Climate Solutions Forum

On October 1st to 4th community members and students will be hosting the Climate Solutions Convergence at Washington University, a space designed to discuss how to address the environmental dangers we currently face. It will be a time for coming up with real solutions ourselves instead of depending on the ones so often handed out to us by corporations and politicians.

The urgent need to come together and face these problems head on is clear when reflecting upon some of this year’s past events...

In the world of coal...

... 23 Massey-employed miners were killed in one of the worst mining accidents in the history of the United States. They were working for a company whose CEO boasts of his unflappable commitment to worker safety despite his company habitually not adhering to workplace safety violations meant to prevent such accidents. You can watch a great video of him clothed in the American flag standing in front of another much larger American flag explaining that climate change is a load of hooey concocted by a bunch of Environmental Extremists. Mountain top removal and the destruction of Appalachia continues apace with Arch Coal securing another permit to add onto their existing 15 permits to eradicate mountains and subsequently plant some nice little trees or maybe establish a golf course on the ruins as a show of its environmental concerns. But you know... Coal Keeps The Lights On™.

In the world of oil...

...we witnessed the greatest environmental disaster in US history unfold before our eyes. The tar balls and the birds and the dolphins and the fish destroyed by the spreading slick as it made its way through the gulf were all on display for nearly a solid month. We got to hear the stories of whole communities who had their livelihoods stolen from them and we got to reel at the notion that so many of the very same affected people had to then rely on BP and offshore oil drilling jobs to support themselves even as these very things were devastating the communities they lived in. We realized there was basically nothing we could do about this and we felt the paralysis that that entails. And this is just a taste of the costs we’re incurring by our utter dependence on oil to live in this society. Unless you’re in the middle of the woods and stark naked there is almost never a moment when you could look around and see something that wasn’t there thanks to oil.

In the world of solutions...

...the onslaught of products designed to Green your modern life continues unabated. You got your Green Laundry Detergent. Green Chic. Green Bottled Water. Green SUVs. Green TV Channels. Green Banking. Green Thinking. Green Living™. So Go Green you slob and do your part in purchasing the country sustainability. Hope you can afford the available “solutions” (you have a job right?).

Some people have even been so gregarious as to let us in on the good news of Green Coal! Coal is Green of course because all that nasty CO₂ that’s emitted can be taken care of by the planetary equivalent of sweeping untidy messes under the rug: carbon sequestration. Well at least that’ll be the case whenever the technology to do that safely and without actually just generating more CO₂ in the process becomes available. Until then we’ll just have to let the globe get a little messier while we find enough of the appropriate rugs scattered across the planet to shove all of our filthy CO₂ under. But in the meantime coal is Clean… I mean Green.

In the world of authority...

...the year has given us plenty of insightful peeks into the realm of environmental oversite. It’s been a reminder that perhaps allowing the very industries that create environmental disasters shouldn’t be the ones that decide whether they’re doing a good enough job at adhering to regulations. The year has also given us one of the greatest examples of global failure, thanks in no small part to United States politicians and industry, to do anything constructive towards climate change, the Copenhagen Accord. (Okay so this technically happened in late December last year.) One of the things the year simply wasn’t able to provide us with was any sort of climate legislation whatsoever. But congress members may have just been too busy with compromising legislation to death, meeting with some of the best-paid lobbyists the wealthiest industries on earth can provide, and discussing how much we should fear the brown people that lurk in our midst.

In your region, now...

... Washington University will be hosting the Symposium on the Global Energy Future, an event that in many ways represents all of the above problems and more. To say that the Symposium will be coal-heavy is obvious from looking through the schedule. That’s to be expected, Saint Louis is home to Peabody and Arch Coal, the nation’s 1st and 3rd largest coal companies respectively. They, along with Ameren, have provided 15 million dollars in funding so that Washington University can be at the forefront of “Clean Coal” technologies. So Washington University allows itself to be used by coal companies to perpetuate the myth of clean coal. When Peabody and Arch are both represented on the board of trustees of Washington University and Fred Palmer, the Senior VP of Government Relations for Peabody, earnestly invokes “Climate Gate” in a public debate about coal you have reason to be dubious about the university’s supposedly strong concern about environmental issues.

Clean Coal is certainly an egregious example and it makes for a very easy, and very valid, target. But further at the heart of this Symposium is the notion that technology and research coupled with industrial backing and national leadership is the way out of the mess we’re in. So long as we can do the research needed and shove it into the hands of some multi-national corporation or spry young entrepreneur then the worst effects of climate change can be mitigated. If we could just get our hands on some revolutionary technology then we’re home free. That and some political will strong enough to make significant changes. I wouldn’t hold your breath.

The world of the present and the future...

