Showing posts with label Civil resistance. Show all posts

Written by fatih al-farahat in ,


Denmark's fascist government continues illegal prosecutions of non-violent demonstrators during Copenhagen conference. Two Danish spokespersons of the global network Climate Justice Action's "Reclaim Power – Push for Climate Justice" rally (Stine Gry Jonassen and Tannie Nyboe) are made scapegoats

Global climate movement put on trial in Denmark: two Danish spokespersons Stine Gry Jonassen and Tannie Nyboe are made scapegoats

Today, on Wednesday, the 6th of October, the trial against the two spokespersons from the Global Network "Climate Justice Action” (CJA), Stine Gry Jonassen and Tannie Nyboe, begins. During the climate summit in Copenhagen in December last year, CJA organised several non-violent civil disobedience protests, including the "Reclaim Power – Push for Climate Justice" rally on the 16th of December. Stine Gry and Tannie were both the public face of the movement, but now they stand accused of being organisers and instigators of violence and vandalism.

Stine Gry Jonassen explains: "in several months before the summit, both of us acted as spokespersons for Climate Justice Action and we openly spoke about the demonstration on 16th of December. However, it does not turn us into principal organisers: the demonstration was planned jointly at international meetings with several hundred participants. Therefore, it is not reasonable to identify two people out of many as leaders just because they have chosen to be public faces.”

Both of them are shocked by the accusations that they were to have instigated violence. Tannie Nyboe explains: "we have all along emphasized that Reclaim Power was a non-violent demonstration. The purpose was not to achieve a confrontation with the police but to have a public gathering focusing on climate justice, with participations from both outside and inside the Bella Centre.“

Stine Gry Jonassen adds: "This lawsuit sends a significant message; if you have the nerve to rise up and have a critical point of view of society, you can end up in jail. It is absurd that a large public movement as CJA is criminalised because they dared to criticise the ongoing negotiations during the climate change summit – especially in the light of how poorly things turned out with the negotiations and how criticisable Denmark's role was."

Contacts:  Phone: (+45) 50 58 87 51; e-mail: media@climatecollective.org

Background:

Climate Justice Action (CJA) is a global network of social movements and groups, which mobilised and called out for protests during the climate summit in Copenhagen in December last year, in order to challenge the insubstantial political negotiations at the Bella Centre and demanding just solutions to the climate problems. On the 16th of December, CJA organised the demonstration "Reclaim Power – Push for Climate Justice" to give voice to the people mostly affected by climate changes – the same people who were not heard inside the Bella Centre.

At the time, Stine Gry and Tannie were spokespersons for the movement and argued for the right to protest and for the freedom of speech. They are now made responsible for planning the "Reclaim Power" demonstration and they are accused of plotting violence against an official in function, of severe vandalism, of serious disturbance of public peace and order, and of illegal
trespassing.

The trial of the two spokespersons takes place in Copenhagen City Court on the 6th, 27th, and 28th of October 2010 at 9.30 a.m.

Campaign:  ”I also shouted PUSH”

The police can and should not hold individuals responsible for the actions and decisions of a whole movement; therefore, a campaign called “I also shouted PUSH” is launched in connection to the trial. This is done in order to clarify that there were several hundred people shouting PUSH at the Bella Centre on the 16th December and that is was not an action in which Tannie and Stine Gry can be held personally liable to.

For further information: www.climatecollective.org/push

Written by fatih al-farahat in


International Day of Climate Action set to break record number of 350.org events: message from Bill McKibben

Message from Bill McKibben and 350.org


Dear Friends,

I don't quite believe it.
I've been double-checking our numbers, and it's beginning to look like we might shoot past the total of events from last year's International Day of Climate Action.  As I type this message, the counter is at 5203 events.

You might remember that there were 5248 events in 181 countries last year, and you can watch the compilation video from that day for a reminder of just how beautiful it was.  And how massive it was: CNN said that it was "most widespread day of political action in the planet's history." I was worried we couldn't top that for the Global Work Party on 10/10/10--in part because "experts" kept saying people were too discouraged after the failure of the UN climate talks in Copenhagen.

