We Can Build The Future — Together

Contact: Dani Heffernan, dani@350.org, 350.org, Common Dreams, 7/6/20

BROOKLYN, NY – Today, a federal judge ruled in favor of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe to suspend the Dakota Access pipeline pending further environmental review. The pipeline, supported by Energy Transfer Partners, was met with massive global opposition, and this latest decision comes after the Trump administration fast-tracked the project in 2017.

Over the weekend, two utility companies announced the cancellation of the Atlantic Coast pipeline, citing mounting costs and delays. Local communities have been fighting the project since it was first proposed.

In response to these developments, 350.org Keep it in the Ground campaigner Kendall Mackey gave the following statement:

“These are massive victories for people and the planet. The Native-led effort to stop the Dakota Access pipeline ushered in a new era of resistance to fossil fuel corporations, and this movement is only getting stronger. The judge’s decision to suspend Dakota Access and the cancellation of the Atlantic Coast pipeline are signs that communities rising up against extraction can and do win. Big Oil’s business model has always been at odds with the fight for racial and economic justice, Indigenous sovereignty, and a safe climate. To build a just and equitable future, we must keep fossil fuels in the ground.”

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The Earth’s atmosphere is already well past 400 parts-per-million in carbon dioxide, to say nothing about methane and the other GHGs

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See also: ‘Renewable’ natural gas may sound green, but it’s not an antidote for climate change, Emily Grubert, Chicago Tribune (Associated Press), July 6, 2020

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Fossil Fuel Divestments Growing Rapidly

Keep it in the ground: five trillion reasons to be happy

From an Article of The Guardian, Manchester UK, December 13, 2016

The value of investment funds committed to selling off fossil fuel assets has jumped to $5.2 trillion, doubling in just over a year.

Five years ago, the idea that investments in fossil fuel companies were morally or financially problematic was all but unheard of. But an argument started to take shape on US university campuses — that with more coal, oil and gas in existing reserves than can ever be burned while keeping climate change under control, it is ethical and economic madness to spend billions looking for more.

Fast forward to today and the argument has rocketed into mainstream financial thinking. It was revealed on Monday that investors worth more than $5tn have now committed to dump their fossil fuel stocks, and more than 80% of that is professional funds run for profit. Furthermore, this risk of a “carbon bubble” is now being taken seriously at the highest level, including by the Bank of England, World Bank and the G20’s financial stability board.

As Lou Allstadt, a former senior executive at Mobil Oil, puts it: “Divestment is speeding up the clock on the final accounting that will show fossil fuels are out and clean energy is in.”

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Source: http://yearsoflivingdangerously.com/story/the-coal-wars/

See also:  www.FrackCheckWV.net

"Breakfree 2016" @ www.350.org

Four (4) Reasons Why It’s Time to Break Free

From an Article by Annie Leonard, EcoWatch.com, May 11, 2016

With the presidential campaign dominating the news cycle, it’s easy to get distracted from what our current administration is doing—and not doing—to tackle climate change. We can’t afford to wait and see what the election brings. That’s why communities from the Gulf South to Alaska and around the globe are uniting in an incredible wave of resistance to fossil fuels this week.

Climate activists gathered in Anchorage, Alaska last month to speak out against offshore drilling in the U.S. Arctic. Photo credit: Mark Meyer / Greenpeace

Here’s why taking action matters:

1. Business as usual for the fossil fuel industry cannot continue.

The consequences of our reliance on dirty energy are no secret, but that hasn’t stopped fossil fuel companies from going to extremes to protect their bottom lines.

Exxon, for one, knew the climate impacts of burning fossil fuels 40 years ago. But instead of acting in the interest of humanity, the company campaigned in secret to cover up climate science so it could continue to plunder and pollute in search of more oil to burn.

Not to be outdone, Shell spent three years and $7 billion trying to drill in U.S. Arctic waters, a campaign that ended in a very public, ego-bruising failure in 2015. But the company is still clinging to its Arctic drilling hopes by a thread, relinquishing all but one of its Alaskan leases on Tuesday.

What do these two stories have in common? People power winning out over corporate greed. Thanks to tireless activism, Exxon is finally taking its scandal seriously, deploying the full force of its lawyers and lobbyists. And the movement that pressured Shell to leave the Arctic also prompted President Obama to protect Alaska from offshore drilling through 2017 and make the Atlantic off limits through 2022.

