studies, where he began his career in 1967.

If 350.org has a patron saint, it’s Jim. It was his 2008 paper that gave us our name, identifying 350 parts per million CO2 as the safe upper limit for carbon in the atmosphere.

But as much as for his science, we respect him for his courage. He’s always been willing to speak the truth bluntly, from the day in 1988 when he told Congress that the time had come “to stop waffling so much and say the planet was warming,” to all he’s done to bring attention to damaging projects like Keystone XL -- even to the point of risking arrest to do so.

I have no doubt he’ll go on doing science, and speaking plainly -- indeed, he told the New York Times that one reason he’s leaving the federal payroll is so he can take on the government more directly.

But this is a big moment, and we need to mark it. Here’s what I hope you’ll do: honor Jim’s lifetime of work by making a public comment to the State Department about Keystone XL and tell them to reject the pipeline.

In this case, speaking out is simple -- click the link below to go to the page to submit from. There’s a list of ten arguments to choose from - you can mix and match or put it in your own words and just speak from the heart.

Click here to submit your comment: act.350.org/letter/a_million_strong_against_keystone/

Sending a message to the State Department might not seem like much, but I think it’s actually quite fitting tribute.

One reason we’re fighting the pipeline is because Jim Hansen did the math to show that if we combusted the tar sands on top of all else we burn, it would be “game over for the climate.” So far that message hasn’t gotten through: the State Department hired a bunch of compromised oil industry analysts to ‘review’ KXL, and unsurprisingly they decided it would have ‘minimal’ environmental impact. We need to get them to take reality seriously, and change that assessment.

Maybe -- just maybe -- with a truly overwhelming flood of comments, we can break through. Together with our friends across the movement, we’re aiming for an ambitious target of 1 million comments to the State Department to stop the pipeline.

Beginning this comment push is all the more timely after the disasterous tar sands pipeline spill in Arkansas, where thousands of gallons of toxic oil ran freely through the streets of a suburban community.

Jim Hansen has been to jail twice to try and block KXL. When I saw him in handcuffs, I cringed. I don’t mind going myself, but it seems crazy that we have to send our best climate scientist off in handcuffs; in a sane world he’d never have to leave the lab. And in a sane world we’d just be toasting his retirement from NASA with well-deserved champagne.

But it’s a crazy world, heating fast, and so we need to mark this historic day in a way that really counts.

Thanks,

Bill McKibben

P.S. - This article about Jim's work in the New York Times is supurb -- please take a moment to read and share: nytimes.com/2013/04/02/science/james-e-hansen-retiring-from-nasa-to-fight-global-warming.html

guest post from Andreas Karelas, Executive Director, RE-volv

When it comes to climate change, many people are concerned about the problem but don’t know what they can do to address it. The problem is so big that it can feel overwhelming to individuals acting alone. Thankfully 350.org has led the global charge organizing an incredible grassroots movement that brings people together to find creative ways to solve the climate crisis. Now we can add an additional tool to the mix: a collective investment effort for clean energy.

RE-volv, a non-profit organization based in San Francisco, offers an exciting new way we can reduce carbon and build the clean energy future we want as part of a collaborative effort. RE-volv has started a revolving fund, called the Solar Seed Fund, to finance solar energy projects for community-serving organizations. The revenues earned from one solar project go to pay for the next one, allowing the fund to continuously grow over time. The money to finance the projects is raised through crowdfunding, so we all can be a part of solving the climate crisis and building renewable energy in our communities.

This week RE-volv announced the signing of its first solar lease agreement with the nonprofit Shawl-Anderson Dance Center in Berkeley, CA. RE-volv will finance the solar installation using money raised from a recent and highly successful crowdfunding campaign. The nonprofit SunWork Renewable Energy Projects will install a 10kW solar energy system that will cover nearly 100% of Shawl-Anderson’s electricity usage. Shawl-Anderson will make no upfront investment, will save thousands of dollars on their electric bill over the course of the 20-year lease, and will own the system at the end of the lease. On top of that, the lease payments, when invested through the Solar Seed Fund, will finance an additional three community-based solar energy systems during the lease term.