It’s time to realize that we cannot wait for the future to be decided for us. There is no politician or corporation or technological breakthrough waiting in the wings to lead us into a truly sustainable future. We have to start thinking how we can do this for ourselves.

The Climate Solutions Convergence will be a space to learn about the real consequences of pursuing a future where coal , political expediency, and corporate greed remain the orders of the day. It will be a space to talk about how students and community members can work together towards a truly sustainable and just future. And it will be a space to learn about what people are already doing in the community to bring about such change.

We invite you all to come the Convergence. Whether you would like to just stop by and see what’s going on, participate, or volunteer to help out all are welcome. If you've got ideas or experiences to share, this is the place to share them. This is the place to come together and see that people truly are powerful and that we do not have to wait for anyone or anything to create something wonderful.

See you all at Washington University from October 1st to 4th!

http://www.stopignoring.org/
(a schedule of all events will be posted at that website tomorrow morning!! so check back then!)

Climate Action STL
Green Action

Eckersley Responds to Ed Martin's Lies (Audio)

(Ed Martin gives a thumbs up to illegally deleting government emails)

Click the play button to hear the interview.

Thanks to Mr. Hacks for the pointer.

New Series: Student Activist Radio Show

Hi all. I'd like to introduce myself as Kevin Wolfe, I'm a student here in St. Louis, and a friend of Adam's and often collaborate with him on various issues related to politics and the media.

Adam and I have started a weekly radio series that focuses on student activism across the St. Louis Area, as well as developments in local, state and national politics. The show will be streaming live at University of Missouri, St. Louis radio on Sunday's from 6pm to 7pm. However we've also created a podcast version of the show via blog talk radio.

In this week's show Adam and I interview Adam Hasz from Wash U's Green Action organization about so called clean coal initiatives at Wash U. As well as environmental activism across the state of Missouri.

Listen to internet radio with STL Activist Radio on Blog Talk Radio

Video of the flash mob at Wash U:


Links mentioned during the Show:
Stop Ignoring Week of Action
Van Jones Speaking at Wash U
Missouri Student Environmental Coalition

The Definitive Profile of Gateway Pundit

Media Matters has produced a pretty thorough and detailed profile of the kind of garbage Jim Hoft, aka Gateway Pundit, regularly peddles on his blog. The tragic thing is that Hoft is still treated as a credible source of information by the St. Louis media and, occasionally, the national media (though usually the national attention is restricted to Fox News). I would hope that any reporter going through Hoft's track record provided here would think twice about citing him as a primary source on any story. He has demonstrated repeatedly that he's willing to peddle the most outlandish conspiracy theories and, at times, to simply make things up.

I do want to offer a caveat before linking to the story. It is unfortunately titled, "Jim Hoft: Dumbest Man on the Internet?" and repeatedly makes references to how "dumb" Hoft is. This, in my opinion, seriously detracts from the quality of the research. The information is all pretty self-evident: there's no need for Media Matters to tell the reader how they need to evaluate it. The reader can decide for herself whether Hoft is "dumb" or "dishonest" or whatever other adjective one would choose. I think the excessive name-calling just makes it too easy for reporters or moderates to dismiss the post as "just another squabble between the angry Right and the angry Left." In fact, it's much more than that. It's a damning critique of the type of propaganda, innuendo, and smear techniques that characterize the core of Hoft's work. The post should be read as an evaluation of the type of "journalism" the Right engages in, not as a personal attack on Hoft.

Nevertheless, the information is invaluable. So, with no further ado, I give you the Media Matters Profile of Jim Hoft.

Say It With Me, Democrats: Wind Farms Are a GOOD THING! Updated

Republicans and tea party members, aided by "liberal journalists" like Jake Wagman (who apparently go out of their way to pander to groups and politicians who want them put out of business after even the most idiotic attacks from the Right), are trying to make a big deal out of the fact that $107 million dollars of stimulus money went to a Missouri wind farm owned by Tom Carnahan, brother of Russ and Robin.

I don't see any reason for Democrats to beat around the bush on this issue: the fact is, the wind farm is doing exactly what the stimulus is supposed to do! The United States needs to wean itself of being dependent upon Middle East oil. The U.S. needs to start getting energy from somewhere that doesn't destroy our environment. We need to invest in a green economy so that we can compete with the rest of the world moving in that direction. There's no reason our country couldn't become the leader in a new green economy if we invested in green energy as much as we do in fossil fuels. And, in a time where thousands of Americans are out of work due to the Bush administration's disastrous handling of the economy, we need to fund shovel ready projects that provide people with jobs. The wind farm moves us forward on all of those issues.

Now, if there was some evidence that the money was being handled improperly, or spent on lavish trips or frivolous items, then yes I would have a big problem with it going to the brother of a U.S. Congressman. However, the reality is that this is exactly the kind of project the U.S. government needs to be investing in. In fact, the real problem today is that we didn't spend nearly enough on green energy. Don't tuck your tail between your legs and run every time Republicans scream "boo!" Stand up for the progressive vision for how to keep America on top: a shift towards the green economy of the future.

