Plundering Appalachia - The Tragedy of Mountaintop-Removal Coal Mining

Plundering Appalachia - The Tragedy of Mountaintop-Removal Coal Mining - YouTube

Appalachia, a region of extraordinary beauty and natural diversity, is under attack. Mountaintop removal is strip mining on steroids—a radically destructive form of surface mining whereby coal companies bulldoze the forest, decapitate the peaks with explosives, push the shattered rubble into adjacent valleys, and destroy the ecologically crucial headwater streams that had been there before. This is an ecological and human tragedy of epic proportions—and yet few Americans realize how the coal industry, seeking maxium profit and abetted by lax government regulation, is turning an entire region into an undeclared national energy sacrifice zone.

Plundering Appalachia is a searing exposé, in words and images, of the greatest ecological calamity now being wreaked upon America—an outrage justified by the desire for “cheap” power. With large-format photography and engaging writing from Wendell Berry, Judy Bonds, Ross Gelbspan, Denise Giardina, Richard Heinberg, Mary Anne Hitt, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., David Orr, Carl Pope, Erik Reece, Vivian Stockman, and others, Plundering Appalachia illuminates Big Coal’s assault on the people and wildlife of the region. The book includes first-person testimonies from coalfields residents about life in the shadow of mountaintop-mining operations, and dissects the current coal-powered energy economy that is toxic to people and nature—and helping cook the planet.

www.plunderingappalachia.org

Rainbow Warrior Indian Ocean Tour 2012 | Seafood

Rainbow Warrior Indian Ocean Tour 2012 - YouTube

In late 2012, Greenpeace is sailing the Indian Ocean to investigate the overfishing crisis there. We will be visiting local communities, listening and learning about the issues they face with their oceans. The food security and economic prosperity of the Indian Ocean region are at risk due to overfishing and destructive fishing practices, often conducted by large-scale foreign fishing fleets.

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Viktoria Stutz

Tar Sands Blockade - Taking non-violent direct action
 to stop the Keystone XL pipeline

Hurricane Paths on Planet Earth

From a series of photos at the Humboldt State University Library - capturing lumberjacks working among the redwoods in Humboldt County, California "back in the day."
More historic lumberjack images of giant redwoods

Petition | California Coastal Commission: Protect Whales~ Stop Seismic Testing off the Coast of Central California!

Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) is posed to conduct seismic testing in a grid pattern over a large area off the Central Coast of California from Cambria to the Santa Maria River. Tests could begin as early as September 2012 and last until the end of the year. The research ship would emit blasts of very loud noise into the ocean. Streamers four or five miles long would be towed behind the vessel, which would pick up the sound waves as they penetrate several miles into the Earth’s crust and reverberate back to the surface. 
Tests would last for 24 hours and would kill or injure marine mammals, including whales, dolphins, porpoises, seals and otters. A deaf marine mammal is a dead one as this is the sense they rely on to communicate, navigate and find food. Seabirds and other species such as endangered sea turtles, could be affected as well, with little or no way of mitigating the impacts. Great potential harm is highly possible to the small population of harbor porpoises in the Morro Bay area. They are most sensitive to loud man-made sound and the mammal most vulnerable to habitat abandonment and to hearing loss. 
PG&E’s position is that the tests are necessary to map the ocean floor so geologists can better understand the earthquake faults near Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant, close to San Luis Obispo, California. Earthquake faults were known at the time the plant was built. PG&E states these tests are essential in the aftermath of the Fukushima earthquake and subsequent tsunami, and the potential for a nuclear disaster. 
If an earthquake happened within the near future, what could be done to ensure that the Diablo Canyon plant would not have a meltdown? How will these tests prevent that scenario? The nuclear plant was constructed knowing that faults were nearby and that earthquakes were a potential danger. Wouldn’t it make more sense to spend the millions of dollars the tests will cost to instead begin plans to shut down the plant and find ways to shift to safe energy? Wouldn’t this be wiser than destroying untold numbers of animals within a Marine Protected Area, particularly when the necessary safeguards have not been implemented?

