350 Updates

Onwards in Kosovo

Will Bates
Posted by Will Bates - 02/03/12, 4:03am

The following letter was sent in by our close ally, Nezir Sinani, in Prishtina, Kosovo working with a coalition of groups to lead the fight for alternatives to coal in Kosovo.

147 Dear friends around the world,

It is with great delight that I write this post. I write to thank the 350 international network for standing together with our communities here in Kosovo, and for everyone who signed the online petition at 350.org to the World Bank, The US Embassy in Kosovo and to the Kosovan Parliament to oppose a proposed lignite coal power plant. (It’s not too late to send your support if you haven’t already. Sign here: www.350.org/kosovo).

My name is Nezir Sinani, and I am a Kosovan activist working with the Institute for Development Policy, based in Prishtina, Kosovo’s capital. In fact, it was just a few years ago that I was working for the state-owned power company. I often served as a representative to the media describing the frequent power outages that plague our country. Over time, I came to learn about more than just the inconveniences of our energy infrastructure -- I learned about the damages to our country’s health, environment, and our global climate. Eventually, I couldn’t continue to be involved in the continuation of our coal-based energy system, and I began to search for ways for our country to move beyond coal.

At the same time, our government, in collaboration with the United States State Department and World Bank, began a process to try and build a new coal plant here. In response, a number of groups in Kosovo and internationally, including my organization, who believed that alternatives to coal were possible joined together to explore the alternatives to coal. What we discovered is that the alternatives aren’t only possible, but they are faster, stronger, and cheaper options for ensuring a secure energy future for our country, not to mention cleaner and safer for our health and climate. If you’re interested in the details you can download the most recent and most definitive report by Dr. Daniel Kammen of the University of California Berkeley here.

Just last week we were joined by Dr. Kammen here in Prishtina, and we held meetings with the Head of Parliament in Kosovo, the Ministry for Economic Development, the World Bank, and others to make the case for investing in alternatives not in coal. And let me tell you, your support is having an impact on these meetings as well. The media in Kosovo has picked up on the news of international activists around the world joining in against the proposed coal plant here, and the institutions pushing for the coal plant are increasingly aware that their actions are being held accountable not just by those of us here on the ground, but by an international movement.

Click here to continue reading.

 
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Abu Dhabi Puts Solar On It ahead of White House

Sarah Rifaat
Posted by Sarah Rifaat - 01/31/12, 5:24am

On October 5th 2010, President Obama announced that he would be installing a solar array on the White House roof in the spring of 2011. This announcement came as a triumph to many in the climate movement, who earlier in the year had written letters, sent in petitions and, along with our very own Bill Mckibben, embarked on a Solar Road Trip across the U.S. to convince the Obama administration to re-install the solar panels that were on the White House's roof during Jimmy Carter's presidency. The White House initially declined the offer, much to everyone's disappointment, so Obama's statement a month later was a welcome surprise that meant we had one less world leader to convince to Put Solar On It.

Over a year has passed since Obama's promise, and as of yet there are no solar panels on the white house.  However, according to this article in the Green Prophet, HH Mohammed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan - the crown prince of the oil-rich gulf state of Abu Dhabi - has beaten Obama to the punch and installed a solar array in record-time on the roof of his court. Not only are these photovoltaics fully operational, but the electricity they produce also feed into Abu Dhabi's national grid.

If oil-rich Abu Dhabi can symbolically commit to renewable energy, one is left to wonder why the White House cannot follow through with its promise?

 

 

 
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Referees call "foul" on House Speaker John Boehner, say he's a shill for Big Oil

Christine Irvine
Posted by Christine Irvine - 01/27/12, 2:28pm

146

350 Ohio Field Organizer, Danny Berchenko, had the following to say about their trip to the Speaker of the House, Rep. John Boehner's district office Thursday afternoon.

It's become clear that Speaker of the House, John Boehner, is more interested in filling his pockets with dirty energy's money than in representing his constituents and ensuring ecological and economic security for Americans (and the rest of the planet). So yesterday morning, a group of twenty citizen referees braved the cold and rain to pay his district office in West Chester, Ohio a visit and call foul on his dirty dealings. The office, which is supposed to be open Monday-Friday during normal business hours, was mysteriously closed with no explanation on the door or their answering machine as to why. I guess the Speaker doesn't like being called out for blatant corruption.

Rep. Boehner has taken over 1.1 million dollars from the fossil fuel industry and in turn fights tooth and nail for their interests and against the interests of the American people and the planet. The Speaker invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in Big Oil companies involved with dirty Tar Sands extraction. He then held the payroll tax extension hostage to expedition of the Keystone XL pipeline decision, and is threatening to hold it hostage again to the pipeline’s approval. Holding solutions to the climate crisis and relief for the struggling middle class hostage in order to advance his own financial interests is an egregious abuse of the Speaker’s power.

