ENVIRONMENT:

A TASTE OF SHELL GAMES TO COME IN THE ARTIC:

 

Shell Loses Control Of Arctic Drilling Rig In Alaskan Harbor

By Climate Guest Blogger on Jul 16, 2012 at 12:23 pm

Photo: Teresa Derrick-Laxfoss

by Kiley Kroh
Royal Dutch Shell’s preparedness to drill offshore in the harsh and remote Arctic Ocean this summer has been called into question by a series of recent events.
Over the weekend, the company’s drilling rig, the Noble Discoverer, appears to have come dangerously close to running aground near Dutch Harbor, where Shell’s fleet has been assembled. The Noble Discoverer is one of two dozen ships Shell plans to send into some of the most challenging conditions on the planet. According to the US Coast Guard, the vessel slipped anchor and drifted within 100 yards off shore before being pulled back into deeper water by a Shell tugboat.
The Los Angeles Times reports:

The vessel‘s anchor failed to hold and the 514-foot ship began drifting, but its movement was halted when tug boats were called in to assist, Coast Guard spokeswoman Sara Francis told the Los Angeles Times.
“We don’t know exactly what happened yet. We do know that the vessel’s anchor didn’t hold, they began to drift, they let out more anchor chain to slow that drift and called for immediate tug assistance,” Francis said.

Although Shell and the Coast Guard asserted there was no evidence of grounding, onlookers — including longshoreman David Howard and Dutch Harbor captain Kristjan Laxfoss — contradicted this account, saying the vessel was not moving and appeared grounded: “There’s no question it hit the beach. That ship was not coming any closer. It was on the beach.”
Petty Officer Sarah Francis said winds of 27-35 miles per hour likely led to the ship drifting — conditions that are benign compared with the hurricane-force gales, 20-foot swells, and dynamic sea ice the Discoverer could encounter off the North Slope where the company plans to drill offshore.
Pete Slaiby, vice president of Shell Oil in Alaska, noted both the Discoverer and Kulluk drilling ships will be secured by an 8-point anchor system when operating in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas.
The incident immediately follows the Coast Guard’s refusal to certify Shell’s oil spill response barge, the Arctic Challenger, because of concerns about the fire protection system, wiring, and piping on the 37 year-old vessel. The Coast Guard also expressed doubts about the barge’s ability to withstand harsh Arctic storms. The containment barge is essential to the fleet as it is designed to deliver oil spill response equipment to the five drilling sites. Without it, Shell would not have access to the equipment necessary to contain an oil spill in the Arctic Ocean.
In addition to the extreme and unpredictable weather, there is an alarming dearth of infrastructure necessary to mount a large-scale response effort off the North Slope. As detailed in the Center for American Progress report, Putting a Freeze on Arctic Ocean Drilling: America’s Inability to Respond to an Oil Spill in the Arctic, the area lacks roads, railroads, a permanent Coast Guard facility, a major port, or sufficient infrastructure to house and feed a large influx of people. As a result, Shell has said that its oil spill response efforts will be largely self-contained. The fact that the company is experiencing problems with this equipment before even reaching the drill sites raises serious concerns about their contingency plan.
Shell’s flotilla will continue to wait in Dutch Harbor – 1,000 miles south of the proposed drilling sites; the closest major port to the North Slope – while unexpectedly heavy sea ice prevents them from making the voyage to the Beaufort and Chukchi seas.
Slaiby, Shell’s VP in Alaska, recently told CNN that the company’s proposed exploration in the Arctic will be the “most complex, most difficult wells we’ve drilled in company history.”
Kiley Kroh is the Associate Director of Ocean Communications at the Center for American Progress.

HUMOUR:

MISSING THE POINT:

Another great cartoon from the pen of Stephanie McMillan.

HUMOUR:

THE MODERN WAY OF LIFE:

Yet another item from the pen of Stephanie McMillan.

HUMOUR:

HUNGARIAN TOXIC SPILL:

Another cartoon from Stephanie McMillan.

HUMOUR:

WHY LEAVE A JOB HALF DONE:

Here's another winning item from the pen of Stephanie McMillan.

HUMOUR:

A CHILLING PROSPECT:

As I promised, another interesting and amusing cartoon from Stephanie McMillan.

ENVIRONMENT:
SHAKING UP THE FINANCIAL DISTRICT FOR THE ENVIRONMENT:


Happening next Tuesday, a 'noise demo' in Toronto sending a message to the corporate elite who are responsible for environmental degradation. Here's the promo...
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Shaking Up the Financial District
Time Tuesday, December 7 · 4:00pm - 7:00pm

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Location Nathan Phillips Square, Toronto, ON

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More Info
Shaking Up the Financial District:
Celebrating Community Sovereignty and Environmental Justice in Toronto

Think climate change is a problem?
Think tar sands are unacceptable?
...Tired of false solutions and undemocratic policy from government and industry?

JOIN US: Dec. 7th at NATHAN PHILLIPS SQUARE, 4pm
***Please bring pots and pans for making noise and please dress up creatively to help rock the party!***

In opposition to the False Solutions promoted through the Copenhagen Accord, La Via Campesina, a global movement of peasant farmers, has called for 1000 Cancuns, an international day of solidarity actions on December 7th in support of the social movements in the global south who are converging on Cancun to fight for climate and environmental justice.

This summer we took to the streets of Toronto as part of ongoing struggle for economic and migrant justice, gender justice, environmental justice, indigenous sovereignty, and justice for our communities. By coming together as one diverse but united group, we showed how strong we can be. As the puppets of global capital were cowering behind security fences and hired thugs, the real power was in the streets... it was ours.

Now the same brokers of the global financial system are gathering in Cancun to continue negotiations for the next international climate treaty. Instead of working through the consensus process of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the large industrial countries have created their own side-agreement called the Copenhagen Accord and are now bullying everyone they can to submit to a deal which will be the doom of us all.

Canada sabotaged climate negotiations in Copenhagen while building the most destructive project on earth, the tar sands gigaproject. This year, the government of Canada undemocratically killed Bill C-311, the Climate Accountability Act, voted down Bill C-300 - an act to hold Canadian mining companies to account for human and environmental rights violations and signed an empty UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by excluding the right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent. Government and industry are digging up our country and the planet while ignoring the global climate crisis.