Update: Jake Wagman does a nice job writing about the Carnahans' responses. It'd be nice if they could speak approvingly about the use of wind energy as opposed to dirty coal and dirty oil, but I suppose anything along those lines would be interpreted as them claiming they were involved in the process, which they weren't. However, other Democrats should very publicly stick up for this project, since it is exactly what we need to move toward a progressive vision of the future.

Image credit: Ecofriend.

Is Voter Caging Possible In St. Louis?

The group Save Wisconsin's Vote 2010 released documents and video yesterday detailing a coordinated plan between American's for Prosperity, the state Republican Party, and local tea party groups to disenfranchise voters in Wisconsin for the 2010 November elections.

Here's the basic outline of the plan in Wisconsin:

• The Republican Party of Wisconsin will use its "Voter Vault" state-wide voter file to compile a list of minority and student voters in targeted Wisconsin communities.

• Americans for Prosperity will use this list to send mail to these voters indicating the voter must call and confirm their registration information, and telling them if they do not call the number provided they could be removed from the voter lists.

• The Tea Party organizations will recruit and place individuals as official poll workers in selected municipalities in order to be able to make the challenges as official poll workers.

• On Election Day, these organizations will then "make use" of any postcards that are returned as undeliverable to challenge voters at the polls, utilizing law enforcement, as well as attorneys trained and provided by the RPW, to support their challenges.

As stated on the website, there are two primary ways in which voter caging is used to suppress voting:

First, is to force as many voters as possible to cast provisional ballots, which require voters to follow-up the day after an election for the ballot to be counted. Historically, about 35% of all provisional ballots are never counted. Additionally, voters whose registration is challenged at the polling place are unlikely to have the required material to complete an Election Day registration, meaning the voter will be turned away at the polls.

The second goal is to create long lines at the polling place as the caging operation challenges voter after voter. Many people cannot afford to sit in line to vote for hours on end. Long lines discourage voters and many simply leave without casting a ballot.

Groups can use demographic information to selectively target districts with high minority and student populations.

So my question is, if Americans for Prosperity, the Republican Party, and the tea party are planning on doing this in Wisconsin, is there any reason to think they won't try to do it elsewhere, and particularly in Missouri?

First of all, we know that Americans for Prosperity has a strong presence in Missouri, and helped to kick off the original tea party events in St. Louis. In Missouri, AFP was run by a right-wing lobbyist and former state Representative named Carl Bearden, who has since left and formed a new astroturf group called United for Missouri.

Second, the local St. Louis Tea Party has stated repeatedly that they believe themselves to be "at war" and that therefore any form of unethical behavior is justified in achieving their goal of winning the election. As a reminder, here's a quote from a former St. Louis tea party member, James Greyfalcon, discussing the group:

Somebody had sent me a message (I had criticized some of the really negative, jacked-up, over the top rhetoric coming from a lot of people) and the message was, "you shouldn't say anything about that because you're being divisive. Extreme times call for extreme measures." And I said to myself, "see that's the kind of garbage...they're looking for people like that. They're looking for people who feel so disempowered that they'll surrender their integrity and Christian values to some operative who's willing to tell them "it's OK to do whatever it takes whatEVER it takes because your liberty's at stake, so I'm going to smear somebody, or you wanna try and convince, maybe, one of the black people in your group, to do something that....to smear maybe a black politician in a video or something, that person should just go along with it because that's what you do in a war.

And when people don't go along with that, I'm finding that all of a sudden there's indignation and confusion and fear on the parts of these people who were once so...they have so much control over these people who are scared.

There's no indication that anything has changed. In fact, just this week, Bill Hennessy reiterated his belief that "Winning isn't everything. It's the only thing."



Furthermore, Ed Martin has already set up a group of "poll challangers," making explicit reference to ACORN (the right-wing's favorite bogeyman that no longer exists in St. Louis):

The Count Every Vote Unit is a team of people who will canvass area polling places to help ensure our area’s elections take place in a fair, honest and impartial manner. The Count Every Vote Unit is comprised of attorneys, poll watchers, and poll challengers. They will broadcast any problems they see via Twitter, Facebook, and our website edmartinforcongress.com. Anyone who suspects fraud or sees anything suspicious is reminded to call and report it to the Secretary of State’s office.

“As someone who has never run for office before, there is a lot to learn. The problem of voter fraud and the need to fight every day to make every vote count is something that I know from my time working on the Election Board. I will be vigilant in my quest to ensure that every eligible person is able to vote and to make sure voter fraud is not an issue,” said Ed Martin.

