I think the administration may be winning, based on some press lately, with their goal to: lower popular expectations significantly and make Copenhagen appear a success even if it violates what the international community agreed to accomplish by Copenhagen.

Recently, President Obama and President Hu of China jointly declared that they "agree on the importance" of carrying through on the Bali Action Plan (BAP). The BAP set all parties on 2-year path to a real agreement with real numbers. Those two years are up in Copenhagen. However, Obama has recently stated his support for delaying an agreement in Copenhagen.

Now we hear from Capitol Hill not just that ‘US Congress may not finish by Copenhagen,’ but that the 'Senate will punt until the Spring' and 'Kerry says climate comes after [not just] health care, [but now] financial reform.' For many reasons, such as that 2010 is going to be a tough election year, this translates to... the US Congress very likely will not pass a climate bill before 2011, by the next scheduled climate meeting in Mexico.

If Obama is waiting for Congress, will his international climate strategy be the same next year? Will he try to lower expectations for Mexico, so it doesn't seem like the US contributed to its failure? Answers to these questions, of course, rely on the president's willingness to invest his time and energy in achieving effective climate policy. But not knowing if that will happen, the question for Copenhagen is how to get a result that prevents a repeat of this US procrastination strategy.

I am starting to wonder if Obama will engage in a serious public campaign on climate before 2011, if even then. We should have seen some hint of this by now. His stated goal for US emissions reductions was actually worse than what the Congress is considering. He has supported a 2020 deadline of getting the US back to 1990 levels of emissions, when the world started to seriously discuss climate change. From the perspective of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, this goal by Obama is to do nothing. We should be reducing about 40% from 1990, not 0%.

In the joint declaration by Obama and Hu, it was sadly apparent which delegation drafted which sentences on carbon sequestration and on nuclear energy. The few public comments from Obama have included endorsement of both of these non-solutions.  We hope President Obama will listen to President Hu and abandon efforts that benefit industry instead of renewable energy solutions that harmonize with goals for a healthy economy and environment.

If we cannot get the BAP fulfilled with any poignance, maybe we can get a pre-launch type of agreement that counts down to a lift-off no later than Mexico. And somehow the US should be given a spanking for not doing its chores (corporal punishment is still normal in many parts of the US). Perhaps that involves a second commitment period for Kyoto, in other words the rest of the world moves forward while the US is an outsider. But the spanking must include thwarting any notion that the US has been a wise and moral leader on climate policy.

Click on some relevant articles below from the last week:

Obama calls for climate pact with 'immediate' effect

Obama must be more engaged on climate change: Greenpeace

U.S. weighs backing interim international climate agreement

 

This semester, I’ve worked with student activists who have coal plants on campus — you know, those antiquated, decades-old, polluting machines that fill the air with toxins like mercury, arsenic, and millions of tons of global warming pollution. At Iowa State University, a monster coal plant looms in the center of campus. The plant consumes over 150,000 tons of coal a year — that's one half the weight of the Empire State Building!

Iowa State had been dumping fly ash from the coal plant into unlined storage ponds, which is incredibly dangerous due to the risk of contaminating ground water supplies (our drinking water) with numerous deadly toxins. Upon learning about this, Greenpeace campus coordinator Graham Jordison organized a protest on the first day of school. The protest generated several media hits and started a conversation on campus about the plant. A nervous university administration quickly issued a public statement vowing to address the issue.

Weeks later, all 3 of the main public universities in Iowa, including Iowa State, announced that they would begin a ground-water monitoring program for the fly ash disposal. Talk about power of the people!

One week after this announcement, Graham and his team met with the university president to thank him, and ask him to shut down the coal plant and replace it with clean, renewable sources like wind power. Although the students didn't get a commitment to close the plant, the President and his administration are definitely listening as the students continue to demand clean energy on campus. Graham said it best when quoted in a newspaper article: “We’re not afraid to step it up, get our activists together and do some non-violent actions. Whatever it takes to get the school to wake up and realize students want this to change.”

