CLIMATE JUSTICE MARCH, CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE- interview with renowned climatologist Dr. James Hansen and others

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• published: 02 Dec 2009
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On November 30, one week before the UN climate negotiations in Copenhagen open, and on the 10th anniversary of the World Trade Organization (WTO) protest in Seattle in 1999, major demonstrations, teach-ins and civil disobedience are taking actions place in cities around the U.S. (Nov. 30, New York) Across the nation and in midtown Manhattan, the climate justice movement came alive. Today marks the 10th anniversary of the successful WTO demonstrations known as the “Showdown in Seattle,” and is one week before UN climate negotiations begin in Copenhagen. Hundreds of members of Mobilization for Climate Justice (MCJ) turned out to unleash what environmental economist Charles Komanoff suggests is a “rebirth of the environmental movement based on environmental science and economics — and not on deal-making with corporate polluters.” Having signed the Yes Men’s Climate Pledge of Resistance ( http://www.beyondtalk.net/), the MCJ members first rallied in front of the Bank of America at Fifth Avenue and 16th Street, where renowned climatologist Dr. James Hansen discussed the Bank’s notorious role in financing coal power plants. A marching band then led all in a procession down Fifth Avenue, to the offices of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), an organization that collaborates with polluters and climate profiteers of the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, or U.S. CAP. (See members here: http://www.us-cap.org/about/members/index.asp) In a theatrical parody, the carnival procession of activists chased faux politicians, bureaucrats of corporate-friendly “environmental” organizations, and a grim reaper down Fifth Avenue to expose their true alliances. The procession brought awareness to the gross inadequacy of proposed U.S. climate policy, which is based on carbon trading and the continued use of coal, oil and gas. A speak-out was held outside the offices of the NRDC, featuring Laura Sheinkopf, a local water defender and advocate for a renewable energy economy, Charles Komanoff, a leading environmental economist and co-director of the Carbon Tax Center and Dr. Hansen. Mistress of Ceremonies Monica Hunken said, “We are part of a nationwide network of organizations opposed to the climate profiteering behind the Waxman-Markey and Kerry-Boxer climate bills. Proposed U.S. climate policy is a betrayal of the environment and of future generations. Our coalition demands equitable, democratic, and science-based solutions to climate change. We call for an end to hydrocarbon extraction and we reject carbon trading.” Speaking about the “Blueprint for Legislative Action” published by U.S. CAP and the NRDC, which served as a template for Waxman-Markey and Kerry-Boxer’s “disastrous” climate bills, Dr. James Hansen condemned the NRDC’s deal-making as promising environmental devastation. “Cap-and-trade with off-sets would guarantee that we pass climate tipping points, locking in climate disasters for our children. Cap-and-trade benefits only Wall Street and polluters, sacrificing humanity and nature for their profits.” The parade of environmental activists briefly took the street in front of NRDC, unintimidated by dozens of police troops and scooters, trucks cars and vans. A contingent of five environmental advocates sought to meet in the offices of the organization some say is doing more to mislead the public about false solutions to climate change than any other. Police swarmed the lobby of NRDC headquarters and prevented the activists from going upstairs. NRDC representatives did not come outside to address the crowd of nearly 100 critics. There was one arrest of a dedicated activists for allegedly chaining themselves to the front entrance. --November 30, 2009 - A phalanx of NYPD officers on foot and aboard several police vans surrounded the marchers as they walked up Sixth Avenue in the cold rain on Monday, at times pushing people off of the street and back on to the sidewalk. A group of roughly 30 climate activists, joined by award-winning NASA scientist and outspoken climate change expert, James Hansen, chanted as they went: "The earth, the earth, the earth is on fire. We don't need no cap and trade, the market is a liar." Was it a satellite Goldman Sachs trading office that brought the greens out to the barricades? The Manhattan offices of a large and influential oil or gas company? The downtown penthouse of a Big Coal mogul? Nope. The soggy climate activists were camped out in front of the headquarters of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), one of the largest environmental advocacy groups in the country. The activists accuse the NRDC of collaborating with polluters through its involvement with the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, or U.S. CAP, which is billed on its website as "an alliance of major businesses and leading climate and environmental groups that have come together to call on the federal government to enact legislation requiring significant reductions