But it's looking like "experts" were wrong, and this movement is more energized than ever. When we see our leaders failing, we want to show them how it's done. We want to get to work. We'll let you know the minute we set a new record--you could help by emailing friends far and near to encourage them to take part.

And in case you needed a tiny bit more motivation to spread the word, this video just arrived from a friend of ours--Ellen Page.
Ellen is not only a great actress (you may have seen her in "Inception" or "Juno"), she's also a devoted student of permaculture and sustainability. She wrote me the other day to say that Los Angeles had just set a new all-time temperature record, 113 degrees. From Los Angeles to Laos, it seems that we're all in this together.

We'll be in touch soon, but I have the feeling the next bit of news I send will be very, very good indeed.

Onwards,

Bill McKibben for the 350.org Team

You should join 350.org on Facebook by becoming a fan of our page at facebook.com/350org and follow us on twitter by visiting twitter.com/350

To join our list (maybe a friend forwarded you this e-mail) visit www.350.org/signup

350.org needs your help! To support our work, donate securely online at 350.org/donate

Written by fatih al-farahat in , , ,


James Hansen: Human-made climate change pits the rich and powerful against the young and unborn, against the defenseless, and against nature. Our government allows and contributes to a great hoax, perpetrated on the public by moneyed interests, aimed at confusing the public about the reality of climate change. Join the Million Letter March!

From Dr. James E. Hansen
Equal Protection of the Laws
Here are my remarks given at Freedom Plaza before the Appalachia Rising march to the White House on 27 September.



Freedom Plaza: Equal Protection of the Laws

We hold this truth to be self evident – all people are created equal.


That truth is the basis for equal protection of the laws – a right guaranteed by our Constitution.


"All people" includes young people, mountain people, poor people.


Our government was instituted to protect the rights of all people.


We are gathered here today to draw attention to the failure of our government to protect the rights of the people, and failure to provide equal protection of the laws.


People have suffered a long train of abuses, invariably with the same objective – to enrich the few at the expense of the many.


First, the government is failing to protect the future of young people, knowingly allowing and even subsidizing actions that benefit the few at the expense of the public and at the expense of all life sharing this Earth.


Second, the legislative and executive branches of government knowingly propose actions that demonstrably and utterly fail to preserve our climate, and the environment for life.


Third, our government allows and contributes to a great hoax, perpetrated on the public by moneyed interests, aimed at confusing the public about the reality of climate change.


We are in danger of becoming the land for the rich and the home of the bribe.
More than 200 years after the founding of our nation, we face a great moral crisis. Human-made climate change pits the rich and powerful against the young and unborn, against the defenseless, and against nature. The moral issue is comparable to slavery and civil rights.


Solution for civil rights was provided by the combination of people in the streets and the courts, which provided equal protection of the laws and ordered desegregation.


Brave people have been standing up in West Virginia, in Kentucky, in Tennessee, in Utah, in Australia, in the United Kingdom, around the world.


But now is the time to go on the offensive. We should not be begging courts to forgive the brave people who protest. We must ask the courts to order the government to present plans to phase down fossil fuel emissions at a pace dictated by science, a pace stabilizing climate, preserving nature and a future for young people, providing young people equal protection of the laws.


We can bring that case. But we can win only if the public understands the situation, sees through the lies of the moneyed interests, sees what is needed to solve the problem.


As long as fossil fuels are the cheapest energy, we will not solve the addiction. There will be more mountaintop removal, longwall mining, tar sands, deep ocean drilling, shale gas, seeking the last drop in the most pristine places.


We must put a fee on carbon, collected from fossil fuel companies, with all proceeds distributed to the public. One hundred percent or fight!


Most people will get more in the monthly green check than they pay in increased energy prices. Our economy and innovations will be stimulated. We will move to clean energies.


A coalition is building for a carbon fee with 100% distributed to the public in a monthly check. In October this coalition will launch a campaign, Million Letter March, gathering letters showing that the people insist on an honest equitable solution. Please join the March.


Let us resolve to have a rebirth – a rebirth of our nation, a rebirth of equality of opportunity, true equality -- with a government of the people, by the people and for the people – all of the people.


Link:  http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/mailings/2010/20100929_FreedomPlaza.pdf

Written by fatih al-farahat in , ,


Australian Rising Tide Newcastle anti-coal activists shut down Newcastle coal port

Hey, fellow Americans, are you going to let the Aussies do all the heavy lifting?