Photo: Iowa State student activists protesting at the campus coal plant.

The story is unfinished at Iowa State or at your school, but there is only one ending in which we all win. This ending has 100% clean, renewable energy, where coal is no longer part of our vocabulary. To make this happen, we need leaders to fight for the environment. Join Graham, Iowa State, and the Student Network as we fight for the only planet we’ve got.

Let’s make sure President Obama transitions our country to clean, renewable energy. Send a message to President Obama right now!

For more information about the Student Network, visit our website and friend us on Facebook!

Send me an email right now and I’ll get you started organizing for climate action at your school.

For the climate,

David

Most people here in Barcelona I think would say 'slow progress' is an exaggerated description of the state of climate negotations. For a recent issue of Eco, the daily newsletter of Climate Action Network-International, I wrote this article which goes over a couple elements that may be mucking up negotations as well as confusing domestic discussion of climate legislation.

Many voices are complaining that the US delegation has put no numbers on the table, but there is one number that just keeps popping up. That number is 2005, the base year for the Kerry-Boxer climate legislation.

Even though it was four years ago, 2005 just happens to be the year of the highest US emissions in history. Obviously, reducing 20% of emissions from a higher pool means less reductions. Kerry-Boxer aims to reduce 7% below 1990. Using 2005 base year allows for a more ambitious sounding target.

In Barcelona this proposed base year of 2005 distorts an important discussion on 'comparability' and has become a red herring in assessment of the adequacy of the scale of mitigation targets.

The US delegation often seems to insinuate that 1990 was just an arbitrary base year. Of course, 1990 was not selected at random: it was the year of the IPCC’s First Assessment Report; the year when the world began negotiating what became the Convention.  

But arbitrary or not, shifting to a different base year like 2005 allows the US to imply that the EU proposed mitigation target of 20% by 2020 relative to 1990 is about as ambitious as that in the US legislation. In effect, this amounts to suggesting that emissions reductions elsewhere between 1990 and 2005 are irrelevant to negotiations today.  The comparison we really should be making is the distance between the proposals on the table and what the science is saying we have to do.   

Countries may find it domestically convenient to use a different baseline year, but this presents several problems. Converting reporting data from one country to another appears to be simple enough in theory. But in practice, measurement, reporting and verification requires comparing apples to apples. Converting multiple data points across multiple countries using a variety of different baselines is a convenient recipe for confusion and avoiding the big picture (remember? 'compare the targets to what the science demands').  So even if the experts can provide conversion formulas for differing baselines, there is still a question of public transparency and accountability.

And finally, if the baseline changes, so must the targets. Were we to use a 2005 baseline, the IPCC says global emissions should come down 35-50% by 2020 (as opposed to 25-40% with a 1990 baseline). In the context of history and science, using 1990 is not at all arbitrary. 

On Saturday, October 24th, thousands of people came together calling on our world leaders to act on climate change. The Greenpeace Student Network held events across the country that got over 600 people out on campus or in the streets calling for climate action!

Here are a few highlights:

At Iowa State University, student activists marched with community members to the campus coal plant. Chanting, “no coal is clean coal, clean coal’s a dirty lie,” nearly 30 people came together to demand that Iowa State’s president power past coal. The event had great media coverage and was well received even by workers at the coal plant who were actually smiling and waving when they saw the demonstration!

 
In New York, student activists at SUNY Geneseo held a rally on campus. They had several speakers, including their university president. Over 100 people attended the rally, which wrapped up with a large photo op on the campus lawn. This photo was shown on the TV screens in Times Square with the message to world leaders: “You pick our future.”

 
In North Carolina, student activists from UNC Wilmington held a 5-hour event, which included a full lineup of speakers, music, and a candle light vigil march through the streets of downtown Wilmington. For a city located just miles from the Atlantic Ocean, the event was fittingly called “Turning the Tide,” and brought together over 100 people. Check out a short video of the event!