Fighting for climate and environmental justice means standing together to say we will not allow indigenous people to be forced off their land through carbon market forest deals, we will not allow the lives and health of poor people to be endangered while social programs are slashed, we will not let farmers have their crops threatened by unpredictable weather patterns and corporate control, will not allow forced migration of the inhabitants of small island and low-lying nations as their homelands drown under rising seas, we will not let our most valuable resources, be it clean water or sacred homelands go up for sale,and we will not let those in power to silence our fight for the justice for people and the planet, we call upon our allies to join us as we march on the financial district to MAKE SOME NOISE and remind them just who owns the streets in Toronto.

In Sol,
Environmental Justice Toronto

INTERNATIONAL POLITICS:

BUY NOTHING DAY AND BEYOND:

Today was Buy Nothing Day, originally a Canadian invention and now a worldwide "event", or non-event as the case may be. Molly was more or less true to the spirit of the day except that I felt compelled to go to the Liquor Commission to acquire more booze for the weekend. Actually it's pretty easy for me to observe such a day as the LC and the gas station account for pretty well over 90% of my purchases. I have to buy gas as a requirement to keep working. Maybe the booze is the same, along with the 222s for the arthritis and the occasional 50 cents for air for the slow leaking tire that the garage didn't manage to fix. Yeah a lot of places now charge for air if you can believe it or not. That seems like some sort of ultimate to me.

All that being said the idea of Buy Nothing Day seems to have gathered support outside of those who would rather spend their money on $15,000 "eco-tours" and naturopathic quackery. It has gathered the support of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) as the following article from them shows. Now a cynic might say that this merely speaks for a segment of the population that consume in different ways from the majority and would like said majority to follow their path, voluntarily or otherwise. And if they cannot afford to consume the "correct" way then too bad for them.

But does it have to be that way ? This year there is an alternative, at least in the Spanish speaking world. The 'Huelga De Consumo' promoted by the Spanish CGT bears a superficial resemblance to the Buy Nothing Day, but this event set for December 21 is another animal entirely. While it contains all of the feel-good ecoboo of BND it is expressly set forth as an instrument of class struggle, not as some new age correction of the presumed moral failings of the masses who do not share the social values (and privileges) of the 'new class'. It is meant as a 'trial balloon', following the September 29th general strike in Spain, to see if even more pressure can be put on the ruling class. It should be noted that the Spanish CGT with up to 100,000 members and representing up to 2 million Spanish workers in workplace elections is not an insignificant force.

Quite frankly I feel much more comfortable with this sort of thing than I do with the anglosphere idea of 'Buy Nothing Day' if for no other reason than the fact that the latter is merely something resembling a religious declaration of principle while a Consumers' Strike is something that may actually be a real weapon in a class war. I don't know how well the CGT's idea will lay out, but I will certainly translate further information about it here on this blog.

Until then, here is CUPE's statement on Buy Nothing Day. A very small step, but at least it is something.

☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼

Buy Nothing Day – cut back on waste
Nov 25, 2010 01:10 PM


Friday, November 26, 2010 is Buy Nothing Day, a day set aside to shun our consumptive ways. The day was first recognized in Vancouver in 1992 and has since spread throughout the world.

The Friday after the American Thanksgiving was selected for Buy Nothing Day as this day traditionally in the United States signals the beginning of the Christmas shopping rush.

Buy Nothing Day is a time to examine over-consumption and its effects on the environment and our culture. Specifically, over-consumption is linked to excess waste generation, rising greenhouse gas emissions, negative effects on the air, water and soil quality, and other environmental issues.

Here are just a few waste facts to consider:

►According to the Recycling Council of Ontario, by the age of 6 months, the average Canadian has consumed the same amount of resources as the average person in the developing world consumes in a lifetime.

►The average Canadian produces 997 kilograms of waste per year, according to Statistics Canada.

►Environment Canada estimated that more than 140,000 tonnes of computer equipment, phones, televisions, stereos and small home appliances accumulate in Canadian landfill cites each year.

►The CUPE National Environment Committee urges members to stop and consider these impacts and refrain from buying anything on Friday November 26. Rather than celebrating consumerism by shopping, CUPE members are encouraged to celebrate the Earth.

HUMOUR:

OBAMA TRIES TO REVIVE GULF TOURIST TRADE:

ECOLOGY CANADIAN POLITICS:

OPPOSITION TO THE NORTHERN GATEWAY PIPELINE:

The oil company Enbridge has recently joined BP on the "most unwanted list" of corporate vandals because of its pipeline spill in Michigan. Not content with playing second fiddle to the head capo of corporate crime, however, Enbridge has for some time been preparing a made in Canada potential disaster to put it up with the big boys. I refer to the planned 'Northern Gateway Pipeline' from the Alberta Oil Sands to the Pacific coast in British Columbia. This project has attracted a wide variety of opposition from environmental groups to first nations whose lands will be threatened by the development. It has even been opposed by the BC Central Coast Chamber of Commerce because of the dangers that it hazards. The Pembina Institute, a Canadian think tank concerned with energy policy, has produced a very critical report outlining the problems with this project as well as with another proposed northern pipelines. Consult that website for further details.

Canadian labour, in the person of the BC section of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE BC) has also come out in opposition to Northern Gateway. Here's their statement from the website of CUPE BC.

CLCLCLCLCL
CUPE BC opposes Enbridge tanker plans to navigate off coast
BURNABY—Citing this week’s Enbridge oil spill that has threatened a Michigan river and the earlier disaster by British Petroleum that devastated the U.S. Gulf Coast, the B.C. division of the Canadian Union of Public Employees today joined First Nations and environmental groups in voicing opposition to the Enbridge Northern Gateway project.

The project would involve super tankers carrying bitumen from the Alberta tar sands and navigating the coast of British Columbia, including the fragile Great Bear Rainforest.

CUPE BC says that any potential benefits of the Enbridge plan are outweighed by the high risk of another disaster like the BP oil spill. Enbridge itself has lost credibility in recent days with a pipeline leak that resulted in more than 3 million litres of oil flowing into the Kalamazoo River in southern Michigan, coating birds and fish.