Link to video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UKJirAf-zs

Written by fatih al-farahat in , ,


Mass Arrests in DC: We Shall No Longer Be Crucified Upon the Cross of Coal; Black Cross Alliance plants flags at coal mines, strip mines, coal-fired plants, coal ash piles, and at the Southern Illinois University Coal Research Center

Mass Arrests in DC: We Shall No Longer Be Crucified Upon the Cross of Coal 

by Jeff Biggers, Huffington Post, September 27, 2010

Over one hundred protesters from the Appalachian coalfields were arrested in front of the White House today, defiantly calling on the Obama administration to abolish mountaintop removal mining. As part of the Appalachia Rising events, the coalfield residents took part in a multi-day series of events to bring the escalating human rights, environmental and health care crisis to the nation's capitol.

Kentuckians for the Commonwealth leaders Teri Blanton and Mickey McCoy, the first arrested in today's nonviolent act of civil disobedience, were joined by allies from around the country, including NASA climatologist James Hansen. Meanwhile, protesters led by the legendary Rev. Billy Talen staged a nearby sit-in at the office of the PNC bank, which remains one of the last major financiers of coal companies engaged in this extreme form of strip-mining in Appalachia.

In a stark reminder of the national connection to the coalfields, the Obama administration officials looked on from their White House offices, as their electricity came from a coal-fired plant generated partly with coal strip-mined from Appalachia.

As a litmus test of the administration's commitment to science and the rule of law, Appalachian residents are calling on the EPA to halt any new permit on the upcoming decision over the massive Spruce mountaintop removal mine.

Mountaintop removal coal only provides, in fact, less than 10% of all coal production.
Fed up with the regulatory crisis and circumventions by outside coal companies, coalfield residents have been rising up against reckless strip-mining practices against the country, from Alaska to Alabama to Arizona.

In southern Illinois [blog readers, this is where I was born and raised], scores of black crosses were found at coal mines, strip mines, coal-fired plants, coal ash piles, and at the Southern Illinois University [my alma mater] Coal Research Center.

Citing Illinois as the birthplace of the coal industry, and "ground zero in the Obama administration's plan to dangerously experiment with carbon capture and storage technologies for coal-fired plants," a new Black Cross Alliance campaign announced plans to construct symbolic black crosses at coal mining and coal-burning landmarks in the state and across the nation to serve as a public warning: It is no longer acceptable for the Obama administration -- and state and regional government officials -- to be complicit in maintaining deadly coal mining and coal-burning communities as shameful national sacrifice areas in 2010.

Invoking William Jennings Bryan's "Cross of Gold" speech, the Black Cross Alliance called on the Obama administration and the state of Illinois to halt billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies for multinational coal corporations, and bring an end to the scandalous coal wars in Illinois by re-investing in a sustainable clean energy policy for the future for the coalfield regions.

The Black Cross Alliance declared: You shall not crucify us any longer upon a cross of coal.
"While the rest of the nation -- and world -- launches into the exploding new global market of clean energy development and green jobs," the Black Cross Alliance asked, "why have the coalfield regions in the country been left out of the renewnable energy movement and slated for a new generation of increased coal production?"

