Hoodwinked 2nd Edition – Coming Soon!

Cover ImageRising Tide North America is pleased to announce plans for the release of the 2nd edition of our ground-breaking booklet, Hoodwinked in the Hothouse!

Hoodwinked in the Hothouse was the first-ever short and accessible, yet close-to-comprehensive guide to bogus climate solutions like clean coal and industrial agrofuels. (You can download the booklet’s 1st edition here).

Last year’s 5,000 print run of Hoodwinked was exhausted within a few short months; demand for them was far higher than we could have imagined. The booklet has been downloaded thousands of times and is now available in three languages with additional translations in the works. The booklet’s release clearly filled a void in the educational materials of the global climate justice movement.

We are now seeking community and individual support for a much larger 2nd print run, to be released at the US Social Forum in Detroit this summer, simultaneously in both English and Spanish.

We hope you’ll agree that it is extremely important – considering growing support for nuclear power and clean coal within the Obama administration – that a booklet providing a comprehensive critique of “false solutions” remains in print. With the incredible pace of the climate policy debate, the booklet is already out of date in several areas, particularly on crucial topics like REDD (a major new forest offset scheme), which was just emerging at the time of initial publication last year. Continue reading

Historic Earth Day Climate Change Conference

Indigenous Peoples of North America Join President Evo Morales in Bolivia for Historic Earth Day Climate Change Conference

“Respect Indigenous Rights & the Rights of ‘Pachamama’ in UN Climate negotiations”

Pictures and more at: http://pitch.pe/58935

Cochabamba, Bolivia- Indigenous Peoples from across North America and their allies from around the world gathered at the invitation of Bolivian President Evo Morales in Cochabamba this morning for the kick-off of an historic conference on climate change and the “rights of Mother Earth.” Morales called this conference in the wake of failed climate talks in Copenhagen last year. Over 15,000 delegates from 126 countries heard President Morales speak at the soccer stadium in the village of Tiquipaya today, and are meeting in working group sessions this week to develop strategies and make policy proposals on issues such as forests, water, climate debt, and finance, which President Morales pledges to bring to the international negotiations of the COP 16 in Cancun, Mexico later this year.

The convocation this morning included a multi-cultural blessing ceremony by Indigenous Peoples from across the Americas, and speeches by representatives of social movements from five continents on the urgency of the climate crisis and the need for bold action that protects both human rights and the environment.

“Indigenous rights and knowledge are crucial to addressing climate change, but the United States and Canada have not signed on to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIPs), and are pushing corporate climate policy agendas that threaten our homelands and livelihoods,” said Jihan Gearon of the Navajo Nation (AZ), Native Energy Organizer with Indigenous Environmental Network. “We have traveled to Bolivia because President Morales has committed to bring our voices to the global stage at the next round of talks in Cancun.”

“President Morales has asked our recommendations on issues such as REDDs (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation),” said Alberto Saldamando, legal counsel for the International Indian Treaty Council. “REDD is branded as a friendly forest conservation program, yet it is backed by big polluters. REDD is a dangerous distraction from the root issue of fossil fuel pollution, and could mean disaster for forest-dependent Indigenous Peoples the world over.”

“We are here from the far north to stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters of the South” said Faith Gemmill, Executive Director of Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands (REDOIL), who spoke from the stage at the invitation of President Morales. “We have a choice as human kind – a path of life, or a path of destruction. The people who can change the world are here!”

The Indigenous Environmental Network is in Cochabamba for the duration of the Climate Conference (April 20-24). Onsite cell: +591 740 28531 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting +591 740 28531 end_of_the_skype_highlighting###

Indigenous Environmental Network: Indigenous Peoples empowering Indigenous Nations and communities towards sustainable livelihoods, demanding environmental justice and maintaining the Sacred Fire of our traditions. www.ienearth.org

Fred Krupp, president of Environment Defense Fund, defends EDF’s cozy corporate partnerships

By Chris Lang, 2nd April 2010

Fred Krupp, president of Environment Defense Fund, defends EDF’s cozy corporate partnerships

Rising Tide North America has launched an online campaign, demanding an end to financial and political relationships between big NGOs and Corporate America. The response (posted below) from Fred Krupp, the President of Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), one of the targetted NGOs, arrogantly shrugs off the accusations. Continue reading