“As we’ve seen in Michigan and the Gulf coast, any kind of oil spill on our coast would have a tremendous impact on the natural environment and would impact wildlife, including salmon and the Kermode bear which is unique to the Great Bear Rainforest,” says CUPE BC diversity vice-president (aboriginal workers) Leanne Louie. “With the BP oil spill, the damage is irreversible. We can’t let that happen here.”

Penetration of the B.C. coastline by oil tankers is only part of a massive plan to build a 1,150-kilometre underground pipeline that will result in the transportation of 525,000 barrels of oil each day across Alberta and B.C. The federal government and its joint review panel are currently reviewing Enbridge’s application for the project despite the B.C. government’s 2006 promise to protect the Great Bear Rainforest.

“Enbridge claims there is minimal risk of an oil spill. In reality, it’s not if but when an oil spill will occur,” says Sheryl Burns, co-chair of the CUPE BC environment committee. “The Campbell government says it wants to fight climate change. But by supporting the Enbridge application it’s doing precisely the opposite, since the pipeline will be a major incentive for increased production of climate-damaging oil from the tar sands. We should be creating green jobs instead that will employ British Columbians while also protecting our environment.”

In a letter to Premier Gordon Campbell, CUPE BC president Barry O’Neill reminds the premier of B.C.’s promise in 2006 to protect the Great Bear Rainforest. “We urge the provincial government to oppose the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway Project altogether and honour the Great Bear Rainforest agreement it signed,” writes O’Neill.

ENVIRONMENT:

EXPLOSION DEAD NOT LIKELY ONLY VICTIMS:

The 11 workers who died during the explosion that started the largest oil spill ever seen in the world are unlikely to be the only victims. Clean-up workers on the Gulf Coast are reporting an increasing number of illnesses caused by their exposure to the oil washing up on the beaches. There is now a Facebook group dedicated to pressuring for proper safety procedures for the workers involved in the cleanup. It also has a wealth of information from previous similar accidents. See 'Support Health and Safety protections for Gulf Oil Spill Clean-up'. Meanwhile here's a short article on what is happening from the US magazine 'In These Times'.

BPBPBPBPBPBPBP
Oil Spill Clean-up Workers: We’re Getting Sick From Lack of Protective Gear
By Lindsay Beyerstein

Some fishermen hired by BP to clean up spill oil say they've become ill after being exposed to oil and dispersant without proper personal protective equipment.

Several south Louisiana fishermen working on the cleanup told the LA Times that they had developed headaches, coughing, nausea, and other symptoms. The workers said they'd been working without facemasks or gloves.

BP spokesman Graham McEwen told the Times that he was not aware that any workers were getting sick.

Yesterday, 125 fishing boats working off Breton Sound in Louisiana were called off the job after workers on three separate boats reported nausea, chest pain, and other symptoms. One worker had to be evacuated by air ambulance and two others were driven to hospital, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

Rep. Charlie Melancon (D-La.) wants the Department of Health and Human Services to set up mobile clinics for clean-up workers and send the bill to BP. Melancon outlined the proposal in a letter to Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. As Melancon explained in the May 19 letter, workers are being exposed to hazardous materials on a daily basis and many are hours away from the nearest clinic.

ENVIRONMENT:

STOP THE TARSANDS PIPELINE:

The following story and petition comes originally from the Friends of the Earth via the Care2 site. I have to admit that I am somewhat uneasy about this item. It is all well and good to be against a pipeline that is intimately tied to bringing oil from the Alberta tarsands to its major market, the USA. Still, it's a simple fact that of the USA continues with its present economic system that they plainly need such oil, as in necessity. This sort of project will go ahead because there is no alternative for the USA in the way it presently operates. I don't think that such projects can be realistically opposed unless a lot of other things are opposed simultaneously. Be that as it may here's the article and appeal.

TSTSTSTSTSTSTSTS
Public Comment Needed To Prevent New Oil Pipeline
posted by: Beth Buczynski


Canada, and more specifically the province of Alberta, is ground zero for tar sands extraction.

As North America’s number one source of foreign oil, the tar sands produce the world's most harmful type of oil for the atmosphere, emitting high volumes of greenhouse gases during development, which contribute to global warming.

To access these underground stores, Big Oil companies must strip mine huge tracts of forest, causing cancer hot spots in indigenous communities living downstream from the toxic byproducts.

As if these characteristics weren't horrifying enough, these same companies are now pressuring the Obama administration to allow construction of a pipeline that would pump oil from the Canadian tar sands to refineries in the Gulf Coast that supply our country's gasoline.

Known as the "Keystone XL," oil companies are counting on this massive pipeline to make the expansion of tar sands operations profitable profitable, but they've failed to take into account (at least publicly) the "extra-large" effects this will have on environment, wildlife, and human health.

Consider these points from DirtyOilSands.org:

Oil sands production harms human health in at least two ways: when extracted, and when processed and refined from bitumen into gasoline. As described above extraction pollutes water resources. Communities downstream, in some cases hundreds of kilometers downstream, have been impacted: directly, with elevated cancer rates; and indirectly, with their subsistence economy endangered by polluted fisheries.

The spread of refineries processing tar sands oil is a problem because the synthetic heavy crude produced from tar sands is laden with more toxins than conventional oil. Communities adjacent to tar sands oil refineries face increased carbon dioxide emissions, and increased exposure to heavy metals, and sulfurs.

The communities along the Keystone XL pipeline's proposed path, would face increased risk of spills, and, at the pipeline's end, the health of people living near Texas refineries would suffer, as tar sands oil spews higher levels of dangerous pollutants into the air when processed.

Thankfully, President Obama has the power to halt this plan because Big Oil needs his permission, in the form of a presidential permit, to begin construction.

On April 9, the State Department released a draft analysis of the project, called an Environmental Impact Statement, which kicked off a 45-day public comment period.

Submitting official comments is a key opportunity for members of the public to pressure the Obama administration to reject this pipeline. The State Department is required by law to listen to your concerns and take them into account before making a final determination as to whether this project is in the public interest.

Click here to make your voice heard. Urge the Obama administration to reject new pipelines for the world's dirtiest oil.

TSTSTSTSTSTSTSTS

THE LETTER:

Please go to the link above to send the following letter to the Obama Administration.

TSTSTSTSTSTSTSTS
I am writing to submit my concerns about the impacts the proposed Keystone XL pipeline would have on the climate and communities -- and to urge you to deny a permit for this pipeline.