For more updates on Appalachia Rising, see: www.appalachiarising.org

Written by fatih al-farahat in , , ,


100 Mountain Top Removal Protesters arrested in front of the White House, including James Hansen

MTR protesters arrested in DC

Share12   2 

by A Siegel, Daily Kos, September 27, 2010

Mountain-top removal (MTR) is a travesty, a crime on current and future generations in the interest of near-term profits.  Even within the context of mining coal, MTR isn't just a way to get the miner out of the mine but miners out of the coal industry as blowing up the mountains and devastating the environment requires fewer workers per ton of coal than actual mining.
The Bush-Cheney Administration declared war on Appalachia, with just a few word changes to definitions as to "fill", allowing much more aggressive MTR operations with far less oversight.  Valley after valley, stream after stream has been devastated over the last decade.
Sadly, this hasn't ended.
The Obama Administration has sent quite mixed signals on MTR, stating that it would abide by science; slowing, constraining, and even stopping many MTR sites. On the other hand, the science is quite clear on MTRs devastation and the absolute failure ("0 of 37,000") of remediation projects to restore anything reasonably resembling the preexisting environmental conditions. In the face of the the science and the failure of remediation projects, the Obama Adminstration has not taken the logical (and legally required step) of stopping MTR and its devastating impacts on Appalachia (and all down-stream areas).
Appalachia Rising has come to Washington, DC, to bring some attention to the devastation that our failed energy policies are causing for our fellow citizens.  Sadly, outside the Beltway bubble, the real lives of Appalachia's residents seem meriting little attention in the face of media-overhyping of the astroturf funded Tea Party wing of the Republican Party.  Ask yourself, just how many front-page stories have you ever seen on America's War on Appalachia in your local newspaper?
"The science is clear, mountaintop removal destroys historic mountain ranges, poisons water supplies and pollutes the air with coal and rock dust," said renowned climate scientist James Hansen, who was arrested in today’s protest at the White House. "Mountaintop removal, providing only a small fraction of our energy, can and should be abolished. The time for half measures and caving in to polluting industries must end."
Thousands of people marched on DC, coordinated by Appalachia Rising, to try to make their voices heard over the din of coal industry advertising and horse-race watching reporting on the latest political shenanigans (rather than on substantive issues like Senate Republican candidates utter rejection of science).
"I have talked, begged, debated, written letters to officials, published  op-ed pieces in newspapers and lobbied on the state and federal level  to end mountaintop removal," said Mickey McCoy, former mayor and  lifelong resident of Inez, Kentucky.  "Being arrested? That’s such a  small price to pay for being heard. My home and people are paying the  real price for mountaintop removal. They are dying."
We need to ask ourselves who and what is right.
  • Those blasting mountains out of existence and killing (yes, killing) people with "externalities" (pollution) are earning record profits.

  • Those calling attention to these crimes are getting arrested.


Who represent your interests and principles?
UPDATE / PS: I do not know the exact reasons for the arrests. Here is the item from Jeff Biggers:
Over one hundred protesters from the Appalachian coalfields were arrested in front of the White House today, defiantly calling on the Obama administration to abolish mountaintop removal mining. As part of the Appalachia Rising events, the coalfield residents took part in a multi-day series of events to bring the escalating human rights, environmental and health care crisis to the nation's capitol.
Kentuckians for the Commonwealth leaders Teri Blanton and Mickey McCoy, the first arrested in today's nonviolent act of civil disobedience, were joined by allies from around the country, including NASA climatologist James Hansen. Meanwhile, protesters led by the legendary Rev. Billy Talen staged a nearby sit-in at the office of the PNC bank, which remains one of the last major financiers of coal companies engaged in this extreme form of strip-mining in Appalachia.
In a stark reminder of the national connection to the coalfields, the Obama administration officials looked on from their White House offices, as their electricity came from a coal-fired plant generated partly with coal stripmined from Appalachia.
Update: The arrests ...
The protesters were arrested Monday after refusing orders from U.S. Park Police to leave the sidewalk outside the White House.
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Written by fatih al-farahat in , ,


41 Rising Tide Newcastle protesters arrested for breaking into Newcastle's three coal terminals at dawn, climbing on top of piles of coal and tying themselves to machinery, stopping operations at the port for most of the day

Coal protesters to face court

by ABC News, Australia, September 27, 2010

Nine environmental activists will face court next month after breaking into several coal terminals at the Port of Newcastle at the weekend.

Forty-one protesters from the group, Rising Tide Newcastle, were arrested yesterday.

Police say they broke into Newcastle's three coal terminals at dawn, climbing on top of piles of coal and tying themselves to machinery.

Operations at the port had to be stopped for most of the day.

Seven men and two women have been charged with trespassing after they allegedly climbed onto two coal loaders.

Some abseiled down the machine's cables and were hanging 45-metres above the ground.

It took the Police Rescue Squad around ten hours to remove all the activists.

Acting Superintendent, Wayne Humphrey says it was a huge effort to rescue the protesters.

"It is a big drain on resources, taking a lot of police off the road and that obviously diminishes our ability to respond to calls for service in the community normally," he said.

