350 Indonesia

The following post is a sermon by Reverend Fred Small of First Parish in Cambridge, Massachussetts, USA reflecting on global warming, Bill McKibben's recent article in Rolling Stone, and the movement that needs to rise to the occassion. Thank you, Fred, for your ongoing inspiration and your loving ministry.

Heat and Light: Reflections on Global Warming

Now is the summer of our discontent.

We caught a little break this morning . . . but it’s been hot, hasn’t it?

July was the hottest ever recorded in the United States, and so were the first seven months of the year combined, and so were the last twelve months combined.

The American Midwest and West are broiling under a heat wave that leaves crops dying in the fields and ranchers selling off livestock they can’t feed.  Nearly two-thirds of the United States is in drought, which will raise food prices between three and four percent next year.  Wildfires rage in Texas, Colorado, Montana, Nevada, Nebraska, Idaho, Oregon, Washington.

In the rest of the world, it’s much the same—or worse. 

In China’s drought-stricken Hubei Province, half a million people don’t have enough water to drink.  Recently in Saudi Arabia rain fell when the temperature was 109 degrees, the hottest precipitation in the history of the planet.  Thermal bleaching of coral reefs is accelerating, and most are expected to be seriously degraded within decades.  Arctic sea ice is at the lowest level ever recorded.  The Greenland ice sheet is melting at a record pace.

People are finally—finally—connecting the dots between what we see around us and what scientists have been warning us about for decades.  69 percent of Americans polled now agree that “global warming is affecting the weather in the United States.”

The chasm between what science demands and what politics permits is mind-numbing. 

Common sense tells us we’ve got to do something.  Political realism tells us we can’t do anything.

In North Carolina, Republican legislators have introduced a bill forbidding coastal counties from planning for the sea-level rise predicted by scientists. 

Well, I didn’t vote for the North Carolina legislature.  I voted for Barack Obama.

On the night he won his party’s nomination for president, Barack Obama told us that “generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment . . . when the rise of the oceans began to slow and the planet began to heal.”  But since the failure of the cap-and-trade bill in the Senate and the fiasco of the Copenhagen conference in 2009, President Obama has been nearly silent on global warming.

Unlike the first President Bush, who flew to Rio de Janeiro for the 1992 environmental summit, or Vice-President Al Gore, who helped hammer out the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, President Obama didn’t bother to attend last month’s international climate conference in Rio.

Eight days ago in his weekly radio address, the president took note of the record heat, promised drought relief for farmers, and never mentioned global warming.

Now I realize that the president, like any politician, is hamstrung by a corrupt political system.  He can no more stand up to Peabody Energy in an election year than he can to the National Rifle Association. 

But somebody’s going to have to.

Last month, journalist and activist Bill McKibben wrote a compelling piece for Rolling Stone titled “Global Warming’s Terrifying New Math.”  (It would have been the cover story had the publishers not figured they could sell more magazines with Justin Bieber in a tank top than with a graphic of a burning planet—or for that matter with McKibben in a tank top,) 

McKibben thinks this is his most important writing since he first sounded the alarm on global warming in 1989 with his landmark book, The End of Nature.  I agree.

1. Make fossil fuels more expensive and renewables will win. Getting diesel to remote Pacific Island nations is expensive, and it makes energy very expensive. If you read the reports for why the New Zealand Government funded the Tongan solar powered-plant, it wasn't because it would be good for the climate. Actually the New Zealand Government's recent performance on climate change is not pretty. Domestically, they have created new subsidies and opened swathes of new land to oil and coal mining. So the New Zealand Government is hardly a strong proponent of renewable energy - or of climate solutions. The reason it supported renewable energy in Tonga was because of the economics. Renewable energy is much more cost-effective than constantly importing diesel. 

This is a great demonstration of how fast the global transition to renewables could happen if Governments got serious about putting a price on carbon pollution. Make economies pay the true cost for fossil fuels and renewables quickly start winning.