Tar sands oil is dirtier than conventional oil, causing three times more greenhouse gas emissions than regular gasoline. The 900,000 barrels of dirty oil that would be pumped through this pipeline every day would add 38 million tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere annually, which is equal to adding six million new cars to the road. Your draft environmental impact statement ignores how this pipeline would make global warming worse, a serious oversight that must be amended.

CANADIAN LABOUR/CANADIAN POLITICS:

GREEN ECONOMY NETWORK LAUNCHED:

This past Earth Day which Molly successfully ignored the Green Economy Network was founded. This is a collaborative effort on the part of a large number of Canadian labour, environmental and social justice groups, and is dedicated to promoting "green jobs" in the Canadian context. Here's their self introduction from their website. All very well, though I have some doubts about the statist methods which they intend to use to promote their goals. The federal government should do this, and the federal government should do that, etc.,etc.,etc.. Little attention seems to have been given to either local or cooperative initiatives. Yet such initiatives are the very ones that could actually both invoke the greatest public participation/enthusiasm and generate the greatest number of jobs. Dependence upon government, especially the federal government, is like depending on giant corporations. Much will be lost in waste, and what results is not necessarily the best outcome in terms of either ecology or employment. For what it is worth, however, here is their introduction.

GEGEGEGEGEGEGEGE
Vision Statement--Green Economy Network
We have come together as members of unions, environmental and social justice organizations to form a common front of civil society groups for the building of a green economy in Canada. In so doing, we realize we are living in one of those critical moments of history wherein urgent decisions and actions must be taken that will ultimately affect our destiny as a people, a nation, and the planet itself.



Like most of the world, Canadians continue to experience the turbulence of an ongoing global economic crisis. It is increasingly evident that the current economic model is broken. Any economic recovery based on a simple return to the old status quo would risk being a feeble and jobless one. At the same time, this economic crisis both augments and is compounded by an environmental crisis, highlighted by the alarming advance of climate change and global warming that now threatens civilization and global ecosystems. In turn, this environmental crisis is further reinforced by an emerging energy crisis in which our societal addiction to fossil fuels is now threatened by diminishing conventional and cheap oil supplies. What’s more, our economy and society are seriously plagued by an equity crisis of increasing poverty marked by growing gender, race and class disparities.



We believe the time has come to chart a new model and direction for Canada’s economy. This country can no longer afford an economic model that treats the natural environment and human beings as disposable goods. Instead, Canadians need to rethink our manufacturing processes, the way we use and generate energy, and the ways we construct our buildings. We need to rethink the way we transport ourselves, move goods, use water, fuel industries, and heat our homes and businesses. In doing so, we also need to break our addiction to fossil fuels and overcome the poverty and inequalities that plague our society. In short, we need to build a green economy that transforms the mode of production and consumption in our society, makes existing jobs more environmentally sustainable, and simultaneously creates new decent paying, full time, safe and healthy green jobs in all sectors of society, to address the pressing economic and social inequalities of our time.



Although both the public and private sectors have key roles to play in building a green economy for the future, we maintain that governments and publicly-owned institutions must now take the lead, since they alone have the tools to marshal resources of the magnitude and speed necessary for this kind of economic transformation. Through public sector-led investments and infrastructure, sound regulation and targeted incentives, governments can stimulate the private sector to play a key role in greening the major industrial sectors of the economy ­-­ such as manufacturing, resource, transportation, and construction industries. Moreover, much of the impetus for creating green jobs is going to come from local and regional economies where people live and work in closer relationship with their environment.



As civil society organizations, we are committed to make every effort to inspire Canadians to join in building an economy aimed at providing good green jobs for all, so that current and future generations can meet their needs while living in harmony with each other and the ecosystems that support human life and prosperity. To advance this transition to a real green economy, we will vigorously advocate concrete proposals and organize campaign activities designed to meet the pressing environmental, energy and equity challenges of our times. In doing so, we will make use of all the educational tools at our disposal, not only to inform and animate our members and the public at large, but to cultivate a broad-based movement for a green economy in this country and in solidarity with like-minded movements around the world.




It is only by progressively developing, step-by-step, a new economic model in Canada ­-­ one which is clean and sustainable, just and participatory ­-­ that we have any hope of contributing to the building of a better world in the 21st century and protecting the biosphere for succeeding generations to come.

HOLIDAYS:

WHY I WILL IGNORE EARTH DAY:

This Thursday April 22 will be the now traditional Earth Day. While there is some small competition from people who hold that the day of the Spring Equinox should be the date the powers that be have pretty well made this artificial holiday into a worldwide event. As seems usual for this sort of thing the child has grown and grown, and now we have 'Earth Week'. For those who are interested, in addition to the Wikipedia article highlighted above you can find more information on the USA Earth Day site and the Earth Day Canada site. No doubt other countries have their own pretenders to the title of "official site". For myself, however, I really don't care. Why ? Read on.

Now, I have no objections to people taking the opportunity to have a big party. I'm rather pleased by it as a matter of fact. I could only wish, however, that it wasn't mixed up with a gigantic, almost Roman clerical, dose of hypocrisy...the pretense that the participants are actually doing something that will accomplish the nebulous goal of "saving the Earth".

That's what it is - pretense. It's all very "nice" to send the yard apes out to pick up trash

from the local parks for instance, but whatever this has to do with changing to a more "sustainable" economy escapes me entirely. Similarly I have no desire to mindlessly consume "green bric-a-brac". I have plenty of green shirts already thank you very much, and once more the point escapes me. Except to observe that such consumption is the precise opposite of the sort of simplification that might actually make our societies more ecologically sustainable.

Neither do I have much interest in listening to the barely disguised advertisements for corporate and government sponsors as they tout their 'green credentials'. To me it smells of scam, and yes I have more than my fill of advertising every day as well. I'd prefer new green shirts. If the reader is interested in one of tens of thousands of examples of how business hopes to expand into this lucrative market then check out this salivating call to prosper. Think I'm wrong about the snake oil aspect of the whole thing ? Consider what sort of business Canada's reigning King of Con Rahim Jaffer was involved in. That's right. 'Green Technology'.

