Greenpeace

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 (The following blog entry was written by Greenpeace Los Angeles Volunteer Leader Lauren Keenan)

 

What are the first words that come to mind when you hear the word “coal”? Dirty, Polluting, Out-Dated. These are some of the descriptions we have heard from Los Angeles residents when we talk to them about our city’s addiction to dirty, dangerous coal-fired power.  Los Angeles gets 39% of our energy from coal-fired power plants in Arizona and Utah and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) has the opportunity to change that with their Integrated Resource Plan (IRP).  The IRP is a long-term energy strategy constructed by the LADWP that plans how Los Angeles will receive our energy for decades to come.  We know our community wants to see our city do better and now more than ever it is essential that we gather support from Angelenos to show our leaders that we want Los Angeles to break it’s addiction to coal by 2020.

Our dedicated crew of volunteers after a morning of petitioning at the Hollywood Farmer's Market

Greenpeace Los Angeles has put our minds and bodies hard at work these past months on our continuing effort to kick coal out of Los Angeles.  With each action, we are one step closer to our goal of ridding our city of our reliance of dirty coal power that we're importing from out of state.   By gathering petitions, community endorsements, and attending LADWP public comment sessions we are making our voices, and the voices of Los Angeles, heard.

Most recently, Greenpeace Los Angeles volunteers worked the streets of the Hollywood Farmers Market gathering petitions, where thousands of patrons visit every Sunday. It was amazing to see how many people already are aware of the negative impact coal has and how quick they were to sign our petition for City Council. It was equally amazing to see how many people are not aware of the harmful effects of coal and to experience their reaction when explaining to them what coal is all about.  In just a span of three hours, we gathered a whopping 341 petitions from Los Angeles residents who want coal out of their city.

Two friendly Angelenos who stopped to sign our petition to City Council for a coal-free LA by 2020

One individual raised an obvious, but critical question “What is Los Angeles waiting for?”
That is a great question and I am sure many of you have asked yourselves the same thing. This is where our city's leadership needs to step up.

We need our Los Angeles City Council and LADWP to show our city’s commitment to climate solutions by supporting a plan that gets us OFF of coal by 2020. This is our city, and our nation, and Los Angeles needs to lead the way in the fight against climate change.  The most recent compilation of petitions is just one of many successes of our continuing fight against coal. If we can gather that many petitions in just a couple of hours, imagine what will be accomplished in the days ahead of us.

Last week in Los Angeles, we had the distinct pleasure of hosting Kumi Naidoo, Executive Director of Greenpeace International. During his busy week here, Kumi was able to carve out an entire day of his trip to devote to visiting with members of our own City Council here in Los Angeles to discuss how LAcan become coal-free by 2020.

As the Southern California Greenpeace organizer, I was deeply honored to have Kumi in town. It's not everyday that man who oversees Greenpeace in over 40 countries and meets with world leaders is able to support local campaign work. However, what happens in Los Angeles in the coming years will have national and international significance. Global cities like LA must prioritize transitions to clean energy, and show the world that coal power is a thing of the past.

With Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti

And few people can deliver that message like Kumi.  As an African, an anti-apartheid activist from the age of 15, a community organizer, and a lifelong advocate for the strengthening of civil society around the world, Kumi can speak to much more than the levels of CO2 in our atmosphere.  Kumi talked with Council President Eric Garcetti, Councilmembers Paul Koretz and Paul Krekorian, and staff from Councilmember Jan Perry's office about drought in Africa and the shrinking of Lake Chad, the rapid growth of coal-fired power plants in China, and the overall havoc that climate impacts will cause for our children and grand-children.

Los Angeles currently sources about 39% of our electricity from coal-fired power plants in Arizona and Utah. That is bad news for the climate, and bad news for public heath. There is overwhelming consensus by climate scientists that global climate change emissions MUST peak in 2015 and rapidly decline thereafter, otherwise our chances for avoiding an irreversible catastrophe are slim to none.  

With Los Angeles City Councilmember Paul Koretz                                                                                                                              

If we want to meet these ambitious goals here in the US, we must start by shutting down the coal plants that are responsible for a third of all US global warming pollution. And Los Angeles has an opportunity to lead that effort.

In the city's current 20 year energy blueprint (a.k.a. the Integrated Resource Plan), the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power makes some headway by ending our reliance on the power we purchase from the Navajo Generating Station in Arizona by the end of 2014, but unfortunately the plan also dictates that our city will remain dependent on coal-fired power until 2027.  This is not the leadership that the United States needs right now, or that Los Angeles is capable of.

So what can we do about this?  We need to urge our leaders, as Kumi and I did last Wednesday, to push for a plan that ends our dependence on this dirty and harmful source of energy by 2020.  The good news is that the City Council leaders we met with last week understand the importance of making LA coal-free by this important deadline, and we look forward to them embracing this issue as a top priority. The longer Los Angeles stays bound to coal, the longer we’re subjecting communities in Utah and Arizona to unprecedented levels of toxic pollution and communities in Los Angeles to the unreliable and increasing costs of coal-fired power.

