On Tuesday Nov 10th, RAN activists disrupted a speech by Gordon Nixon, president of RBC at Ryerson University. Nixon was speaking as part of a business conference on Canadian Manufacturing. RAN activists interrupted the speech four times with banners and comments, as well as once during the question and answer period.
During the event, Nixon admitted that tar sands projects were the largest polluters in Canada, though declined to take responsibility for financing the projects. Instead, Nixon maintained RBC was not an oil company.
“Nixon admits that tar sands projects are the largest polluters in Canada, yet he seemingly fails to understand that these projects cannot go forward without financing. Pretty disturbing given he is the president of Canada’s largest bank” noted RAN activist Maryam Adrangi.
Tar sands oil has serious environmental, climate and human health impacts. Described by the United Nations Environment Program as one of the world’s top “environmental hot spots,” global warming pollution from tar sands production is three times that of conventional crude oil. Unconventional tar sands oil is derived from lower-grade, difficult and expensive-to-access raw materials, which have enormous consequences for air quality, drinking water and the climate. In addition, as this oil spills into the U.S., refinery communities face air and water pollution from tar sands oil, which contains 11 times more sulfur and nickel and five times more lead than conventional oil.
The action continues a series of actions performed by RAN Toronto who are lobbying RBC to divest funding from tar sands projects. RBC is the world’s largest financier of tar sands projects and has invested over $20 billion USD over the last 5 years. To extract tar sands oil requires churning up huge tracts of ancient boreal forest and polluting so much clean water with poisonous chemicals that the resulting waste ponds can be seen from outer space. The health impacts to Alberta’s First Nation communities are severe, with cancer rates up in some communities as much as 400 times its usual frequency.
As some of you may know that I’m coming all the way from Charlotte, NC!! I will be the 1st to admit that I love the city but I do believe that we do need some major…MAJOR improvements when is comes to sustainability and protecting our environment. By working with RAN and my fellow Earth Club members here at UNC Charlotte, we have been working on various campaigns and events to get the ball moving.
Recently our Chancellor Phillip L. Dubois signed the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment which will designate UNC Charlotte as one of the many colleges and/or universities in the state of North Carolina to sign the pledge to address global warming. Wow!!! That’s a huge step for us as a school and community. Who ever thought that something like this would happen here!
Chancellor Dubois stated “Anyone who is familiar with this University’s legacy understands we have had a strong commitment to environmental protection, and signing the Presidents’ Climate Commitment shows we are demonstrating how a large public institution can be a good environmental steward,” Dubois said. “We also realize signing this piece of paper is just a start, not the conclusion. We must continue to discover practical sustainability goals for our students and employees and do what we can to help them succeed.”
I agree with that last statement. This is the quick fix, we as a community have to continue to work hard in order to see and feel the change that so many of us want.
The following is taken from a piece in the student newspaper:
As part of the Presidents’ Climate Commitment, other steps will be taken to move the campus closer to climate neutrality. In the short term, the University will:
Work toward adoption of green standards for buildings by following U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) construction guidelines. LEED certification is being sought on new capital projects, including the Center City Building and the EPIC Building.
Adopt an energy-efficient appliance purchasing policy requiring ENERGY STAR certified products in all areas for which such ratings exist.
Encourage use of and provide access to public transportation for all faculty, staff, students and visitors.
Participate in the waste minimization component of the national “RecycleMania” competition and adopt several other associated measures to reduce waste.
With all of that said..I’m so excited and proud of my university!! Now you all see why I love UNCC!! hehe! I will continue to keep everyone updated on everything that’s going on here down south!!
i just voted three times for this awesome project which will help move Appalachia away from MTR mining and towards a sustainable, locally-owned, decentralized model [by utilizing timber industry byproducts.]
the project will entail “feedstock feasibility studies and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification to ensure sustainable forestry.”
please vote today! signing up for brighterplanet.com only takes about 75 seconds. they are in second place and the prize is a $5000 grant!
other suggestions on how to win this thing:
- blog about it!