Police expect to fine the other 32 protesters with entering and remaining on enclosed lands.

The nine will face court next month.

Link:  http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/09/27/3022388.htm

Written by fatih al-farahat in , ,


2 members of Rising Tide Newcastle arrested after more than 50 protest coal industry's impact on climate change

Pair arrested over coal port protests

by Dan Cox, ABC News, Australia, September 26, 2010

Police in Newcastle have arrested two environmental activists who had tied themselves to machinery in the city's coal port to protest against the coal industry's impact on climate change.

More than 50 members of the group Rising Tide Newcastle broke into three coal terminals. Of the group, 36 sat on a huge pile of coal beneath infrastructure that is known as a stacker/reclaimer on Kooragang Island.

Another nine climbed on a coal loader, abseiled down the machine's cables and hung 45 metres above the ground.

They held banners which say "coal exports fuel global warming".

Police have made two arrests, cutting the pair from the port infrastructure they had tied themselves to.

Police are waiting for more officers to arrive before moving in on the protesters.

A spokeswoman for the group says none of the activists plan on resisting arrest.

Link:  http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/09/26/3022214.htm

Written by fatih al-farahat in , ,


40 Protesters from Rising Tide Newcastle force shut down of coal terminals

Protesters force shutdown of coal terminals

ABC News, Australia, September 26, 2010

Environmental activists have broken into coal terminals in Newcastle, strapping themselves to industrial loaders to protest against the coal industry's impact on climate change.

Members of the group, Rising Tide Newcastle, say they are protesting against the expansion of the coal industry in Australia.

More than 40 people broke into the three coal terminals, with 10 of them climbing onto machinery and unfurling banners.

Rising Tide spokeswoman Annika Dean says the protesters have successfully stopped production at the plant.

"This morning global warming activists have staged an emergency intervention into Australia's largest contribution to climate change, coal exports," she said.

"There's people on each of the different loaders -- I can see one of them just coming to a halt now. But all the others have stopped."

Police are on the scene and are speaking to the protest organisers.

Link:  http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/09/26/3022149.htm

Written by fatih al-farahat in


Do ‘Environmental Extremists’ Pose Criminal Threat to Gas Drilling? [Yeah, and can we now expect to see agents provocateurs at peaceful civil action protests?]

Do ‘Environmental Extremists’ Pose Criminal Threat to Gas Drilling?  [Yeah, and can we now expect to see agents provocateurs at peaceful civil action protests?]

by Abrahm Lustgarten, ProPublica, September 8, 2010

As debate over natural gas drilling [1] in the Marcellus shale reaches a fever pitch, state and federal authorities are warning Pennsylvania law enforcement that "environmental extremists" pose an increasing threat to security and to the energy sector.

.
The Patterson-UTI Drilling Company LLC horizontal drilling rig in Chartiers Township, Pa., on April 9, 2010. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

A confidential intelligence bulletin [2]sent from the Pennsylvania Department of Homeland Security to law enforcement professionals in late August says drilling opponents have been targeting the energy industry with increasing frequency and that the severity of crimes has increased. [But no proof of such events was offered.]

It warns of "the use of tactics to try to intimidate companies into making policy decisions deemed appropriate by extremists," and states that the FBI -- the source of some of the language in the Pennsylvania bulletin -- has "medium confidence" in the assessment. A spokesman for the FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The advisory, a copy of which was obtained by ProPublica [2], doesn't cite the specific incidents causing concern. It is also unclear from accounts from state law enforcement officials whether the incidents in Pennsylvania posed a substantial threat, or what effect the advisory might have on public gathering and the debate over drilling in the state.

Pennsylvania State Police said there have been only a few isolated crimes involving drilling facilities.

"We haven't had any incidents of any significance to date where we have identified a problem, or any environmental extremists," said Joseph Elias, a captain with the Pennsylvania State Police Domestic Security Division, which was not involved in issuing the bulletin. [So what the hell is going on here?]

An aide to Gov. Ed Rendell -- speaking on behalf of the state's Homeland Security Office -- said the advisory was based on five recent vandalism incidents at drilling facilities, including two in which a shotgun was reportedly fired at a gas facility.