I think the key word in all the above is the term "expand". I have no doubt that certain important reforms can be accomplished even in our present political and economic system. Still, if we are to lead a life that is both sustainable and also humanly fulfilling I cannot see how this can be done when we are burdened with an economic system whose very nature demands continual expansion. Neither can I see how this can be done when this drive is mirrored and quite often exceeded by centralized government and its planning. Both the corporations and government presuppose the division of society into order givers and order takers. Any reforms that might come about by their efforts will see the costs borne chiefly by the order takers and the benefits reaped disproportionately by the order givers. That's the way it will be.

I see little to celebrate about such a skillful piece of fraud, unless, of course, you wish to admire its sheer larcenous beauty in a purely intellectual fashion, like admiring the work of a safe cracker. I wish everyone a good party, but it'll be an ordinary workday for me. Now if organizers of such events would borrow a page from the month before and promote green beer as part of their anti-consumption consumption well then I might at least stop off for a drink.

AMERICAN POLITICS:

OBAMA MISSES THE GREEN:

It's been almost one year on, and the sheen is starting to fade from the 'Obama Golden Boy' belief. the man receives an embarrassing 'Nobel Peace Prize' while overseeing not one but two wars. Nothing much happens domestically except a continuation of the massive bailouts to corporate America begun under the previous Administration. The only serious domestic reform-health care ie joining the civilized world- is gutted in the service of the usual special interests while the President sits Buddha-like as the dead is done.

If it was not apparent before it should be apparent now that America's political culture suffers from an illness that goes beyond the left/right divide. The illness is that image has become all, and that there is no substance in the pronouncements of pretty well any politician. Certainly other countries also suffer from this disease, but the USA has travelled furthest along the road. Obama is basically a triumph of image over substance. To be quite frank he said very little in terms of real policy while running for the post of Emperor, aside from the promise to close Guantanamo which has yet to be fulfilled. If it is it means merely transferring the whole atrocity, lock stock and barrel, to Illinois. People on the "progressive side" of the political divide were, more often than not (unless they had an 'ideological halter' such as anarchism), swept up in the romance of Obama's campaign, especially as the alternative was so unappealing.

Now the gloss has fallen off, and it will continue to fall in the years to come. Here is an article written by Naomi Klein for The Nation about another aspect of the Obama failure ie how his "green rhetoric" has not risen to the point of deeds.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

For Obama, No Opportunity Too Big To Blow:
posted by Naomi Klein

Contrary to countless reports, the debacle in Copenhagen was not everyone's fault. It did not happen because human beings are incapable of agreeing, or are inherently self-destructive. Nor was it all was China's fault, or the fault of the hapless UN.

There's plenty of blame to go around, but there was one country that possessed unique power to change the game. It didn't use it. If Barack Obama had come to Copenhagen with a transformative and inspiring commitment to getting the U.S. economy off fossil fuels, all the other major emitters would have stepped up. The EU, Japan, China and India had all indicated that they were willing to increase their levels of commitment, but only if the U.S. took the lead.

Instead of leading, Obama arrived with embarrassingly low targets and the heavy emitters of the world took their cue from him.

(The "deal" that was ultimately rammed through was nothing more than a grubby pact between the world's biggest emitters: I'll pretend that you are doing something about climate change if you pretend that I am too. Deal? Deal.)

I understand all the arguments about not promising what he can't deliver, about the dysfunction of the U.S. Senate, about the art of the possible. But spare me the lecture about how little power poor Obama has. No President since FDR has been handed as many opportunities to transform the U.S. into something that doesn't threaten the stability of life on this planet. He has refused to use each and every one of them. Let's look at the big three.

Blown Opportunity Number 1:

The Stimulus Package

When Obama came to office he had a free hand and a blank check to design a spending package to stimulate the economy. He could have used that power to fashion what many were calling a "Green New Deal" -- to build the best public transit systems and smart grids in the world. Instead, he experimented disastrously with reaching across the aisle to Republicans, low-balling the size of the stimulus and blowing much of it on tax cuts. Sure, he spent some money on weatherization, but public transit was inexplicably short changed while highways that perpetuate car culture won big.
Blown Opportunity Number 2:

The Auto Bailouts

Speaking of the car culture, when Obama took office he also found himself in charge of two of the big three automakers, and all of the emissions for which they are responsible. A visionary leader committed to the fight against climate chaos would obviously have used that power to dramatically reengineer the failing industry so that its factories could build the infrastructure of the green economy the world desperately needs. Instead Obama saw his role as uninspiring down-sizer in chief, leaving the fundamentals of the industry unchanged.
Blown Opportunity Number 3:

The Bank Bailouts

Obama, it's worth remembering, also came to office with the big banks on their knees -- it took real effort not to nationalize them. Once again, if Obama had dared to use the power that was handed to him by history, he could have mandated the banks to provide the loans for factories to be retrofitted and new green infrastructure to be built. Instead he declared that the government shouldn't tell the failed banks how to run their businesses. Green businesses report that it's harder than ever to get a loan.

Imagine if these three huge economic engines -- the banks, the auto companies, the stimulus bill -- had been harnessed to a common green vision. If that had happened, demand for a complementary energy bill would have been part of a coherent transformative agenda.

Whether the bill had passed or not, by the time Copenhagen had rolled around, the U.S. would already have been well on its way to dramatically cutting emissions, poised to inspire, rather than disappoint, the rest of the world.

There are very few U.S. Presidents who have squandered as many once-in-a-generation opportunities as Barack Obama. More than anyone else, the Copenhagen failure belongs to him.

Research support for Naomi Klein's reporting from Copenhagen was provided by the Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

MOLLY NOTE:

Klein is, of course, a 'left social democrat' with all the illusions that follow from that position. Like most people in her ideological camp she makes genuflections to "self-managed socialism" while, at the same time, harbouring illusions about both the power of and the realism of massive state action to "direct this grassroots democracy". All that being said, her criticisms of the Obama Administration have just as much force as if they were advanced from a more libertarian position. In other words, all that she has said is true. It's just that I, as an anarchist, am not surprised at the choices that Obama has made. A lot of "the left" feels betrayed. That is unrealistic. The Emperor is, after all, the Emperor, and it is not unexpected that he continues policies that benefit the ruling strata of the Empire. It would be surprising if the converse was the case.