2. Take out the influence of the fossil fuel industry and leaders act on renewable energy. The Pacific Islands is kind of an annoying place for the fossil fuel industry - small economies and demand, spread far apart, and not much oil or coal to drill for. When you travel around the islands, the fossil fuel industry is still visible in the major towns, but it has nothing like the reach and influence they do in other parts of the world. This has meant that the fossil fuel industry is not polluting the airwaves with fossil fuel propaganda, it's not lobbying so actively against climate change policies and renewable energy plans. Implementing solar-plants is not a simple process either, but without the destructive influence of the fossil fuel industry, leaders in the Pacific Islands have taken on the challenges of renewable energy and are ovecoming them.

Sure, the situation is always more complicated than these generalisations here (for example different scales of economies etc) - but both of these are important lessons and reassurances we can take - from the fact that the Pacific Islands are winning the renewable energy race. Now to help the rest of the world catch up: as a global movement we need to be pushing for genuine, non-corrupted pricing on carbon emissions, and campaigning hard against the fossil fuel industry to clear the airwaves of their fossilized influence and exploitation. 

Imagine a massive 4000 MW coal fired power station proposed on a land near you. How would you react ? With the promise of unlimited electricity and good paying jobs along with private educational and health care facilities, it seems an offer many can't refuse, especially in India. However, environmental and livelihood impacts of such power plants is often ignored until they come back to bite us later! The TATA Mundra Ultra Mega Power Project (UMPP) in Gujarat, India is a case in point where environmental norms and people's livelihood have been disregarded; but it is also a case of peoples resilience that fights project developers to get away with their offenses.

Bharat Patel, a local activist from the Machimar Adhikar Sangathan Samithi (MASS) has been campaigning against the plant since 2007 when the special economic zone (SEZ) and the nearby port of Adani had already blocked routes for the local fisherfolks and pastoralists to reach their daily catch and grazing fields. " The destruction of Mangroves for the plant has disturbed the marine eco system. The fish catch fell dramatically over the last 3 years with the construction of the Adani port and now with the first unit of the TATA plant running, the yield has gone down even further", says Bharat.

The project costs upwards of $4 billion out of which over $450 million is being support by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a part of the World Bank Group! MASS recently filed another case with the Compliance Advisory Ombudsman (CAO) of the IFC for ignoring its norms which dictates IFC to not support environmentally destructive projects. For instance, TATA's installed a once-through cooling system which is cheaper and more environmentally destructive as opposed to the closed-cycle cooing system for which the company initially gained permission for. "Local communities are unitedly opposing the project and have clearly stated to the CAO of the negative impacts on fish yield and gross environmental and public hearing violations of the project", claims Bharat. 

If the above violations were not sufficient, the project is now seeking a public bailout in the form of a tariff rise. The TATA's preempted a drop in coal prices during the project bidding stage while its cost has instead tripled over the past 5 years making the project unviable without the tariff rise which could result in the average consumer having to pay more. A classic case of public money to bail out big corporations!  

Fresh audits have now been slapped on the project following the strong complaint from local communities. This is a great example of people power using all the tools within its means to hold off a huge corporation. At 350.org, we will continue to focus our energies on communicating these struggles and working with them to eventually help India move beyond coal and adopt a clean energy pathway. 

Image source: Sierra Club. 

In the meantime he is working with local churches to provide drinking water to a dozen families in Connoquessing Township whose well water went bad after fracking started in their rural community but it is hard it find funding.  “We deliver 20-25 gallons a week to each home.”  On-line donations can be made at https://protectingourwaters.wordpress.com and a video about the community can be found here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcUyuFjx0IU&feature=player_embedded

If you want more information about what is happening in Butler County sign up for Marcellus Outreach Butler’s newsletter and visit www.marcellusoutreachbutler.org

20 young climate leaders from across the Arab world will be selected to participate in the workshop, which will be held from September 17-21 in Cairo, Egypt—you could be one of them! You must be between the ages of 18-35 and passionate about growing this movement in your country. Eligible youth activists are encouraged to apply now.

Workshop Dates: September 17-21, 2012
Application Deadline: August 16, 2012, 11:59pm (KSA)

At the end of November, the UN Climate summit will be held in an Arab country—Qatar—for the first time. In anticipation of the COP18 summit, youth from across the Arab world will organize, connect, and build a powerful regional movement. The goals of the leadership workshop are to build capacity and knowledge among Arab youth, learn about the latest climate science and policy developments, practice organizing skills and campaign planning, and build community. Participants will be empowered to effectively engage in climate negotiations, host climate organizing workshops in their own communities, and build the grassroots movement in their home countries.