From rallies to marches, photo ops, and phone calls to President Obama, student activists were heard loud and clear on October 24th. Our movement is growing, and when it comes to climate action from President Obama and world leaders, we won’t take no for an answer!

Visit the Student Network website to get involved today!

You can view more event photos on our Facebook page.

For the climate,

David

I don't have to tell you that the threats that face the planet are absolutely dire. People are doing things they never imagined in hopes of ensuring that our children's children have a planet that is livable.

What keeps me inspired through all of this? Working with youth that are willing to put their lives on hold, to join the Greenpeace Organizing Term. Every semester, 25-30 students are taking time off of school, fundraising to cover tuition, convincing parents to let them join, and moving their lives sometimes across the country to learn how to become leaders in the environmental movement.

The Greenpeace Organizing Term is a semester long program where students learn basic to advanced campaign and grassroots organizing skills. Students spend 12 weeks learning how to build the movement back home, pressure big corporations and elected officials, and how to inspire coming generations of environmental activists.

During the program students' travel to work on campaigns in the field, where they get to use their new skills on Greenpeace campaigns. On their expedition trip, they get a chance to see how environmental issues effect global communities, and have a chance to support those communities through organizing. .

Check out this awesome slideshow that we put together of a few of our over 200 alumni sharing why they decided to take a stand:

Do you want to be apart of this growing movement of youth who are willing to take a stand for the environment? Check out the G.O.T.’s website for more info and to apply!

The Organizing Term is an amazing experience for current undergraduate students who are 18-24. If you are, or know someone whois currently a student who is passionate about environmental change, check out our site at http://www.greenpeace.org/got and apply today for our Spring 2010 semester!

Today Greenpeace is joining 350.org and a massive coalition of organizations and grassroots activists around the world to demand world leaders do what is necessary to stop global warming. I'll be updating this blog post throughout the October 24th International Day of Climate Action with news and photos from events around the country and around the world. You can also follow Greenpeace USA on Twitter.

Twitter Updates

Live Blog

October 24 9:19 PM EST It has been an amazing day of climate action with over 4,000 events all over the world. We have made it clear to world leaders that people everywhere demand a fair, ambitious and binding UN climate deal in Copenhagen this December. As I close shop for this one momentous day I urge folks to remember what dirty energy does to our world and our communities everyday. In the words of Greenpeace Executive Director, Phil Radford, who spoke today at Chicago's march on Fisk Coal-Fired Power station:

Dirty energy is giving asthma to kids in President Obama’s hometown and pushing our planet toward a global warming catastrophe.  It’s time for Obama to live up to his promises to return science to its rightful place and stop letting coal and oil industry lobbyists write our nation’s energy policy. The world can’t afford anything less.

 9:03 PM EST Photos from Boulder's Power Past Coal Bike Ride to Valmont Power Plant are in! You can find Greenpeace Flickr Photos like this one from Colorado here, here, and here.

6:10 EST West Coast events such as the San Francisco Bicylce Tide Line and a Manhattan Beach rally are ongoing. Photos from farther east are pooring in! Check out thes photos Chicago, Boston, St. Louis, and NYC:

Created with flickr slideshow.

This is one of my favorite photos from the Boston Under Water Festival where a coalition of organizations and activists called attention to threat of rising sea levels do to global warming:

And at a rally earlier in Tampa:

 

October 23 4:52 PM EST - October 24th, the International Day of Climate Action poses to be the largest, most coordinated day of action for the environment in history. And it has already begun in New Zealand!

As part of a large global alliance of organizations coming together on Oct. 24th, Greenpeace is  calling on the world's leaders to agree to a climate deal that is ambitious, fair and binding. Together, we are pushing for a strong climate treaty that will not only reverse the march of dangerous climate change but also help us tackle some of the world’s largest challenges like deforestation.

TAKE ACTION:  Demand a global climate deal that is ambitious, fair and binding.