"All this security bulletin does is raise awareness of local officials. It doesn't accuse anyone of local activity," said the spokesman, Gary Tuma. "Where the professionals detect a pattern that may pose a threat to public safety, they have a responsibility to alert local law enforcement authorities and potential victims."

Anti-drilling activists in the state say that public hearings and other events have been peaceful and that they see no evidence of violent opposition. Given the lack of evidence about "extremist" crimes, they say, the bulletin casts drilling opponents as criminals and threatens to stifle open debate.

"It may very well be designed to chill peoples' very legitimate participation in public decision making," said Deborah Goldberg, an attorney with Earthjustice, a national group pressing for stronger environmental protections [3]. "If people who have concerns fear that they are going to be treated as a security threat they may very well be afraid to go and express their views."

The advisory lists a series of public hearings on drilling permit issues across the state as potential flash points. It also mentions a Sept. 3 screening of the anti-drilling film "Gasland" in Philadelphia that went off without incident. Language describes "environmental activists and militants" on one side of the debate and "property owners, mining and drilling companies" on the other.

Finally, the bulletin groups the public hearings and film screening with protest rallies for anarchist clubs focused on "evading law enforcement," and with a Muslim advocacy group's rally for the release of suspects in an alleged terror plot at Fort Dix, N.J.  [This the Fox News tactic of guilt by association.]

The advisory was sent to state law enforcement and local government groups, as well as businesses with a specific concern addressed in the bulletin. It was not intended to be distributed to the public.

In issuing such an advisory, the government has to walk a fine line between the need to respect the fundamental rights of freedom of speech and the need to keep the public safe, said Nathan Sales, an assistant law professor at George Mason University and a former policy development staffer at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

"The question is how to accomplish the one with minimal consequences to the other," he said.

A pro-drilling group, the Marcellus Shale Coalition [4], characterized the vandalism in Pennsylvania as "directed at preventing our industry from safely delivering these resources to Pennsylvanians."

The group's president, Kathryn Klaber, said she supported civil debate over drilling, "but to the extent they go in the other direction, and potentially devolve in a manner that undermines our ability to keep our folks safe, then we will have a problem," she said.

Link:  http://www.propublica.org/article/do-environmental-extremists-pose-criminal-threat-to-gas-drilling

Written by fatih al-farahat in ,


Bill McKibben, Jean Altomare, Amanda Nelson & Jamie Nemecek -- American Heroes! Join 350.org & do some creative civil disobedience in the fight for our planet!

Notes on the enthusiasm gap

by Bill McKibben, 350.org, Huffington Post and tomdispatch,com, September 16, 2010