We will continue working with City Council to ensure the Integrated Resource Plan provides visionary leadership, while reflecting the level of urgency dictated by climate change and toxic pollution.

 

 

 As you might have noticed in the news over the last week, a few thousand people descended Rancho Mirage, CA this past Sunday to let billionaires Charles and David Koch know that their secret strategy meeting of wealthy, right-wing elites would not go unnoticed or unopposed. As if flying the 

Greenpeace airship over the Ranchos Las Palmas resort the previous Friday wasn't enough, a coalition of over 30groups including labor, environmentalists, the faith community, and progressives organized a rally to “Uncloak the Kochs” to ensure that in 2011,the Kochs and their friends will be propelled to a new level of shame andinfamy in the public eye for their efforts to funnel billions into manipulating our elections and unraveling environmental, consumer and public health protections for the vast majority of Americans.

 

The day kicked off with a panel organized by our friends at Common Cause called "Uncloaking the Kochs: The Billionaires Caucus and its Threat to our Democracy".  The panel featured Robert Reich, former United States Labor Secretary; Van Jones, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress; Erwin Chemerinsky, UC Irvine Law Dean; Lee Fang, Center for American Progress investigative journalist and Koch Brothers expert; and DeAnn McEwen, Co-President of the California Nurses Association.  The speakers addressed a standing room only crowd of 300 people, focusing on the impact that the Koch brothers and other special interest have on decision-makers and public policy.

 

 

Greenpeace volunteer leaders from Los Angeles Vanessa and Lauren came to Rancho Mirage for the rally

The panel was followed by a rally hosting close to 2,000 people who came from across California and the US to hear speakers representing all walks of life who have fallen victim to the Koch’s poisonous influence over theirlives.  The crowd was addressed by a cancer survivor describing her trials with the complexities of the American healthcare system, a student challenging the Kochs to an open debate, and an investigative journalist who’s beenuncovering the depths of the Koch’s corruption.

At the rally’s close, activist Jim Hightower deputized the entire crowd as membersof the “People’s Center for Disease Control”, and attendees moved down thestreet towards the Rancho Las Palmas Resort to quarantine the area to preventthe spread of the Kochs’s dirty money and influence.  The sight of a thousandpeople marching straight across Bob Hope Drive and boldly up to the frontentrance of the resort was an incredible display of solidarity amongst thediverse crowd.  Agents of the People’s Center for Disease Control cheeredon several dozen activists in hazmat suits that crossed into the resort’sdriveway and across police lines to send their message directly to the Kochs(we know the brothers were on the roof watching the whole thing!). They werepeacefully detained while the crowd blocked the intersection and chanted“arrest the Kochs, not the people!”

  

We Americans have an incredible fight ahead of us to protect thefuture of our country from wealthy elites like the Kochs and their allies whowish to diminish the very democratic values on which our country wasfounded.  While the access enjoyed by these powerful forces will continueto push back on the fundamental rights of everyday citizens, actions taken bythose on Sunday send a powerful message: people are more powerful than dirtymoney, and when we come together as a movement, we build something far strongerthan the Kochs’s empire.  If we are vigilant and determined, we willcontinue to seek the truth and break through the lies and corruptionorchestrated by the Kochs.

 

 

It's an exciting time to be a climate activist in Los Angeles, and right now Greenpeace is a part of a larger community in the City of Angels that is pushing for a coal-free future.

It's unfortunate that many Angelenos don't know that 39% of our power comes from dirty and dangerous coal-fired power that we import from Arizona and Utah.  In fact, Los Angeles gets more power from coal than from any other source!  What IS fortunate is that the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) is currently in the midst of finalizing their Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), which is a roadmap for how our city will be powered for the next 20 years.  

California continues to be a leader on bold action to stop catastrophic climate change.  Just this last fall, Californians overwhelmingly voted to preserve our state’s climate change law, AB 32, in the face of a ballot initiative funded by oil companies that would have essentially taken away our air pollution and climate change regulations.  Los Angeles is the second largest city in the country with a history of incredible activism and a track record for doing the right thing.  For this reason, Greenpeace and our allies had great hopes for the LADWP to release an IRP that would set bold goals for transitioning our city off of coal-fired power by 2020, and lead a charge on ambitious renewable energy standards and efficiency programs that would create more local jobs.  