Petition | California Coastal Commission: Protect Whales~ Stop Seismic Testing off the Coast of Central California! | Change.org

Australia's Fair Game for Coal

Australia's Fair Game for Coal - YouTube

Coal barons are advancing on Australia. Let them know that our coral and our climate are not a playground for billionaires. www.savethereef.org.au

Kelly Rigg: When Worlds Collide: Nukes vs. Climate

I'm notoriously bad at remembering jokes, but the reaction to last week's announcement that Japan would phase-out nuclear power by 2040 reminded me of this one:

Three guys are stranded on a deserted island. They've been there for years; their clothes are shredded and hanging from their emaciated bodies. One day a bottle washes ashore, and out comes a genie offering three wishes. The first guy says, "I wish I were back at home, feasting and drinking to my heart's content," and poof! He disappears. The second one says, "I wish I were back at home in bed with a beautiful woman," and poof! He disappears too. The third guy looks around and says, "Gee, it's lonely here without those other guys -- I wish they'd come back..."

What does this have to do with Japan's announcement? Unfortunately, the nuclear phase-out was unnecessarily coupled with a lowering of its climate ambition. Japan had a conditional plan to decrease CO2 emissions by 25 percent from 1990 levels by 2020, but is now looking at only a 5-9 percent reduction commitment. This led some commentators to play the role of the lonely guy whose frame of reference was so narrow he couldn't see the opportunity for what it was. Take Mark Lynas writing in The Guardian for example, who veritably shouted that: "without nuclear, the battle against global warming is as good as lost." 

Creative Commons: Stanislav Dogparry via DeviantArt

Just as the choice between being lonely and dragging his friends back to the island was a false one, so is the choice between phasing out nuclear power and addressing climate change. The fact is we can do both. Over the weekend, I contacted several renewable energy experts who explained how Japan could fully make up for its nuclear phase-out by committing to energy efficiency and adopting a 100 percent renewable electricity target.

Greenpeace has produced a robust scenario in conjunction with the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the Institute for Sustainable Energy Policies (ISEP), which shows "Japan can switch off all nuclear plants permanently by 2012 and still achieve both economic recovery and its CO2 reduction goals." WWF also has a 100 percent renewables scenario.

As Sven Teske, lead author of the Greenpeace report explained it to me:

Japan's decision is a revolutionary step, reflecting a complete change in mentality which will have knock-on effects for the renewable industry elsewhere. For example, with government support an 11-company consortium has been developing floating offshore wind technologies. This will open up opportunities not only for Japan, but for other countries including China and India.

Christine Lins of the REN21 Renewable Energy Policy Network was equally enthusiastic:

Energy efficiency and rapid deployment of renewable technology can provide all the power Japan needs. Clearly the announcement will be a boon for the renewable energy industry. See for example the announcement of Masayoshi Son, Softbank chief executive and founder of the Japan Renewable Energy Foundation, to build a 1 GW wind farm on Hokkaido.

According to Antony Froggatt, Independent Energy Consultant and Senior Research Fellow at Chatham House in London:

It's worth noting the role of energy saving and energy efficiency. In 2011, despite halving the output of nuclear and replacing it with coal, oil and gas Japan's total energy sector emissions were only 0.2 percent higher than in 2010. While emissions are likely to rise on the short term, this will stimulate rapid structural, investment and policy changes that will lead to rapid reductions on the mid-term. Given Japan has failed to drive down its CO2 emission reductions over the last decade, a significant reform of the energy sector was already overdue.

Teske added that the increase in fossil fuel use should be seen as a bridge -- Japan did not build new coal or gas plants to compensate for the loss of nuclear electricity.

They're in the process of trying to shift the entire electricity sector. Solar is going through the roof. Wind is going a little slower, but headed in a very positive direction. It doesn't look like they plan any major expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure, but have simply expanded the capacity factor of existing power plants where necessary -- i.e. operating existing plants for more hours.

While there are many barriers to renewable energy development in Japan, (planning, ownership and structure of the utilities, creating an integrated national electricity grid, and overcoming the stranglehold of the powerful Keidanren, to name a few), all of the experts I spoke to highlighted political will as the single most important ingredient to overcoming them.

In a recent study examining the rapid transition underway in Germany and Japan, the authors concluded, "If there is adequate political consensus and will, significant and rapid change can occur to a country's energy system, with big gains to be had not only financially but also for environmental sustainability."

The take-home message for me is that winning the long hard fight against a dangerous nuclear future does not have to come at the expense of the climate. Japan's weaker climate targets are not set in stone -- we can and should push to accelerate the renewables revolution in Japan and elsewhere. In other words, to build the political will for a future in which our families are safe, healthy and prosperous.

And if you happen to come across a genie in a bottle anytime soon, be careful what you wish for.

Follow Kelly Rigg on Twitter: www.twitter.com/kellyrigg

Kelly Rigg: When Worlds Collide: Nukes vs. ClimateBreaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post