Participating in the day of action? Leave a comment to this blog and tell us what you are doing!

On September 21, 2009 over 1 million people across the world were called to action after seeing the global premiere of ‘The Age of Stupid.’ Weeks later, hundreds of Greenpeace activists signed up to host their own showing of the film in their community or on their campus.

While the film has captured audiences of all ages and interests, young people and students have been overwhelmingly impacted and motivated by the honesty and urgency of the film’s message. During October 11th-23rd over sixty showings of ‘The Age of Stupid’ will take place on college and university campuses.  These film showing will bring attention to the most pressing issue of our generation: global warming. It is an opportunity to educate the student body on the global effects of the climate crisis, raise money for sustainable projects on campus and recruit new environmental leaders to get involved locally.

So far over 1,000 people have attended the campus film showings and there are still plenty more showings taking place this week.

Here are a few highlights from last week:

 At Michigan State University, over 150 people attended the showing hosted by MSU Greenpeace and the ECO club.  Afterward two MSU professors, one an ecological economist and the other an ecologist, facilitated a Q&A that verified the scientific content of the film and that now is the time to take action. The film had a huge impact on the audience and many were eager to find out how they can get involved in the fight against climate change.  Everyone was invited to attend the MSU event on October 24th, which will be taking place in front of the campus coal plant during a home football game.

Students at Northern Arizona University gathered before the film for a critical mass bike ride around Flagstaff. Everyone was decorated with signs encouraging people to ride bicycles and attend the film showing. After the bike ride, the cyclists joined the rest of the viewers on campus for an outdoor bike-in viewing of 'The Age of Stupid.' The event was complete with popcorn and cotton candy!The Campus Climate Challenge club hosted a fun and engaging event and recruited many people to attend their October 24th event where they will be participating in the Homecoming parade.

 Miami University of Ohio hosted an exciting film showing that brought together numerous campus and local organizations including Miami University Copenhagen Committee and Green Oxford. Everyone at the showing signed 'The Age of Stupid' banner and they will continue to collect signatures leading up to the UN Climate Change Conference in December. The film helped recruit new environmental leaders to get involved in the fight against the Miami University campus coal plant. Many of the students will be attending the Greenpeace October 24th event in Columbus.

At Rowan University, film viewers were motivated to take action immediately. Armed with "Stupid" and "Not Stupid" signs, students highlighted the environmentally friendly initiatives of their campus, such as bike racks, and the not-so-sustainable aspects, such as the large amount of waste produced.  

After numerous successful film showings and tons of students eager to take action, now it’s time to make history on October 24th for the International Day on Climate Action. Where will you be on October 24th? I know that Greenpeace students will be mobilizing on their campuses and calling on our world leaders for a fair, ambitious and binding treaty in Copenhagen this December.

 

Live in the Washington DC area? Want to do something fun and show your green?  Greenpeace will be at this year’s Green Festival at the Convention Center in Washington DC Saturday from 10am-7pm and Sunday 11am-6pm.  Come over and say hello to our friendly volunteers who will be spreading the word about the UN Climate Negotiations in Copenhagen and what folks can do to get our leaders to engage in a fair, ambitious, and binding international treaty to curb global green house gas emissions and prevent the worst of climate change impacts. There will be information about many Greenpeace campaigns, so come to booth 122 with questions, concerns, or even a high five. If you can’t make the festival this weekend, you can sign on to our petition now, or find out about the International Day of Climate Action event in your area.

At Green Festival you can sample organic foods, listen to new music, learn about green innovations, see an environmental movie, listen to speakers like Ed Begley, Jr., Amy Goodman, and just announced, Ralph Nader.  Find out more at the Green Festival website.   Hope to seeyou there!

