CALL FOR SUPPORT: Donations Needed for N30 Legal Expenses!

Dear Friends, Supporters, Comrades and Community,

As you may recall, a lively protest took place on the streets of Chicago’s financial district last November 30, on the 10th anniversary of the “Battle of Seattle” and a week ahead of the big UN climate summit in Copenhagen.  Several groups from across the city had come together to demand just, equitable, and effective solutions to the climate crisis, starting with the shut-down of the Crawford and Fisk coal plants in Chicago’s Little Village and Pilsen neighborhoods.  The November 30th (N30) event also targeted “false solutions” to climate change like carbon trading, nukes and agrofuels, and was part of a national day of action for climate justice.

Now, the city has decided to charge these folks $8,340, with a deadline of mid-August to pay the fines.





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Hoodwinked in the Hothouse: False Solutions to Climate Change – Available now!

coverFrom Rising Tide North America and Carbon Trade Watch: the 2nd edition of Hoodwinked in the Hothouse: False Solutions to Climate Change.

This 28-page booklet provides a close-to-comprehensive overview of false solutions to climate change. Fifteen concise articles—complete with photos and illustrations—cover more than 20 false solutions to climate change, from Clean Coal to Biomass incineration, providing an easy-to-read introduction to the ever expanding market place of climate crisis technofixes.

With the incredible pace of the climate policy debate, the 2nd edition provides key updates to crucial topics like REDD (a major new commodification of forests and lands), which was just emerging at the time of initial publication.

Equally important, the booklet expands to more technologies that are being branded as “green” despite the grave dangers associated with them, such as waste incineration, biochar, and genetically engineered “carbon sucking” trees. We’ve also included much more information on real solutions and positive steps communities can we can take to stop the climate crisis.

The booklet includes contributions from ETC Group, the Indigenous Environmental Network, Movement Generation, the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives, and International Rivers as well as art and photography from across the movement for climate justice.

We invite you to download Hoodwinked from the Hothouse today! Also available in it’s entirety in Spanish here!

You can order these booklets *FREE* from Rising Tide.

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DC Rising Tide and Mountain Justice activists disrupt Massey Energy’s shareholder meeting

Tuesday, May 18 Activists disrupted the annual general meeting of criminal corporation Massey Energy this morning in Richmond, VA. Two of the group were arrested as they demanded an end to Massey’s reckless disregard for human life, community health, and the environment.

As shareholders entered their meeting in the main ballroom of the sheik Jefferson Hotel, activists occupied the adjacent rotunda, chanting loudly and draping a massive banner over the ornate mezzanine railings. The 10’ x 10’ hand-painted banner read, “Massey – Stop Putting Profits Over People!”

“Coal mining is dangerous. It’s dangerous for workers, dangerous for surrounding communities, and dangerous for the future of our planet. It’s time we move off of our dependency on coal and transition to a just, safe, clean energy future.” said Kate Rooth of DC Rising Tide, one of those who disrupted the meeting. “Massey Energy is notorious not only for putting their bottom dollar over people’s safety, but for driving people out their communities and poisoning their drinking water.”

Protesters loudly read an open letter to Massey (below) demanding they cease mountaintop removal coal mining, a practice that is destroying central Appalachian communities. A similar open letter was tendered by two activists who yesterday were assigned an outrageous $100,000 bail after non-violently blocking the driveway to Massey’s regional HQ in Boone County, WV.

As activists disrupted events inside, several hundred unionists and environmentalists rallied in the rain outside – albeit separately – to demand accountability for Massey’s despicable record of dangerous mine conditions, and its devastating social and ecological impact. Rally-goers pointed to the recent explosion at the Upper Big Branch mine in Montcoal, WV that killed 29 miners, and its mountaintop removal operations throughout Appalachia in their indictment of Massey’s corporate greed.

The activists arrested today in Richmond, Kate Finneran and Oscar Ramirez, remain in custody as Massey Energy continues jeopardizing workers’ lives and blasting apart mountaintops and communities throughout Appalachia.

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