Click here for more information and to fill out an application. Short-listed applicants will be selected for a Skype or phone interview at the end of August. A total of 20 participants will be selected from across the Middle East and North Africa Region. The workshop will be hosted by 350.org, IndyACT and the DEMENA Climate Ambassadors Program.

Ready? Lets build a movement together!

Warmly,

Sarah Rifaat
350.org Arab World Coordinator

The great folks at Thought Bubble put together this video explaining a bit about Bill McKibben's thoughts on the fight we're in. Take a look, it's pretty inspiring:

The U.S. Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im Bank) and its chairman, Fred Hochberg, are facing a big decision about a coal project in one of the world's most treasured places. Disturbing reports are emerging that the bank is considering financing a massive coal project in Australia with taxpayer money that would include an export terminal inside the Great Barrier Reef.

We need your help to put the brakes on this project now. This is only the latest in a string of coal projects supported by Ex-Im Bank that are harming communities and the environment in South Africa, India, and even here in Appalachia.

The project's backers, India-based GVK and Australia-based Hancock Coal, are telling various media outlets that Ex-Im is prepared to finance equipment for their massive Alpha mine in Australia's Galilee Basin. The Galilee Basin is ground zero for Australia's push to triple coal exports, a move that would put Australia well ahead of Saudi Arabia for total carbon exports. The planned projects from Hancock Coal, including the Alpha mine, would not only flood the international market with nearly 8 billion tons of coal (double China's current annual consumption) but also ravage one of the world's unique natural treasures -- the Great Barrier Reef.

It is this vast flow of dirty coal that caught the interest of GVK and prompted the Indian conglomerate to buy a majority stake in Hancock. That's because India is currently experiencing a coal crisis, as the high price of coal on the international market causes projects to go bankrupt or seek bailouts (like Tata Mundra).

But while the regional Queensland government was working to streamline approval for the Alpha Coal Project, UNESCO released a damning report that shows coal development is damaging the Great Barrier Reef. UNESCO then demanded that Australia take action to halt the project --or risk putting the reef's World Heritage Site status in jeopardy. Australia's Federal Environment Minster reacted by suspending the Queensland government's involvement in the project because he could not "trust them with the Great Barrier Reef."

Of course, expanded ports are hardly the only risk that the Alpha mine poses to the Great Barrier Reef. Coal is one of the most carbon-intense fuels in the world, and if climate change continues unabated, the reef could be destroyed by 2050. 

Financing from the Ex-Im Bank could make or break this project. Unfortunately, the Bank does not consider downstream emissions when assessing the carbon risks of proposed projects. In other words, Ex-Im Bank would only count the carbon released at the mine and associated transport, despite the fact that coal is mined and transported for the sole purpose of burning at another location. But even if Ex-Im Bank did consider downstream emissions, the bank doesn't care. It has already approved several of the world's most carbon-intensive coal projects (in violation of its own carbon policy).

There is some good news, though. While GVK has used the media to claim that Ex-Im Bank's involvement is a done deal, the bank has not yet publicly associated itself with the project or committed to financing.

That leaves us a small window of opportunity to save the reef. We must act now to send Fred Hochberg and Ex-Im Bank a message that we will not stand by while they use our taxpayer dollars to help destroy the Great Barrier Reef.

Join us in tweeting: @fredhochberg you must #savethereef and quit #GVK/Alpha #coal; Move @EximBankUS @BeyondCoal!

We put together a timeline that shows just how much our movement has been able to accomplish in a few short months this summer. It’s worth taking a moment to appreciate how far we’ve come -- even as we keep our eye on the tough road ahead.

Click here for the Summer of Solidarity timeline: www.350.org/sos/

In Washington DC, thousands of people marched to stop the dangerous gas drilling technique known as fracking. In West Virginia, 50 people marched on to the largest mountaintop removal coal mine in the U.S. and shut it down. And in Texas, 70 people trained and prepared for a blockade of construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. Then, on Sunday, 500 people held a "human oil spill" in Vermont to protest a new tar sands pipeline proposed to run through New England.