Coal to action: Join us March 2 as we protest a coal-fired power plant near Capitol Hill

[Also see: http://www.capitolclimateaction.org/ ]

This is a letter to colleagues from Bill McKibben, scholar in residence at Middlebury College, a director of Grist.org, and co-founder of 350.org, and Wendell Berry, farmer, critic, and prolific author.

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This weeks rash of protests in Newcastle, Australia, have served to draw the public eye towards the shocking contribution of the coal industry to climate change. From July 10-15, over a thousand citizens, activists and environmental organisations have been holding a series of educational forums, practical workshops and direct actions to highlight the urgent need to end coal mining and export and turn to sustainable energy and lifestyles.

Climate camps are taking off around the world!

AUSTRALIA: In July (10-15) A Camp for Climate Action will take place in the coal port of Newcastle, Australia. Organised by Rising Tide and Friends of the Earth, it follows on from a week of environmental teaching and learning at the 2008 Students of Sustainability Conference also to be held in Newcastle.

http://www.climatecamp.org.au

http://www.studentsofsustainability.org

A recent report published by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) points to the livestock industry as the most significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. At 18 percent (as measured in CO2 equivalent), the livestock industry emits more greenhouse gases than all forms of transportation combined. Livestock farming accounts for 9 percent of carbon dioxide emission, 37 percent of methane emissions, and 65 percent of nitrous oxide emissions. Though the agenda of climate change often targets regulating and reducing carbon dioxide emissions, methane and nitrous oxide actually contribute more to the detrimental effects of climate change because of the long-term reactions they cause in the atmosphere. Methane is 23 times more "warming" than CO2.

On December 8, Rally Around the Earth for Climate Justice and a Safer, Healthier Planet!

WATCH THE KYOTO NOW VIDEO: http://youtube.com/watch?v=o1ykJKKolx8

Peaceful protest: Rising Tide climate
protester blockading a trainMedia Release -- 19th November, 2007

Grassroots climate change action group Rising Tide has blockaded a coal train on its way into the world's biggest coal export port, at Kooragang Island in Newcastle Harbour. No trains are able to enter Kooragang Coal Terminal because of the blockade.