 

 

 

 

 

This past Tuesday the Supporter Care team and a handful of Frontline staffers were fortunate enough to represent Greenpeace at the U2 concert in Washington, DC.  Greenpeace's history with U2 goes aways back, from U2 partaking in an anti-nuclear action with our UK counterparts in the early 90's to a stop aboard the Rainbow Warrior II.  If you look inside an older U2 cd, you will see a tear-out to join Greenpeace.  Believe it or not, some still trickle in with the mail.

That afternoon the thirteen of us piled into the van headed for FedEx stadium to meet with volunteers from Amnesty International, One (Bono's own), and Free Burma.  After a quick run down of our do's and don'ts: no stickering concert goers and meet back at 8:30 or else, we set off to canvass the grounds.  Our goal:  gather 900 signatures to show our government leaders they have grassroots support for strong, ambitious, science-based climate legislation in Copenhagen.  This early in the afternoon though the only people there were back in the gravel lot where the van was or rushing to claim their space in the general admission line. 

Not wanting to trek right back over the stream and through the woods, quite literally, I positioned myself near the general admission line ready to catch someone on their way to pick up their holy wristbands.  The first young man I stopped enthusiastically signed the petition but asked no questions, instead I found myself asking him questions about U2.  He said, “This is my 29^th U2 show, I’ve been following them around the states.”  Yes, you read that correctly, twenty-nineth U2 show.  I can not even wrap my mind around seeing a show twenty-nine times!  I quickly realized while these people would spare a second to sign the petition, they could not physically spare another second to talk about climate legislation.  I wondered if such die-hard Greenpeace fans existed somewhere out there in the parking lots..

Josef and I figured we would try our luck back in the gray lot where we had parked the van.  We tried our luck with a few tailgaters, got a few signatures, before spotting a couple enjoying some good eats and the afternoon sun by a bright yellow VW bug.  As we approached with clipboards outstretched and our respective Greenpeace shirts on, I opened our pitch, “Hi!  We’re with Greenpeace..” but was quickly cut off, “Oh!  Greenpeace! How awesome!”  Had we met our equivalent of the die-hard U2 fan?  Yes!  Yes, we had!  We talked about climate legislation, told them about the Greenpeace Organizing Term their freshman college daughter may be interested in, who wouldn’t be?!  An action-packed semester of organizing, non-violence training, and traveling to see first-hand areas of devastation!   I passed along my contact information for their daughter and we wished them a good time at the concert.  Riding high from meeting this couple from the DC suburbs, Josef and I headed back to the stadium ready for the show itself.

By the time 8:30 rolled around, we were being briefed on our part during the show.  We, all forty or so of us, were going to walk out on stage with U2 during “Walk On", the tribute song to pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.  Excitedly we were led down to the inner circle, the best seats in the house, and sang along through “It’s a Beautiful Day”, and the other songs that have brought U2 international acclaim the past two decades.  Finally, it was our time.  Mixed inbetween volunteers from One and the other organizations we were handed our masks of Aung San Suu Kyi, currently under house arrest in Burma.  Bono began “Walk On” and with that we filed out one by one to the front of the raised platform.  There we stood in our respective t-shirts holding our masks in unity looking out over a crowd of nearly 90,000.  I honestly do not remember hearing Bono sing, I simply remember looking down from the bottom of the mask and eyeing a sea of people and feeling an incredible, unexplainable calm.  We were sharing the stage with U2 and looking out over the same crowd.  I thought, “How many of these people did we talk to today?  Does anyone out there think, ‘Hey! I talked to that Greenpeacer earlier!’” 

Despite our exhaustion the following day, we all retold our stories from the U2 show, from meeting truly cool people and talking about Greenpeace to canvassing for food in the parking lots before the gates opened, to being a part of “Walk On” and showing our solidarity.  It was a day none of us will forget and that was only made possible by Bono’s generosity and belief in Greenpeace’s campaigns.

I have attached a video of “Walk On” from the DC show, but there are other videos available on YouTube capturing the quiet..

Today leaders from the world's top 20 richest nations are at the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh, PA, discussing a range of global issues—global warming being a priority on the agenda. 