Through crowdfunding, anyone can contribute to the Solar Seed Fund and be a part of this community effort to create a clean energy powered world. Together, we’ll serve numerous community-based organizations with solar energy, reduce their carbon footprints, save them money on their electric bills, and educate their community members about solar. We’ll be setting into motion a revolving solar fund that grows on its own for the purpose of serving countless communities with solar.

RE-volv is now looking for the next community organization to partner with for its second solar project. You can help RE-volv in its efforts by donating to the Solar Seed Fund, joining our mailing list, helping to spread the word about us on Facebook, and volunteering. To learn more, visit www.re-volv.org or feel free to get in touch with our staff.

This article has been re-posted from the UK Tar Sands Network website.

From left to right: Lucy Patterson (Push Europe), Eleanor Clegg (Pembrokeshire Friends of the Earth), Isobel Braithwaite (Healthy Planet UK), Philippa de Boissiere (UK Tar Sands Network), Emily Coats (UK Tar Sands Network), Nicolò Wojewoda (350.org). Photo by Suzanne Dhaliwal.

Today Eleanor Clegg, Llangolman resident and member of Pembrokeshire Friends of the Earth, was joined by a coalition of concerned citizens and campaigners to present a petition to Nick Clegg in Whitehall, London. The petition, organised UK Tar Sands Network, 350.org, Campaign Against Climate Change, People & Planet, and Pembrokeshire Friends of the Earth, urged the Deputy Prime Minister to support the EU Fuel Quality Directive (FQD), legislation which will discourage imports of tar sands oil to Europe. The petition pointed out that increasing amounts of tar sands oil are expected to be imported to the UK, especially via Valero‘s refinery in Pembroke. Valero, a key supporter of the Keystone XL pipeline which would take tar sands oil to Texas, has also been the target of recent protests in the Gulf Coast. The petition had 4,000 signatures, and was received by the Deputy Prime Minister’s office, who claimed they were unaware of Valero’s plans to import tar sands oil to the UK.

The Canadian tar sands industry has received a barrage of international criticism from environmentalists and human rights campaigners for its devastating effects on nearby Indigenous communities, decimation of local ecosystems and contribution to global climate change.

A key issue of concern in Europe is the Fuel Quality Directive (FQD), which, if implemented as planned, would label tar sands as highly carbon intensive, thereby cutting off the EU market from tar sands-derived fuels and potentially setting a precedent for other markets to refuse tar sands oil. The legislation has been met with unprecedented lobbying from the Canadian government and oil industry, delaying the proposal significantly. The UK government has been one of several member states reluctant to support the proposal, abstaining at the last vote in February 2012. Another vote of EU member states is expected in October 2013.

“I have travelled to London today on behalf of my community because Pembrokeshire is likely to be the first port of call for tar sands oil to enter the UK,” said Eleanor, from Pembrokeshire Friends of the Earth. “Our community is strongly opposed to a fuel derived from such an environmentally damaging source being refined and used in Britain, and we certainly don’t want it imported through local ports. The Fuel Quality Directive is our best chance at slowing the rate of tar sands expansion and we urge Nick Clegg to step in and ensure the UK supports it.”

Eleanor from Friends of the Earth Pembrokeshire and Emily from UK Tar Sands Network to present petition to Nick Clegg. Photo by Suzanne Dhaliwal

“It is absurd that our government has been so receptive to the aggressive lobbying from the Canadian government and oil industry,” said Philippa de Boissiere, from the UK Tar Sands Network. “The vote in October will be a pivotal moment for both the tar sands industry and the reputation of the Liberal Democrats, who can expect to see an escalation of campaigning on the issue by the climate movement in the UK. Will Clegg drive a stake through the expansion of the world’s most destructive industrial project– or through his own reputation as a green force in the Coalition government?”