CANADIAN POLITICS/AMERICAN POLITICS:

TAR SANDS OPPONENTS APPEAL RULING:

As the supply of conventional oil declines energy companies are increasingly looking not just to unconventional areas for drilling (such as the Arctic Ocean) but also to unconventional sources such as the Alberta Tar/Oil Sands. Petroleum extraction from bituminous deposits is such areas is controversial for many different reasons-its effect on the local ecology being the primary question. In recent years the American government has looked at the Alberta Tar Sands as a potentially significant (there may be more oil in this area than under Saudi Arabia) and, above all "strategically safe" (given a couple of weeks the US Marines could probably walk to the area in question) source of petroleum. Reliance on this source, however, has met with considerable opposition, not just within Alberta but also within the USA itself. The simple fact is that petroleum extraction from areas such as the Tar Sands is inevitably the dirtiest way to get oil, both in its effect on the local ecosystem and in terms of its contribution to carbon dioxide emissions. The greatest barrier to the tar sands development is that there simply is not enough water available to meet the needs of even a fraction of the proposed (let alone the potential) development. This, of course, raises the question of whether some substantial water engineering projects- such as diverting much of the flow of the Mackenzie River south- may not be part of the hidden agenda of the oil companies and governments.

The opposition in the USA is now appealing the recent Presidential Permit for a pipeline to the USA from the Tar Sands. Here's the story from the Act Up in Saskatchewan website.

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International Coalition Appeals Tar Sands Pipeline Permit:
Contributed by Jim Elliott
On August 20th, an international coalition of environmental and aboriginal organizations have vowed to challenge a permit given to a pipeline to bring the dirtiest oil on earth from the Tar Sands in Alberta to the United States.

“The State Department has rubber-stamped a project that will mean more air, water and global warming pollution, particularly in the communities near refineries that will process this dirty oil,” said Earthjustice attorney Sarah Burt. “The project’s environmental review fails to show how construction of the Alberta Clipper is in the national interest. We will go to court to make sure that all the impacts of this pipeline are considered.”

The groups involved in the challenge are Earthjustice, the Indigenous Environmental Network, the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy and Sierra Club of the United States. They pointed out in their statements today that this decision to allow the pipeline contradicts President Obama’s promise to cut global warming pollution and America’s addiction to oil while investing in a clean energy future.

The intended plan is to allow Enbridge, a Canadian company, to build the Alberta Clipper pipeline across northern Minnesota to Superior, Wisconsin and the Southern Lights pipeline to carry hazardous liquids back into Canada.

The continued support of the Tar Sands development in Alberta is creating an environmental catastrophe, with toxic tailings ponds so large they can be seen from space and plans to strip away the forests and peat lands in an area the size of Florida. In addition, greenhouse gas emissions from Tar Sands production are three times that of conventional crude oil and it contains 11 times more sulfur and nickel, six times more nitrogen and five times more lead than conventional oil. These toxins are released into the U.S. air and water when the crude oil is processed into fuels by refineries. So, in addition to the toxic mess and damage inflicted on Alberta and Saskatchewan, this proposal will expand the number of point sources for increased pollution.

“The tar sands pipeline connects U.S. refiners and consumers with the dirtiest, most carbon-intensive crude oil on earth,” said Kevin Reuther, Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy’s legal director. “Tar sands crude is causing massive environmental degradation in Canada and results in significantly more greenhouse gas emissions. This is the absolute wrong step to take if we want to create a greener energy future.”

It is said that building this pipeline to the United States would be in the national interest of the United States. If fact, these pipelines would hurt the United States. By having this pipeline cross the border, it will entrench the United States to depend on this dirty oil for as long as it flows. It will also obligate Canada to continue to provide oil in the same proportion as it now provides for the forseeable future even when the Tar Sands are depleted.

“Importing dirty tar sands oil is not in our national interest,” said Sierra Club executive director Carl Pope. “At a time when concern is growing about the national security threat posed by global warming, it doesn’t make sense to open our gates to one of the dirtiest fuels on earth. This pipeline will lock America into a dirty energy infrastructure for years to come. This is exactly the kind of project the State Department should be protecting us from.”

Many of the same groups involved in this court challenge are also appealing the U. S. Forest Service permission to allow the pipeline to cross parts of the Chippewa National Forest in Minnesota. In addition, a group of tribal members have apparently gathered enough signatures on a petition to hold a referendum on the Leech Lake tribal council’s agreement to allow the line through tribal land.

"We are saddened by the news that the Presidential Permit was signed today,” said Marty Cobenais of the Indigenous Environmental Network, a Bemidji, Mn.-based non-profit. “The voices and rights of the Leech Lake Band members are not being listened to by the Obama Administration. According to the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe Constitution they are allowed to hold a referendum vote and allow the members to decide to accept the agreement with Enbridge or not. Nearly 700 signatures were obtained. If they vote against the agreement, the pipeline route would have to go around the boundaries of the Leech Lake Reservation, which would require a new Environmental Impact Study, plus other permits including a new Presidential Permit.

“This project is being approved without all the federal regulations completed. The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) is still waiting to receive a completed application from Enbridge Energy and the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe to begin their approval process for allotment lands affected by these pipelines.”

CANADIAN ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-GUELPH ONTARIO:

DEEPENING OUR ROOTS:

Fresh from their recent victory at preventing development at the Hanlon Creek Business Park (see the Hanlon Creek Business Park Occupation News) anarchists in and about Guelph Ontario are planning a conference for this August 29. Here's the lowdown from their website.

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DEEPENING OUR ROOTS:DEVELOPING NETWORKS OF RESISTANCE IN GUELPH AND SOUTHERN ONTARIO:

This event is organized by participants in the HCBP occupation as an opportunity to move forward, now that we are no longer on the site. So many people came by the occupation, to camp, hang out and talk, or donate supplies, and so many other people have emailed or phoned us with expressions of support and solidarity. We would like to get to know all of you better, and discover ways we can work together on the HCBP and issues that others are involved with.

As we have made clear from the beginning of the occupation, this is about more than just the HCBP site, and there are so many interconnected issues and similar struggles that we are, or want to be, in active solidarity with. The success of the HCBP occupation helped restore faith in all of us that there are a lot of people out there who want to help make the world a better place, and who want to be a part of some kind of action that makes a difference. This event is one attempt to strategize together about where to go from here.