- send the link and description out to list serves
- make it a point of process at any meetings which might relate
- send a LTE [letter to the editor] in your local paper
- etc etc!!
xoxo and THANKS!
as follows is the full project description:
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Leading scientists from around the world recommend several measures to address the issue of climate change. In the United States, pending legislation will likely create a regulatory market for industry to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. These measures to mitigate carbon production, coupled with the EPA’s recent decision to hold and review 79 permits for mountaintop removal mining casts a shadow over the primary jobs provider throughout the Central Appalachian region: the coal industry. Local governments are often wholly reliant on the severance taxes generated by coal extraction, yet minable coal will be restricted by both of these federal decisions. In sum, the communities that will suffer the most from environmental policies are those that are solely dependent upon the coal industry for their survival. Thus this project seeks a just transition for Central Appalachia, one that recognizes the sacrifices that have been made by those who have mined coal for our country for the past 150 years.
It is clear that more diverse economic pathways must be cultivated to mitigate the future impacts upon the rural economies whose primary means of subsistence will decline. For this reason, we propose the creation of a Mingo County based Community Biopower Association (CBA). Biopower is electricity generated by any form of biomass, in this case timber industry byproduct. CBAs are an innovative institutional model for Central Appalachia that will effectively and efficiently bring rural communities together to support each other and advance sustainable biopower development by creating self sustaining organizations which will generate their own operating budgets. CBAs provide an opportunity for local investors to become proactive in the development process and capitalize on their local resources through a collaborative effort by creating Limited Liability Companies (LLC) made up of community members. Biopower developers see direct benefits from: the large blocks of investors they can work with for selecting the best biopower locations; strong investors and local community support; and development steps completed such as feedstock feasibility studies and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification to ensure sustainable forestry.
The goal of the CBA is to build a 2.4 MW distributed generation biopower facility in Mingo County. This facility will be community-owned by using the economic “flip model” developed by Windustry, the nation’s leader in community-owned wind projects. Both the CBA and the biopower facility serve as a pilot “sustainable development model” for the Central Appalachian region and beyond.
Funds will be used to:
• Consult with Center for Economic Options (CEO) for identifying a CBA resource team of legal and accounting advisors
• In collaboration with CEO’s resource team, develop an operating agreement for creating Mingo County’s CBA, LLC.
• Consult with Rainforest Alliance for obtaining FSC certification
• Consult with Biomaterials and Wood Utilization Research Center of West Virginia University for feedstock feasibility study as well as developing a marketing plan.
The current voting period ends on SUNDAY the 15th of November, so please don’t put this off!
Also, you do not have to be a U.S citizen to vote.
Thanks, and please do repost…
Yesterday, activists across the country came together for a day of action to end mountaintop removal. There were actions at banks for funding mountaintop removal, as well as at every regional EPA office.
Here in the lovely District of Columbia, RAN’s DC chapter had a two-part action at the EPA’s headquarters. Just before noon, a group of 13 activists, along with two coalfield residents, entered the EPA’s lobby to deliver a letter to Lisa Jackson, the head of the EPA. When they were unable to speak with Ms. Jackson about mountaintop removal, the 13 activists linked arms, sat down, and said they weren’t going to leave until the EPA addressed this grave issue.
While the activists inside were risking arrest to save the mountains, 50 people gathered outside the EPA to show their support. The lawn was turned into a graveyard-type scene with crosses and gravestones showing the names of mountains and communities destroyed by mountaintop removal written upon them.
Once the sit-in had been going on for about two hours, I decided it was a good time for me to give Lisa Jackson a call to tell her how I felt about mountaintop removal. The representative who answered the phone from her office had clearly been feeling the heat from the day and quickly tried to get me off the phone while assuring me that they were “looking into the issue.”
The sit-in ended peacefully (with no one getting arrested!) in the afternoon when it was evident that the EPA had heard our message. You can watch a great video from the day of action here.
Earlier this week, blasting began for coal extraction on Coal River Mountain. Numerous studies have been conducted on the wind potential of Coal River Mountain in attempts to save the beautiful ridge while providing more electricity and jobs for Appalachia. If a wind farm was built on Coal River Mountain – rather than blowing it apart – 1.2% of West Virginia’s total energy needs could be met and 300 new jobs would be created for the area. That’s 300 jobs that wouldn’t disappear in a few years – unlike what will happen once the mountains are blown up and coal has been extracted. Despite this, the short-term thinkers have decided to move forward with more of this awful practice.
So, did the EPA hear us yesterday? I’d say so. Do they need to hear from even more of us now? Absolutely.
If you haven’t already, please, please call Lisa Jackson at the EPA and President Obama to urge them to stop mountaintop removal and save Coal River Mountain. Lisa Jackson’s number is 202-564-4700; President Obama is 202-456-1414.