I got to see the now-famous enthusiasm gap up close and personal last week, and it wasn’t a pretty sight.
The backstory: I help run a global warming campaign called 350.org.  In mid-summer, we decided to organize an effort to ask world leaders to put solar panels on the roofs of their residences. It was to be part of the lead-up to a gigantic Global Work Party on Oct. 10 (10-10-10), and a way to give prime ministers and politburos something easy to do in the hope of getting the fight against global warming slowly back on track. One of those crucial leaders is, of course, Barack Obama, who stood by with his arms folded this summer while the Senate punted on climate-change legislation.  We thought this might be a good way for him to signal that he was still committed to change, even though he hadn’t managed to pass new laws.
And so we tracked down the solar panels that once had graced the White House roof, way back in the 1970s under Jimmy Carter. After Ronald Reagan took them down, they’d spent the last few decades on the cafeteria roof at Unity College in rural Maine.  That college’s president, Mitch Thomashow, immediately offered us a panel to take back to the White House. Better still, he encouraged three of his students to accompany the panel, not to mention allowing the college’s sustainability coordinators to help manage the trip.
And so, on the day after Labor Day, we set off in a biodiesel college van. Solar road trip!  Guitars, iPods, excellent snack food, and for company, the rock star of solar panels, all 6 x 3-feet and 140 pounds of her. We pulled into Boston that first night for a rally at Old South Church, where a raucous crowd lined up for the chance to sign the front of the panel, which quickly turned into a giant glass petition. The same thing the next night in New York, and then D.C., with an evening at one of the city’s oldest churches headlined by the Reverend Lennox Yearwood, head of the Hip-Hop Caucus.
It couldn’t have been more fun. Wherever we could, we’d fire up the panel, pour a gallon of water in the top, point it toward the sun, and eight or nine minutes later you’d have steaming hot water coming out the bottom. Thirty-one years old and it worked like a charm -- a vexing reminder that we’ve known how to do this stuff for decades. We just haven’t done it.
That’s what we kept telling reporters as they turned out along the route: If the Obamas will put solar panels back on the White House roof, or on the lawn, or anywhere else where people can see them, it will help get the message across -- the same way that seed sales climbed 30% across the country in the year after Michelle planted her garden.
There was just one nagging concern as we headed south.  We still hadn’t heard anything conclusive from the White House. We’d asked them -- for two months -- if they’d accept the old panel as a historical relic returned home, and if they’d commit to installing new ones soon.  We’d even found a company, Sungevity, that was eager to provide them free.  Indeed, as word of our trip spread, other solar companies kept making the same offer.  Still, the White House never really responded, not until Thursday evening around six p.m. when they suddenly agreed to a meeting at nine the next morning.
As you might imagine, we were waiting at the “Southwest Appointment Gate” at 8:45, and eventually someone from the Office of Public Engagement emerged to escort us inside the Executive Office Building. He seated us in what he called “the War Room,” an ornate and massive chamber with a polished table in the middle.
Every window blind was closed.  It was a mahogany cave in which we could just make out two environmental bureaucrats sitting at the far end of the table. I won’t mention their names, on the theory that what followed wasn’t really their idea, but orders they were following from someone else. Because what followed was… uncool.
First, they spent a lot of time bragging about all the things the federal government had accomplished environmentally, with special emphasis on the great work they were doing on other federal buildings.  One of them returned on several occasions to the topic of a government building in downtown Portland, Oregon, that would soon be fitted with a “green curtain,” by which I think she meant the “extensive vertical garden” on the 18-story Edith Green-Wendell Wyatt Federal Building with its massive “vegetated fins,” the single largest use of stimulus money in the entire state.
And actually, it’s kind of great. Still, I doubt many people are going to build their own vegetated fins, and anyway I was beginning to despair that nothing could stop the flow of self-praise until one of the three seniors from Unity raised her hand and politely interrupted.
Now, let me say that I already knew Jean Altomare, Amanda Nelson, and Jamie Nemecek were special, but my guess is the bureaucrats hadn’t figured that out. Unity is out in the woods, and these kids were majoring in things like wildlife conservation. They’d never had an encounter like this.  It stood to reason that they’d be cowed. But they weren’t.
One after another, respectfully but firmly, they asked a series of tough questions and refused to be filibustered by yet another stream of administration-enhancing data. Here’s what they wanted to know: If the administration was serious about spreading the word on renewable energy, why wouldn’t it do the obvious thing and put solar panels on the White House?  When the administrators proudly proffered a clipping from some interior page of the Washington Post about their “greening the government initiative,” Amanda calmly pointed out that none of her neighbors read the Post and that, by contrast, the solar panels had made it onto David Letterman.
To their queries, the bureaucrats refused to provide any answer.  At all.  One kept smiling in an odd way and saying, “If reporters call and ask us, we will provide our rationale,” but whatever it was, they wouldn’t provide it to us.
It was all a little odd, to say the least. They refused to accept the Carter panel as a historic relic, or even to pose for a picture with the students and the petition they’d brought with them. Asked to do something easy and symbolic to rekindle a little of the joy that had turned out so many of us as volunteers for Obama in 2008, they point blank said no. In a less than overwhelming gesture, they did, however, pass out Xeroxed copies of a 2009 memorandum from Vice President Biden about federal energy policy.