There will be many people coming to this event who are doing amazing work in Guelph, including people working to protect the land in other parts of the City, and others working on community food security and creating a sustainable way of life. There will also be people coming from the movement to stop Dump Site 41, as well as Land Defenders from Six Nations of the Grand River, and the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory (for some info see this support page).
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Here’s some info:
Deepening our Roots: Developing Networks of Resistance in Guelph and Southern Ontario
Saturday, August 29, 11-4
Free, family friendly, childcare provided
Potluck lunch (please bring your own dishes, and don’t worry if you can’t bring any food)
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Come share free food and take part in discussions on:
* developing networks that can support each other in protecting the land,
* working towards creating sustainable and free/autonomous communities, that can address our collective needs for food, medicine, shelter, and safety, without reliance on the industrial economy and the government,
* moving forward and broadening the scope of the efforts to prevent the HCBP,
and more.
Contact us by email at hcbpoccupation@gmail.com with any questions.
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This event is open to contributions… if you would like to present on an issue you are working on, please get in touch! If you would like to distribute info, speak on an issue, or offer any other contribution, please get in touch, we are open to your ideas. This will be a fairly informal event, with time to socialize outside of prescribed workshop/discussion periods.

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AND MORE:

There is also a fundraising concert in Guelph on the 29th. Here's the info.

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Also on August 29 – Fundraising concert at Ed Video, downtown Guelph:
Some good folks have organized a fundraising concert for Saturday August 29, the same day as the Deepening our Roots event, posted below. The concert’s funds will go towards legal fees.

There will be speakers, and music from Phone Went West, 6:1, Kelly Rose, First Rate People, and more. Tickets $7 at the door, plus pay-what-you-can donations are welcome. Starts at 7pm, at Ed Video, 40 Baker St.

INTERNATIONAL ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-ICELAND:

PROTESTERS SHUT DOWN ALUMINUM SMELTER CONSTRUCTION IN ICELAND:

The following is from the Icelandic environmentalist site Saving Iceland. Whatever one may think about the general goals of groups such as Saving Iceland, one thing can be gleaned from what follows ie the way that so-called "green parties' rapidly shift their rhetoric when confronted by the realities of political power. In this they are no different from their confreres in such countries as Germany nor are they different from the long and sad history of "socialist" parties once they come to power. One more example, as if any were needed, that the political illusion is just that- an illusion.

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Saving Iceland Stops Work on Helguvík Smelter Site:
This morning(August 12-Molly), 20 people from Saving Iceland stopped work on the Norðuál/Century’s smelter construction site in Helguvík. People locked on to three vehicle gates in to the site and therefor stopped all traffic in and out of it. People also locked on to machinery on the site so the work was stopped for at least two hours. The construction in Helguvík has to be stopped to prevent further destruction of wilderness by the damming of glacial rivers and geothermal areas, as well as the global impacts of aluminium production.

Not so long ago, the government with Össur Skarphéðinsson (then Minister of Industry) in the front, made a special discount contract with Norðurál/Century, which was signed last Friday in the shadow of Saving Iceland’s green skyr throwing. (1) The contract includes financial support from the Icelandic state in the form of a tax discount that amounts to 16,2 million US dollars. Norðurál/Century is therefor free from paying industry fees, market fees and electricity safety fees as well as special rules will apply concerning stamp duty and planning fees, and about new taxes. (2)

The contract concerns a 360.000 ton aluminium smelter but the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) - made by HRV Engineering, one of the biggest interest party concerning aluminium and energy construction in Iceland (3) - only concerns 250.000 ton production per year. Apart from that, Norðurál/Century has only been received 150.000 ton Greenhouse Gases emission permits. This difference seems not to be standing in the way of a 360.000 ton smelter construction - as usual when it comes to this type of construction.

The more construction that takes place in the shortest amount of time, the more unlikely it is that the project will be stopped. Therefor, construction in Helguvík started long before all needed permits had been granted for the size of a smelter that Norðurál/Century plans to build. The energy for the smelter has not been found and the same story can be said about energy transportation. This kind of behavior can only been described as misuse of power and characterizes all discussion and construction connected to aluminium and energy issues here in Iceland.

The Damming of Þjórsá River is one of the Main Premises for Helguvík

Since the discussion about the Helguvík smelter started, environmentalists like Ómar Ragnarsson and Saving Iceland, have pointed out the obvious fact that if the geothermal areas on the Reykjanes peninsula will be exploited according to the plan, they will dry up completely. Also that this energy would still not be enough for Norðurál/Century’s planned 360.000 ton production. (4) Svandís Svavarsdóttir, the Minister of Evironment recently repeated the latter point in Parliament. (5)

Until now these concerns of environmentalists have been answered in the way that they are nothing but pure speculations and the environmentalists have been criticized for not basing their pleading on stronger arguments. Landsvirkjun’s (national energy company) statement about not selling more energy to aluminium smelters on the south-west corner of the country, which though did not give any promises about the moratorium of the planned Þjórsá River dams, strengthened the pleading of those who accused environmentalists of speculations. (6)

Now it is clear that environmentalists were right; the aluminium smelter in Helguvík and planned increased production in Rio Tinto-Alcan’s smelter in Straumsvík, are dependent on the Þjórsá River dams. A recent so-called convention of stability, signed by the authorities and the economy’s representatives, depends on the construction of those dams, according to recent announcements from A.S.Í. (one of Iceland’s biggest labour unions) and Samtök Iðnaðarins (The Industry’s Association), where it says that all obstacles that could possibly stand in the way of the construction have to be removed before the coming 1. of November. (7) Katrín Júlíusdóttir’s (Minister of Industry) recent comments about Landsvirkjun’s possible energy sale to Norðurál/Helguvík makes this proposal more likely, though she has never especially mentioned Þjórsá. Where else should the energy come from any way? (8)
Insignificant Jabber About Environmentalism as Prosperity Politics

From the beginning of the bank collapse, the voices stating that environmentalism does not fit in at times of economical depression, have become louder. Steingrímur J. Sigfússon, the head of Vinstri Grænir (the Left Greens), has now taken up the same argument and called the party’s environmental policy a puritan policy and said that it is not suitable for today’s conditions. (9) This has probably given up all hope for people who still believe in reforms within the representative democracy system. People wake up from a bad dream and realize that they need to do something themselves about it. According to recent news that seem to have started; the homes of moneybags, bank directors and people in high positions in the aluminium and energy business, have repeatedly been targeted with paint-bombs and super-glue.