At 7:30 am this morning a group of activists with RAN Toronto showed up to a sustainable business conference at which Sandra Odendahl Director of Environmental Affairs for RBC was slated to speak about sustainability as a strategic business opportunity. To their surprise “TarSandra” and her good buddy “Big Oil “ were already there, cavorting around in secret and trying to hide their lucrative and hypoactive romance from the eyes of attendees and the public who are lead to believe RBC is a sustainable and responsible company. In reality RBC is the largest financier of Tar Sands projects in the world, contributing 19.5 billion since 2007 alone. Wrapped in bed sheets that read “RBC + Tar Sands = An Environmental Affair?” TarSandra and Big Oil frolicked and revealed their once secret romance throughout the conference area, calling attention to RBC’s green washing tactics and lack of ethics in financing the dirty tar sands; the most destructive industrial project on earth. Upon entering the conference TarSandra, Big Oil, and the RAN Toronto activists were removed by hotel personnel whereby they continued the protest outside handing out flyers and information to participants entering the hotel for the conference. One conference participant even promised to ask Sandra a question about the Tar Sands and call out RBC’s so called sustainable business practices!
“RBC is hypocritical in preaching sustainability while financing the tar sands. The tar sands are the shame of Canada, they are destroying the Athabasca river, the boreal forest, and violating the rights and health of indigenous communities in the region. They are one of the largest green house gas emitters in Canada and will single handily prevent Canada from meeting any type of climate commitment” said Maryam Adrangi one of the activists.
This action comes on the heels of a die-in protest at an RBC branch in Ottawa organized by RAN Toronto, and RAN’s Eriel Deranger on Monday October 26th, where around 100 people swarmed the RBC branch across from parliament hill and feigned death to demand RBC stop financing the tar sands.
“This type of complete disregard for the rights of indigenous peoples and the environment is not a sustainable business practice, in fact it is the exact opposite. If RBC is to tout itself as a leader in responsibility and sustainability it would develop sound environmental and human rights policies and invest in renewables not tar sands!” said RAN Toronto activist Crystal Metham.
Hopefully with TarSandra/RBC and Big Oil finally admitting to their long secret romance RBC will no longer be able hide behind the veneer of green washing and begin to take real concrete action on developing REAL sustainability.
On Sat. Oct. 24 after a huge 350.org Day of Action, RAN activists partnered with Substance, a Twin Cities-based activism and arts organization, to table at a POS show at 1st Ave. POS is a rockin progressive Twin Cities hip-hop artist from the Rhymesayers label. He’s got one of those incredible fan bases who knows all the words to every song.
It was great to meet both POS and his fans, as well as the other performers like St. Paul Slim and Prof. Hip-hop heads from Minnesota were really supportive and concerned about the issues we presented. Tons of folks signed our petitions, picked up stickers, and asked questions. As slides about Palm Oil, Cargill, and RAN’s campaign flashed on the big screen in-between sets, we talked with a bunch of fresh young folks who really give a damn! Many people were just happy to know that there are things happening, and that there are local ways to help rainforests that seem really far away. Some of these people will post on our RYSE blog in the future, so keep an eye out for people holdin’ it down in the Twin Cities.
St. Paul Slim
Substance co-founder Erick Boustead seeks to help connect music, arts, and activism, as well as to blur the lines between them. Last year for the RNC, Substance helped put together a cross-genre music festival to both alleviate the intense stress of the protests and demonstrations, but also to bring people out and create dialogue across groups. Substance has also put on festivals like RippleEffect and Manifestation, featuring spoken word artist Sage Francis and several other hiphop performers. RAN partnered with Substance for the Tar Sands Resistance tour earlier this year.
The folks at Substance have a great goal of connecting the inspiration of music to the practical day-to-day work of activism. Their motto is “building soapboxes since 2007″ Tabling at the POS show was a blast for the RAN activists, and helped spread the message of why we’re here. We will keep exposing Cargill until they adopt a global forest policy that stops expansion of oil palm plantations into rainforests. Check out our blog and YouTube of our recent protest at the Minneapolis Grain Exchange too! Holla back!