So climate and Occupy activists teamed up in West Chester yesterday to blow the whistle on the Speaker’s corruption. It’s a natural fit for our movements to work together. Occupy is out to end corporate domination of our public policy-making process and obstruction of our democratic rights; to create a level playing-field where we the people have a say in our economic, political, and cultural destiny. The climate movement has long had to deal with obstruction of solutions to one of the greatest threats humanity (and all other living species on the planet) has ever faced, by the wealthiest and most powerful industry on Earth. Our struggles are one: end the collusion and corruption that has essentially replaced American democracy with American oligarchy. Establish true democracy in which the voices of the 99% calling for economic justice are heard over the checks flying into representatives pockets from Goldman Sachs, and the voices of 99% of the world’s scientists calling for an emergency response to the climate crisis are heard over the bribes from fossil fuel industry lobbyists.

 
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Why I'm worried about my trip to Canada...

The 350.org Team
Posted by The 350.org Team - 01/25/12, 9:23am

We just sent out this email to our folks in Canada. Not getting our emails? Sign up here.

It's time to fight back. Prime Minister Harper and Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver are waging a dirty campaign to discredit anyone who is opposed to burning the oil sands or building Enbridge's Northern Gateway Pipeline.

Sign the petition to help build a groundswell of Canadians who are ready to stop the oil sands:

Sign the Petition Button

www.350.org/canadian-groundswell

Dear friends in Canada,

I've been visiting Canada all my life, but I'm a little worried about my upcoming trip.

In late March I'm supposed to come to Vancouver to give a couple of talks. But now I read that Joe Oliver, your country's Minister of Natural Resources, is condemning "environmental and other radical groups that would seek to block" Enbridge's Northern Gateway pipeline from the oil sands of Alberta to the Pacific.

I think he's talking about people like me.

So I’m pushing back a bit, and I need your help. Let’s tell Joe Oliver that preventing the combustion of the second-largest pool of carbon on the planet isn’t “radical” -- it’s exactly the opposite. It’s rational. It’s responsible. And it’s just plain right.

Click here to sign the petition to Prime Minister Harper and Joe Oliver, and help show that Canadians everywhere are committed to stopping the oil sands.

 

 
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Solidarity to stop dirty coal in Kosovo

Will Bates
Posted by Will Bates - 01/25/12, 3:58am

UPDATE: This campaign is now out in French, German, and Spanish as well.

SOLIDARITY ACTION: Help communities in Kosovo overcome a proposed coal plant beign pushed by the World Bank and the United States State Department: http://www.350.org/kosovo

Stop Kosovo's Keystone!

We're harnessing the power of this movement to stop a proposed coal plant in Kosovo. And it’s not just any coal, it is lignite coal, the dirtiest kind. We need to support the people of Kosovo in their struggle to move beyond coal and enter a new phase of development based on clean, renewable energy and energy efficiency.

Kosovo is a tiny country in the Balkans that sits on the fifth largest reserve of lignite coal in the world. It doesn’t quite match the scale of Canada’s tar sands in terms of total carbon, but for a country as small as Kosovo, the proposed coal plant there, being pushed by the United States government and World Bank, is most definitely their version of the Keystone XL pipeline.

Right now we have just a one week opening to try and dissuade the World Bank from going ahead with the proposed coal plant. Already the movement calling for alternative energy solutions on the ground in Kosovo has been gaining steam, and it is aided by new reports detailing the clean, more affordable alternatives available to Kosovo. Unfortunately the World Bank and the US State Department have not sufficiently considered those alternatives and are bent on burning this dirty coal. That’s where we come in.

Click here to send a message to the World Bank telling them to back off coal in Kosovo.

This week is critical because right now an “expert panel” from the World Bank is reviewing the proposal and assessing whether to move forward with the financing and planning process for the plant. They are due to report their assessment next week, and it’s essential they get the message that our movement is prepared to stand together with the community there fighting for alternatives to coal. We need to raise the alarm on Kosovo’s carbon bomb now.

Click here to add your voice calling for no new coal in Kosovo today: www.350.org/kosovo

The victory over the Keystone XL pipeline demonstrated the power of standing in solidarity across the globe against climate injustice. The struggle was led by local communities in Canada and the United States along with hundreds of North Americans willing to put their bodies on the line and go to jail for the cause. But we all have a stake in keeping Canada’s tar sands oil in the ground, and we effectively added our voices together, through petitions, photos, sharing articles and updates online, visiting US embassies, and more. We have tremendous power when we act together.

This week we’re standing with Kosovo. Next week or next month it could be anywhere else on the planet. Many of you are involved in your own local climate struggles: fighting fossil fuel projects, creating local solutions, and advocating for new policies that will move your city or country beyond fossil fuels all together. 350.org exists to help catalyze, coordinate, and connect these efforts. And when there are critical moments when this global movement can unite around a common cause -- whether it be stopping the Keystone XL pipeline or pushing to phase out fossil fuel subsidies -- we will. 

One thing’s for sure: the struggle for climate solutions is going to require that we all work locally in our own communities, and that we stand together globally when we can. Right now, for Kosovo, we can. Please sign on today. 

In solidarity,

Will and the 350.org team

P.S. To build a global groundswell against Kosovo's Keystone, we need to spread the word far and wide -- can you take a second to share the action with a couple of clicks on Facebook and Twitter? Many thanks in advance. 

 

 
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