In an article written by Sigfússon one year ago he said e.g. that the devotees of Icelandic nature could not surrender and then added: “The best and the most environmental friendly options to harness are in the minds of local people, in progressive thinking and open minds.” (10) These sudden opinion changes of Steingrímur go together with the Left Greens´changed behavior since the party got in power in the beginning of this year. The party´presence in government has showed and proved what happens to people when they get power - or simply what the Left Greens´real intendment was concerning environmentalism. The latter option is maybe not so far away from the truth as Kolbrún Halldórsdóttir (former Minister of Environment) was kicked out of the party for being to genuine environmentalist.

There is always the need for protection of the environment! There is always the need for radical ideas about protecting the natural environment - the protection of nature for the sake of nature. People can not be fooled by empty words about destruction of nature for increased economic growth and buildup of the Icelandic economy. Were these not the exactly the same argument as used to raise support for the construction of Kárahnjúkar Dam and Alcoa´s smelter in Reyðarfjörður? These projects lead to gigantic environmental damage and democracy deficit, which was nothing but an opinion repression. (11) Landsvirkjun´s debts because of the project are seriously heavy and when looked at how shamelessly the Icelandic government forced the debts of privatized banks on to the public´s shoulders, there is no sign of any difference if state owned companies like Landsvirkjun will become broke.

Our struggle continues; against the destruction of this planet in the name of financial growth and the humans’ domination over the natural environment. The nature is the premise for life, so as long as it is being threatened we must resist.
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Resources:
(1) The Police Rough Up a Protester - The Media Helps Sustaining the Smear, an article on Saving Iceland’s webpage, http://savingiceland.puscii.nl/?p=4034&language=en

(2) News article on Smugan, www.smugan.is/frettir/frettir/nr/2258

(3) HRV has taken part in all of the major constructions connected to heavy industry in Iceland. See their web page: http://hrv.is/hrv/Projects/

(4) Helguvík þurrkar upp jarðhitann, frétt á Vísi.is, http://www.visir.is/article/200976386269…(5) News article on Mbl.is, http://www.mbl.is/mm/frettir/innlent/200…

(6) News article on á Mbl.is, http://mbl.is/mm/frettir/innlent/2009/01…

(7) News article on Vísir.is, http://www.visir.is/article/200945268709…

(8) News article on Mbl.is, http://mbl.is/mm/frettir/innlent/2009/07…

(9) An interview with Steingrímur J. Sigfússon in Kastljós, Thursday August 6th 2009, http://dagskra.ruv.is/sjonvarpid/4466688…

(10) Álhöfðunum lamið við steininn, an article by Steingrímur J. Sigfússon in Morgunblaðið, June 30th 2008

(11) ‘Green’ Deception Flops - A Statement from Saving Iceland Regarding Skyr Splashings of Election Offices, an article on Saving Iceland’s web page, http://savingiceland.puscii.nl/?p=3874&language=en
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Probably related...
Frequently Asked Questions
Defending the Wild in the Land of Fire and Ice - Saving Iceland Takes Action
S.O.S. ISLANDE (Fr.)
S.O.S.
Saving Iceland stöðvar vinnu í Helguvík
Lögregla gengur í skrokk á konu – Fjölmiðlar taka þátt í rógburði
The Police Roughs Up a Protester – The Media Helps Sustaining the Smear

INTERNATIONAL ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-ICELAND:

ARRESTS AT ICELANDIC PROTESTS:

The following item is from the Saving Iceland website. In the past few days Saving Iceland has been escalating their protests against the development of aluminum smelting in their country. You can read more about the issue and their campaign at their website. Here's the story.

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Noisy Demonstration by the Police Station - Two More Arrested:
UPDATE: 04:30 - Everybody has been released.
After the brutal arrest of 5 people during a Saving Iceland protest today (read about it with clicking here), around thirty people gathered by the police station in Reykjavík to protest against the arrest of their comrades and the police violence. During the noisy demonstration, two more people were arrested after trying to blockade the fence of the parking lot by the station. According to witnesses, one of them was seriously injured by the police who beat him until he bled.

We have received no proper photos yet, but hope to be able to put them on the website as soon as possible, as well as more information.

INTERNATIONAL ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-SWEDEN:

CLIMATE CHANGE ACTION AT VATTENFALL:

The following is a communiqué from the 'Gula Armé Fractionen' , a Swedish direct action ecology group. It comes via the Swedish anarchist site Autonoma Rötter. Molly loves the playful and humorous way that these Swedish comrades are approaching their actions. We could learn from them.

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GAF: Liberation action at Vattenfall‏:
Around lunchtime on Wednesday the 4th of March, a group of activists entered the headquarters of Swedish state-run energy giant Vattenfall in downtown Stockholm. They left again with 44 of the yellow plastic figurines that Vattenfall uses in their PR-campaign about climate change.

The activists were a commando of the Yellow Army Faction. They write in their manifesto:

"We are the Yellow Army Faction. We are the 237944 yellow plastic figurines created by Vattenfall. For months we have been forced to silently support its dirty policies. Now, we fight back!

We will not support the continued expansion of the fossil-fuel society. We will not support the mining of more brown coal, the construction of more coal-fired power plants, or billions of Crowns of support for new coal technology.

We do not believe in Vattenfall’s lies about so-called ‘clean’ coal. We also do not have time to wait for 20 years for a technology that merely might work. We have to stop burning coal now!

The Yellow Army Faction will fight Vattenfall, and the capitalist system that is driving the earth towards its collapse.

The Yellow Army Faction demands:

* The release of all of our yellow comrades!
* The immediate shutdown of all coal-fired power plants!
* That all construction of new coal-fired power plants cease
immediately!
* An immediate stop to all mining of brown coal!
* No more billions in research support for new coal technology: all
resources should go to renewable energies!

Today we released 44 of our imprisoned comrades. The fight has only just begun!

Images and video

shttp://autonomarotter.net/

http://autonomarotter.net/blogg/38-aktioner/78-gula-armefraktionen-i-fritagningsaktion-

A film about the figurines on Vattenfall’s webpage

http://klimatsignatur.vattenfall.se/event.php?theFigure=