Substance co-founder Erick Boustead (center) with RAN Activists Hillary Lehr and Ashely Shaeffer
Rainforest Action Network Toronto activists took part in a nation-wide campaign against Royal Bank of Canada, and set up a DIY coffee shop in front of RBC at Yonge and Bloor in Toronto to protest the bank’s involvement in the tar sands. Activists served coffee and tea, providing a visual protest against the water contamination produced by the Alberta Oil Industry. Activists invited passers-by and employees of RBC to have a seat in the temporary cafe and talk with them about the tar sands and how RBC is related to this environmental catastrophe.
RBC is the number one financier of the tar sands, and the tar sands are the top polluter of water resources in Canada. The industry has diverted water from rivers and streams, and contaminated lakes which once provided fish, a staple food for local people. RAN Toronto activists were joined by other anti-tar sands activists, as well as anti-olympic activists.
The police presence was much increased from previous demonstrations, but we’ll take this as good sign that we’re finally starting to get to RBC (or maybe it was PM Harper just next door at the Toronto Library). We had some great discussions in our little cafe with many Torontonians at one of the city’s major intersections, and not surprisingly many people were horrified to find something like this occurring in Canada (but we’re not surprised! Canada is a climate criminal!).
Posing as baristas the activists served up the daily brews of Athabasca Dark—to allude to the Athabasca watershed which is drying up due to the nearby oil industry; and Tailings Pure—alluding to the Tailings Ponds made of waste water and mining by-products that are now large enough to be visible from outer space… piping hot cups of reality for RBC! Mmmmmm tastes like bitumen! The menu also displayed the cost of these brews: over 23 billion dollars (the amount RBC has financed in the tar sands in the past decade), violations of aboriginal treaty rights, contamination of waste water, and 140 000km2 of deforestation.
The National Call to Action was launched on Friday by the 2010 Corporate Campaign, a new coalition of groups working to expose RBC’s financing of projects that violate human rights, destroy the environment, and disrespect treaty rights. RBC is a lead sponsor in the 2010 Olympic Games which have a history and, in Vancouver’s case, a current reality of exploitation and misuse of public funds. The bank is using pre-game advertising to portray themselves as a socially and environmentally responsible corporation. These national noon-time actions want to reveal the truth about RBC’s destructive practices.
RAN was absolutely thrilled to hear that two RYSE Council Members –Diana Lopez AND Alec Loorz- are amongst the dazzlingly talented and brilliant 2009 Brower Youth Award Recipients. But we weren’t surprised! These two incredible youth activists have been making powerful waves fighting global warming and planting the seeds of real change for all communities. RAN is especially happy for these two recipients because we have had the distinct gift of their inspiration and guidance here at RAN: Alec and Diana both serve as Councilmembers of RYSE: RAN Youth Sustaining the Earth. Indeed, sustaining the earth they are!
The annual Brower Youth Awards honor six young people for their outstanding activism and achievements in the fields of environmental and social justice advocacy. Each winner is awarded $3000 and brought to San Francisco for the award week and a backcountry camping trip. The Brower Youth Awards not only promote the accomplishments of these young leaders but also invest in their continued success by providing ongoing access to resources, mentors, and opportunities to develop their leadership skills through Earth Island Institute’s New Leaders Initiative. For more information, or to RSVP to the awards ceremony, visit www.broweryouthawards.org
Diana Lopez, 20, San Antonio, Texas. Roots of Change Community Garden
Diana co-created an organic garden at a site in San Antonio, Texas, as part of the struggle for environmental justice
Diana Lopez organizes with the Southwest Workers Union for worker rights, environmental justice and community empowerment in San Antonio, Texas. She has fought to clean up military base contamination, organized for energy POLICIES, and in February 2007, along with community members and fellow organizers, started the Roots of Change community garden.
Diana attends school and works in the Eastside of San Antonio, Texas an area lacking large grocery stores and places to get fresh, organic, or local produce. The new garden provides healthy organic food at no cost to community members, serves as an educational center, and creates a positive space for community involvement. Since 2007, hundreds of youth and adults have created a native plant garden, an arbor and raised garden beds. The garden hosts educational sessions, student work days, and Texas-style barbeques where community members can come together to enjoy a meal and take home locally-grown produce.
Diana says of her time spent working on the garden and other environmental justice issues in San Antonio, “I feel everyone deserves the right to a clean, healthy environment and your color or economic status. You work with other people who are fighting for the same thing: justice for people who, by systematic design, have more obstacles to overcome in their everyday life. I have learned that through sharing our stories and history we become united in one struggle for justice.”