I can tell you exactly what it felt like, because those three students were brave and walked out graciously, heads high and kept their tears back until we got to the sidewalk. And then they didn’t keep them back, because it’s a tough thing to learn for the first time how politics can work.
If you want to know about the much-discussed enthusiasm gap between Democratic and Republican bases, in other words, this was it in action. As Jean Altomare told the New York Times, “We went in without any doubt about the importance of this. They handed us a pamphlet.” And Amanda Nelson added, “I didn’t expect I’d get to shake President Obama’s hand, but it was really shocking to me to find out that they really didn’t seem to care.”
Did I say I was impressed with these young women? I was more than impressed. Nobody I went to Harvard with would have handled it as powerfully as they did (maybe because they weren’t looking for a job in the White House someday). A few hot tears were the right response, followed by getting on with the work.
Our next question, out there on the sidewalk, was how to handle the situation -- which, indeed, we had to do right away, because in today’s blog-speed world, you’re supposed to Put Out a Statement to reporters, not to mention Tweet. So how to play it?
The normal way is to claim some kind of victory: we could have said we had an excellent exchange of views and that the administration had taken seriously our plea. But that would have been lying, and at 350.org, we long ago decided not to do that. The whole premise of our operation, beginning with the number at its core, is that we had better always tell the truth about our actual predicament.
Alternatively, we could have rounded on the administration, and taken our best shot. In fact, it would have been easy enough right then and there for me to chain myself to the White House fence with the panel next to me. It would have gotten some serious press (though not as much as if I’d burned a Quran). And in fact, some of our supporters were counseling that I head for the fence immediately.
We got an email, for instance, from a veteran campaigner I deeply respect who said:
Show Obama you can't be taken for granted, and I predict you will be amazed at the good things that come your way. This is a watershed moment: if they think they can get away with this with you, they'll judge they can get away with more in the future. If you show them they can't get away with it (at the very least without embarrassment), they will come your way more in the future. It's power politics, pure and simple. This is how the game is played. Get their respect!
And I think he was probably right.  As he pointed out, Obama was even then on the phone with the mustachioed Florida geezer, the stack of Qurans, and the following of 50 or less. But I couldn’t do it, not then and there. Because… well, because on some level I’m a political wuss.
I couldn’t stand to make that enthusiasm gap any wider, not seven weeks before an election. True, it’s the moment when you have some leverage, but no less true: The other side was running candidate after candidate who literally couldn’t wait to boast about how they didn’t believe in climate change. (Check out R.L. Miller’s highly useful list of "climate zombies.") That’s why we’re deeply engaged in fights this fall like the battle to defeat California’s Prop. 23 and save the state’s landmark climate law. As a group we can’t endorse candidates, but I came home and spent part of the weekend mailing small checks to Senate candidates I admire, men like Paul Hodes from New Hampshire, who have fought hard for serious climate legislation.
And a confession. We’d walked past Obama’s official portrait on the way out and, despite the meeting we’d just had, I couldn’t help but smile at the thought that he was president.  I could remember my own enthusiasm from two years ago that had me knocking on doors across New Hampshire. I admired his character and his smarts, and if I admire them a little less now, the residue’s still there.
And so I couldn’t help thinking -- part of me at least -- like this: the White House political team has decided that if they put solar panels up on the roof, Fox News will use that as one more line of attack; that they somehow believe the association with Jimmy Carter is the electoral equivalent of cooties; and that, in the junior high school lunchroom that now comprises our political life, they didn’t want to catch any.
If that’s their thinking, I doubt they’re on the mark.  As far as I can tell, the right has a far better understanding of the power of symbols.  Witness the furor they’ve kicked up over “the mosque at Ground Zero.” My feeling is: We should use the symbols we’ve got, and few are better than a solar panel. Still, with the current craziness in mind, I was willing to give them a pass.  So we just put out a press release saying that we’d failed in our mission and walked away.
At least for now, but not forever, and really not for much longer.
On Oct. 10, we’re having our great global work party, and ever since Obama stiffed us, registrationsfor its events have been soaring. Last week, with the heads of Greenpeace and Rainforest Action Network, I issued a call for ideas about how to mount a campaign of civil disobedience around climate. Not a series of stunts, but a real campaign. At coal plants and drilling sites -- and at the places where our politicians do their work.
Actually, I’ll be surprised if the White House doesn’t put up solar panels within a year. But even if they do, that would just be the barest of beginnings. We’ve run out of spare decades to deal with climate change -- the summer’s events in the Arctic, in Russia, in Pakistan proved that with great clarity. I may be a wuss, but I’m also scientifically literate. We know what we need to do, and we will do it. Enthusiastically.
Bill McKibben is the founder of 350.org and author most recently of Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet. He is a scholar in residence at Middlebury College.
Copyright 2010 Bill McKibben
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