In 2004, the Durban Group for Climate Justice convened in Durban, South Africa to question the central role of carbon trading in official responses to the climate crisis. Larry Lohmann, a founding member of the Durban Group, is traveling in various cities throughout the northeastern U.S. between November 10-19, 2007 to share experiences of the failures of carbon trading in Europe, India, Brazil, Uganda and elsewhere, and to learn more about U.S. carbon trading plans and climate politics.
Read on for the complete tour dates!The bulk of fossil fuels must be left in the ground if climate chaos is to be avoided. – Larry Lohmann
Lohmann’s talks will cover the major themes from his latest book Carbon Trading: A Critical Conversation on Climate Change, Privatization and Power (2006). This book, published by Sweden’s Dag Hammarskjold Foundation together with the Durban Group for Climate Justice and The Corner House, argues that carbon trading slows the social and technological change needed to cope with global warming by unnecessarily prolonging the world’s dependence on oil, coal and gas. Specifically, Lohmann will focus on the contradictions of emissions trading and offset trading, why failed approaches are so popular among the world’s elites, and what the U.S. can now learn from the rest of the world. Additionally, he will explore the connections between climate trading and neoliberalism, the similarities between Bush’s approach and that of Kyoto, and how we can organize for more constructive approaches and new alliances.
Since 1997, Lohmann has worked with the Corner House, a research and solidarity organization based in the UK (www.thecornerhouse.org.uk). He has degrees from Cornell and Princeton and has been a visiting fellow at Yale University. Lohmann is co-author of Pulping the South: Industrial Tree Plantations and the Global Paper Economy (1996) and Whose Common Future? Reclaiming the Commons (1993) and co-editor of The Struggle for Land and the Fate of the Forests (1993). His articles on globalization, racism, environmental conflict in Southeast Asia and the discourses of population and neoclassical economics have appeared in journals such as Science as Culture, New Scientist, Asian Survey, International Journal of Pollution and Environment, Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars, Development Dialogue, Red Pepper, Foreign Policy in Focus, Development Today, Environmental Conservation, Comciencia, and Watershed as well as in numerous scholarly books and publications.
Carbon Trading: A Critical Conversation on Climate Change, Privatization and Power is available for download at http://www.dhf.uu.se and (in less bulky form) at http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk. A paper copy can be sent free of charge from the Dag Hammarskjold Foundation: Kajsa Overgaard at kajsa.overgaard@dhf.uu.se.
***The schedule of Larry Lohmann’s speaking tour is provided below***
Date: November 10, 2007
Time: 3:00 PM
Location: Georgia Hill Neighborhood Center
Address: 250 Georgia Ave. Room 209 Atlanta, GA
Event details contact: Jeff Epstein at jeff@ips-dc.org or 310-658-4068.
Date: November 11, 2007
Time: 5:30 PM:
Location: Movement and Learning Center Asheville, SC
Address: 90 Biltmore Ave, Asheville, NC (downtown above food co-op)
Event details contact: Jeff Epstein at jeff@ips-dc.org or 310-658-4068.
Date: November 13, 2007
Time: 7:00 PM
Location: Torgerson 1060 Virginia Tech Campus
Event details contact: Jeff Epstein at jeff@ips-dc.org or 310-658-4068.
Date: November 15, 2007
Time: 12:00-2:00
Location: Institute for Policy Studies
Address: 1112 16th St. NW Suite 600 Washington, DC
Event details contact: Jeff Epstein at jeff@ips-dc.org or 310-658-4068.
Date: November 16, 2007
Time: 4:00 PM
Location: Urban Environmental Lab, Brown University
Address: 135 Angell St Providence, RI
Event details contact: Jeff Epstein at jeff@ips-dc.org or 310-658-4068.
Date: November 17, 2007
Time: 12:00-3:00 PM
Location: Lucy Parsons Center
Address: 549 Columbus Ave Boston, MA
Event details contact: Jeff Epstein at jeff@ips-dc.org or 310-658-4068.
Date: November 18, 2007
Time: 2:30-5:00 PM
Location: Food for Thought Books
Address: 106 N Pleasant St. Amherst, MA
Event details contact: Jeff Epstein at jeff@ips-dc.org or 310-658-4068.
Date: November 19, 2007
Time: 1:00 PM
Location: Columbia University International Affairs Building, 11th Floor, Room 1134
Address: 420 W 118th Street, New York, NY
Event details contact: Jeff Epstein at jeff@ips-dc.org or 310-658-4068.
Date: November 19, 2007
Time: 7:00 PM
Location: Bluestockings Books
Address: 172 Allen Street, New York, NY
Event details contact: Jeff Epstein at jeff@ips-dc.org or 310-658-4068.