Diana works with the Southwest Workers Union. Check it out! http://www.swunion.org/
Alec Loorz, 15, is a Sophomore at El Camino High School in Ventura California
Alec speaks to thousands about the impact of climate change on the next generation.
Alec first saw Al Gore’s documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” when he was 12 years old. Inspired by the message, Alec wrote to the organization and applied to be a presenter, but was denied due to his age. Undeterred, Alec created his own presentation and gave it over 30 times before Mr. Gore took notice. Eventually, Mr. Gore invited Alec to his next training session and Alec became the youngest presenter with “The Climate Project”.
Since then, Alec has gone on to give over 100 presentations to upwards of 20,000 people and founded his own organization, Kids vs. Global Warming, a project of Earth Island Institute since 2008. Its mission is to educate youth on the science of climate change and empower them to take action. Through multi-media presentations to schools, keynote and panel presentations at conferences, videos and social media, Loorz translates the complex science of climate change into terms that motivate youth to get involved with creating solutions.
Another campaign Alec created, the Declaration of Independence from Fossil Fuels, was taken national with the Alliance for Climate Education, where Alec is youth leader. The Declaration is a youth statement requesting that leaders consider the needs of future generations in their decision-making. Signed by 350,000 youth, the Declaration will be presented to Congress by Alec in October of 2010. Alec believes that “youth have a unique sense of moral authority on this issue. It’s our planet now. And we are going to have to grow up and face the consequences of what the world does, or fails to do.”
Over the years, I’ve gotten used to the fact that politicians are slow to act. Maybe I’m cynical; maybe I’m just being realistic. But sometimes, after enough public pressure and media attention surrounding certain issues, politicians actually take a stand on (seemingly) tough issues.
Last week, Senator Byrd of West Virginia said Massey Energy’s “arrogance” in refusing to help fund Marsh Fork Elementary School’s relocation “suggests a blatant disregard for the impact of their mining practices on our communities, residents, and particularly our children.”
Following this comment, Senator Rockefeller and Representative Rahall, both Democrats in West Virginia, called on Massey Energy to help fund the relocation of Marsh Fork Elementary away form a huge Massey slurry impoundment and coal-processing plant.
For those of you who might not be familiar with Marsh Fork Elementary School, it is one of the many examples of blatant social injustices happening throughout Appalachia due to mountaintop removal. The school, located in Sundial West Virginia, is about 400 yards away from a mountaintop removal site. Directly behind the school is a coal processing plant, where coal is washed and stored in a silo. The close proximity of the plant to the school has afflicted many of the students with respiratory issues like asthma and chronic bronchitis. As if these weren’t bad enough – there is also a slurry impoundment, containing 2.8 billion gallons of coal sludge contaminated with mercury, cadmium, and nickel sitting upslope from the school.
Concerned parents, citizens, and even celebrities have been fighting for years to get Massey Energy to pay for the school to relocate. In 2006, Ed Wiley set off on a 40-day walk from Charleston, WV to Washington, DC to raise awareness about issues at Marsh Fork and to raise funds for the Pennies of Promise Campaign. Earlier this year, hundreds of people gathered for a rally at the school that was attended by celebrities like NASA scientist James Hansen and actress Daryl Hannah. Thirty-one protesters were arrested at the rally, including Hansen, Hannah, former Congressman Ken Hechler, and RAN’s Executive Director, Michael Brune. The fight to protect the students of Marsh Fork Elementary School is definitely not a new one and it’s about time that some politicians stood up to Massey Energy to protect the children and communities in West Virginia.
Alec Loorz here. Founder of Kids vs Global Warming, youth leader for the Alliance for Climate Education, and proud RYSE member!
I wrote the Declaration of Independence from Fossil Fuels, from the youth of America. It states that we no longer want to be governed by the fossil fuel industry, just like the original Declaration declared our independence from a foreign government.
I am going to be doing a press conference with Senator Barbara Boxer this month, so we need as many signatures as we possibly can before then!
You can sign online at AceSpace.org (<click that) to make your voice heard in this movement.
And also, if you want you can sign by text message! Just text “ACE” to 30644. Then, it will ask for your email and zip code, and your signature will be added to the list!
Lets band together to let our leaders know that we are serious about climate change, and we demand that action be taken now to save the planet for our generation.
RYSE is the youth branch of RAN, Rainforest Action Network, which works to protect the Earth and support human rights through education, grassroots organizing, and non-violent direct action.