Instead, the IRP released by the LADWP a few weeks ago failed to live up to such a vision.  Just yesterday, Greenpeace and a growing coalition of 13 other groups including the Sierra Club, the Los Angeles Business Council, the Natural Resources Defense Council, California Interfaith Power and Light, Physicians for Social Responsibility-Los Angeles, and Communities for a Better Environment released a letter to LADWP Acting General Manager Austin Beutner expressing dissatisfaction with the IRP in its current form.  The IRP released late November includes a timeline that keeps our ties to our Utah coal plant until 2027, which is simply not ambitious enough if Los Angeles is to be a leader on climate change.  In addition to preserving our dependence on coal, the IRP backtracks on Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s goal of a 40% renewable portfolio standard by 2020, and the LADWP decreased its annual energy efficiency target.  Fortunately, our letter picked up some coverage in today’s Los Angeles Times story about the IRP.

Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti

The LADWP’s Integrated Resource Plan is a complex and changing document, and fortunately there will be opportunities in the upcoming year to work with stakeholders across the city to strengthen this document.  Ultimately, the Los Angeles City Council has the power to determine what sort of plan is adopted, and we are counting on our city leaders to call for a coal-free LA by 2020.  Back in October, Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti stood with us at our “Rally to Kick Coal and Oil Out of LA” and pledged to be a leader on kicking coal out of our city.  Just last week, a team of Greenpeace and Sierra Club activists held a lunchtime rally outside of LA City Councilmember Paul Koretz’s office.  Our friendly crew delivered a cake and over 6,000 petitions to Coucilmember Koretz’s staff to ask for his leadership in transitioning Los Angeles off of coal by 2020.

At the office of LA City Councilman Paul Koretz in Beverly Hills

Residents of Los Angeles can still play a part in offering their two cents on the LADWP’s Integrated Resource Plan during the current public comment.  2011 will be an exciting year to mobilize our city to shape our energy future, so stay tuned for more…….

When I hit the ground as a regional Field Organizer for Greenpeace in the City of Angels in February of 2009, I wasn’t sure where to start. It’s hard to carve out a place for yourself in this city amongst the millions of people, the diverse and sprawling neighborhoods, the mix of cultures, and at a basic level, the challenges associated with mobility.  It’s a big and complicated place, with big and complicated challenges.

 

But despite all of these challenges, I love LA-it is my home, and even if I move some day I’ll be a loyal Angeleno for the rest of my life.  It is vibrant, full of incredible history, personalities and communities, and a trip around this city often feels like a trip around the world.  And I love working as an organizer here: it presents constant tests in getting to know the city’s people and communities, in understanding its complex story and history of activism, and developing an understanding of the difficulties we face moving towards the future.  

When you look at climate change and Los Angeles, there is a complex story to tell.  LA is the second largest city in the US, plunked down in the middle of a parched environment, and we face tremendous challenges.  Increased heat waves (we just had our hottest day on record last week at 113 F), a shrinking water supply, air pollution, and a growing population that has sparked a scramble to supply our region with more power.  These are just a few challenges we face, and Los Angeles faces a moment of truth where we will need to decide on which path we want to travel.  

 

Will we make the right decisions about where we get our energy from?  How we commute?  Where we live?  How we use our resources?  And, to what extent will we stand up and fight for our future?

Los Angeles has a story.  Organizers tell stories.  I am thrilled to help tell a piece of the story of Los Angeles and climate change this Sunday at a large mobilization Greenpeace has helped to organize here: the Rally to Kick Coal and Oil Out of Los Angeles.  On Sunday, we expect at least hundreds (fingers crossed for thousands!) to turn out on the lawn of Los Angeles City Hall to demand a clean energy future that will break us from the grip of the coal and oil industries that our city is entirely too dependent on. Our event will be a part of a larger, history-making event called CicLaVia, which will shut down 7.5 miles of street on Sunday for Angelenos to reclaim this public space from cars and celebrate our community together.

Our current situation is unacceptable, and our city deserves so much more.  On Sunday, passionate community members, environmental groups, justice groups, and public health advocates will rally together to demand our future back from the coal and oil industries that pocket the money we pay for power and use it to fight public health, safety, and environmental standards from City Hall to Washington D.C.  Attending will be activists who are pushing City Hall and the Department of Water and Power get us off of coal-fired power once and for all so that we can generate clean and efficient power right here in LA that will create jobs for our people.  Activists who are building a local movement to push for EPA regulations on coal.  Activists who are working to clean up the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.  Activists who are fighting to hold the oil companies accountable who have poisoned their communities by placing oil fields in their backyards.  Activists who are battling oil companies that have the audacity to fund Proposition 23 on November’s ballot, which if passed, will destroy our state’s air pollution and climate protection law.  

Lastly, we will have activists like you-people from all over Los Angeles who understand that our future is worth much, much more than a big fat paycheck handed over to dirty corporate polluters.  People who understand that inaction is not an option.  On our darkest days, when the future looks very grim and we may have nothing else to hold to, we will still have our voices, we will still have each other, and we must still have the will to rise up together and demand more.  I hope you will join us on Sunday to help us build and strengthen this movement.

Photo of Los Angeles by Flickr User Storm Crypt.