2. The path to a sustainable future does not include fossil fuels.

If we have any hope of preventing runaway climate change, we need to keep fossil fuels in the ground—starting now.

A 2015 study in the journal Nature revealed that we need to leave at least 80 percent of the world’s known remaining fossil fuel reserves untouched, including more than 90 percent of U.S. coal reserves and a whopping 100 percent of Arctic oil and gas.

In the U.S. alone, keeping publicly owned fossil fuels in the ground would cut greenhouse gas emissions by 100 million metric tons per year.

Of course, communities on the frontlines of the fight against fossil fuels have known this for years, but policymakers are just starting to catch up.

3. Actions speak louder than words.

If last year’s Paris climate talks showed us anything, it’s that the world’s political leaders are ready to talk the talk on climate action.

But are they ready to walk the walk? So far, the answer is no.

President Obama, for example, said last year, “As long as I am president, America will lead the world to meet this threat [climate change] before it’s too late.”

But his actions aren’t on pace with the change we need. He’s failed to protect the U.S. Arctic and the Gulf of Mexico from offshore drilling and his Interior Department Secretary Sally Jewell called the keep it in the ground movement “naive” in a recent speech.

If you think it’s “naive” to preach climate action one minute then turn around and sell our public land to the highest bidder the next, then it’s time to speak up!

4. Momentum for a clean energy revolution is on our side.

Breaking free from fossil fuels won’t happen overnight, but we’re far beyond square one. People power has already stopped major projects like the Keystone XL pipeline and forced Shell to abandon immediate Arctic drilling plans.

And we didn’t stop there.

This series of wins is no accident—it’s because people like you and me are uniting around one clear message. We only have one choice to protect our future: keep fossil fuels in the ground.

From financial stress to increased pressure from people like you, the fossil fuel industry is reeling. Right now is our best chance to turn up the heat and make 2016 a tipping point in the journey towards a clean, just, renewable energy future.

Communities all over the country—from Alaska to the Gulf South—have already pushed us closer and closer to this tipping point. Now it’s time to build on their actions and break free from fossil fuels for good.

Sound like a movement you want to be a part of?

Find a Break Free action near you and get involved.

See also:  www.FrackCheckWV.net

Many are saying "Keep it in the Ground"

The Guardian speaks out loud and clear on climate change & public responsibility

Dear Friends,

When the Guardian launched phase II of Keep it in the Ground we promised to keep you abreast of all the key moves ahead of the Paris climate summit in December.

To recap, the summit is the latest in the annual round of meetings (Conferences of the Parties in UN jargon) to thrash out a global deal on climate change. The talks have been building up to Paris 2015 after the disappointing ending at Copenhagen in 2009.

Here’s a backgrounder on the talks

This time around, there is widespread optimism that there will be a deal. Why? Because the talks are much further advanced than at the equivalent stage before Copenhagen. Over 150 countries representing 90% of the world’s emissions have already put their greenhouse gas curbing pledges on the table (our big data interactive will help you get to the bottom of what they mean).

Another factor is the French hosts. They have poured a huge amount of diplomatic capital into making these talks a success. Here’s an extract from a piece by the Guardian’s Fiona Harvey, a veteran of reporting many UN climate talks, on France’s diplomatic push:

Every one of France’s ambassadors, in embassies and consulates around the globe, has been educated on the demands of climate change, and instructed in how to communicate the messages to the governments they deal with, ahead of the summit, which starts on 30 November. Ambassadors have been holding public events, private meetings, talks with their diplomatic counterparts, businesses, NGOs and even schoolchildren.

At home, the outer walls of the foreign ministry, a stately 19th-century edifice on the banks of the Seine, are covered in a series of banners declaring, in several languages, the messages of Paris Climate 2015. Even the Eiffel Tower. further down the riverbank, has been pressed into service, lit up at night with climate slogans … Climate diplomacy has never seen such a concerted push.

Another hopeful development this week was the landslide by Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party in the Canadian elections. The outgoing PM Stephen Harper turned Canada into an international climate pariah so Trudeau’s promise to take part in Paris can only have a positive impact on the talks. But, says US environment correspondent Suzanne Goldenberg, let’s not get carried away. The proof of the pudding will be in the eating.

Your sincerely, James Randerson, Editor for the Environment, The Guardian