The world is ready for climate leadership. That's why we're continuing to put pressure on our elected officials to prevent catastrophic events of global warming by implementing science based solutions.
 
While we wait for our leaders to answer the urgent call to action, more and more young people are stepping up to the challenge. All across the U.S. and Canada Greenpeace campus coordinators and on-call activists are mobilizing youth to tackle global warming on a local and national level.

Six students in particular have shown that they are committed to the fight for climate justice. Aleah Loney of McGill University, Jess Serrante of the University of Vermont, Max Bartholomai of Southeast Community College, Audry Mills of Old Dominion University, Max Blaushild of Miami University of Ohio and Connor Gibson of the University of Vermont make up the Greenpeace Student Board for the 2009-2010 school year.  The Student Board is a team of experienced student leaders who work with the Greenpeace staff team to coordinate the Student Network. Their work includes training and mentoring other students, coordinating days of action, providing updates to Greenpeace Organizing Term alum and students in the Network, and more.

Meet the Student Board!

Aleah Loney, Trainings Coordinator

Originally hailing from Canada's West Coast, Aleah is now in her final year at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. She is completing a double major in Political Science and International Development Studies with a minor in Sociology. Aleah spent a semester in San Francisco participating in the Fall 2008 Greenpeace Organizing Term. She also attended Activist Camp 2009, Greenpeace’s summer training program for young people. Aleah is also involved in animal rights activism and loves music, dancing and traveling.

 

Jess Serrante, Trainings Coordinator

Jess is originally from New Jersey and now lives in Burlington, VT as a student at the University of Vermont. She worked on the Kleercut campaign in 2008 and participated in the GOT program in the summer in San Francisco. This year she helped recruit over 200 UVM students to attend Power Shift2009 in Washington DC. Currently, Jess is working on a campaign to shut down the Vermont Yankee, a nuclear plant whose permit is about to expire. She also enjoys yoga, hiking and reading.

 

Max Bartholomai, GOT Alum Coordinator

Max is a student at Southeast Community College in Lincoln, Nebraska. He is looking to study Environmental Sociology at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln next year.  In the Fall if 2008 he attended the Greenpeace Organizing Term in San Francisco—his first experience with environmental activism. In the past he has  worked with the Gay-Straight Alliance and helped organize rallies/marches.  Max’s hobbies include bicycling, hiking, camping, and listening to music.

 

Audry Mills, GOT Alum Coordinator

Audry attends Old Dominion University majoring in political science. She began her environmental activism by volunteering with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and Surfrider Foundation organizing beach clean-ups, protesting developers, power plants and over fishing. She attended the GOT in DC in the Fall of 2007 and since then has attended two summer trainings with the Greenpeace Student Network and has volunteered with the Greenpeace Rolling Sunlight tour in the fall of 2008. She was the GOT Alum Coordinator for the Student Board last year, the first year of the Board. Outside of school and activism she enjoys surfing, yoga, painting and photography.

 

Max Blaushild , Days of Action Coordinator

Max attends the Miami University of Ohio where he has been active since his first semester. Last year he was the event coordinator for the Power Vote campaign and has taken on other roles with his campus environmental club such as media officer and volunteer for Sustainability Day. He attended the GOT in San Francisco in the spring of 2009. Over the summer he was the GOT intern in San Francisco. Max also enjoys reading, writing, and backpacking.

 

Connor Gibson, Days of Action Coordinator

Connor is an Environmental Studies student at the University of Vermont. He joined the UVM Forest Crimes unit, which worked on a successful Kleercut campaign. In the summer of 2008, he helped train students at Greenpeace’s summer training program. He served as a Student Board member last year and attended the GOT in DC last spring.  In the summer, Connor was the GOT intern in DC. Connor also has a passion for playing the drums, skateboarding and stargazing.

 

If you’re looking to develop your leadership skills join us on our monthly conference call trainings. To find out more about the Greenpeace Student Network visit us online.