As chairman of the St. Louis Board of Election Commissioners, Ed Martin was tasked with cleaning up city elections and he did just that. He stood strong and took on ACORN’s long standing attempts to corrupt our voting process. Ed Martin vows to continue to help empower voters.

Missouri’s Secretary of State, Robin Carnahan, has a cozy relationship with the former group ACORN, now called MORE or Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment. Robin’s former chief of staff and current campaign manager has direct ties to ACORN.

In his call for "election challangers," Martin explicitly says that the way to cut down on fraud is to require voters to present photo IDs:

One obvious way to help cut down on fraud is to require voters to present photo ID, something both Robin and Russ Carnahan oppose. Congressman Russ Carnahan said “No” to requiring photo ID for voting in federal elections.

However, current Missouri law does not require photo IDs for voting. In fact, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled such a law unconstitutional in 2006.

Unfortunately, however, sometimes the actual law does not matter very much when you have a group of dishonest or misinformed "poll challengers" who try to discourage people from voting using every means possible. This is something that needs to be watched very carefully in the St. Louis region. This is an area where the "enthusiasm gap" can make a big difference: a small group of fired up ideologues on the Right could potentially do a lot to cut down the votes of groups that traditionally vote for Democrats.

Feedback on this post is highly encouraged. Please let me know if you think this is possible and, if so, what can be done about it.

Latest Tea Party Conspiracy: Protecting Puppies Is A Secret Plan to Take Away Your Pets

Missouri has been dubbed the "puppy mill capitol of the U.S." by the Better Business Bureau. Currently, many puppy mills don't provide adequate food and water for their animals, and breeding dogs are exposed to extremes in the weather while trapped in small wire cages with no opportunity to exercise or interact with humans. If breeders are found to take terrible care of their puppies, they currently face virtually no repercussions.

So people who care about the way we treat animals worked hard to put Proposition B on the ballot for this November. A "Yes" on Prop B would ensure that dogs are provided with:

Sufficient food and clean water;
Necessary veterinary care;
Sufficient housing, including protection from the elements;
Sufficient space to turn and stretch freely, lie down, and fully extend his or her limbs;
Regular exercise; and
Adequate rest between breeding cycles

For the specific ballot language, click here. This is not an extreme request by most people's standards. In fact, most people would agree that it's a no-brainer that dogs should be provided with all of those basic necessities. Furthermore, the ballot would create a misdemeanor for people who violate these laws, since there currently are virtually no enforcement mechanisms to ensure that the dogs are treated well.

Now I know a lot of conservatives who disagree with me on virtually every issue who nevertheless are fully supportive of laws that prevent animal cruelty. This is not in any way a Left/Right, Liberal/Conservative, Small Government/Big Government issue. This is simply a matter of whether we think it's OK to abuse puppies for the sake of profit. There really is no reason why the St. Louis tea party leadership should be taking a stand on this issue (unless it was a supportive stand to show how they in fact are compassionate, caring individuals).

Nevertheless, they (or at least a couple of them) have decided to make it a pet issue. And because it is an issue where compassionate people of any political persuasion would naturally feel compelled to protect dogs, the tea party has decided to outright lie about the issue in order to trick caring people into voting against a law that would protect dogs from unnecessary suffering. Jim Durbin spreads the utter nonsense that Proposition B is actually a secret plan to eliminate pet ownership:

Proposition B will be on the November ballot in Missouri. It looks on the surface to be a great plan that will take care of the innocent dogs in terrible puppy-mill conditions...
However, the true purpose of this legislation is to ELIMINATE pet ownership through "regulation"...and then push the "regulation" on to force cattle, hog, and poultry farmers OUT OF BUSINESS!

I had heard rumors that Bill Hennessy's name was seen on anti-Prop B email chains, and that was confirmed recently as Hennessy started posting anti-puppy propaganda on the St. Louis tea party website yesterday. Of course, neither Hennessy nor Durbin linked to the actual ballot language when they discussed the issue.

Like I said, this is not a Left/Right issue. I'm sure there are a lot of tea party members planning on voting yes on Prop B. Furthermore, Hennessy has said repeatedly in the past that the tea party should focus on changing the federal government first. On May 15, he claimed The Tea Party's Focus Has Been Federal and wrote:

In spite of our work on state and local projects, the Tea Party movement didn’t come about to address Autism or state referenda. The Tea Party was born, according to my records and memory, to change the federal government, first by resistance, then by changing Congress.

In a different article, he was quoted as saying:

While many local tea party organizations involve themselves in local or state issues and races, the movement’s primary interest lies in Washington.

So why would they focus on this issue? It makes me wonder if some of the tea party leaders are being funded by dog breeders or by the large scale agri-businesses that also oppose this legislation based on the belief that opposing animal cruelty anywhere paves the way for making the food industry more humane. Furthermore, I wonder if this issue was ever put to a vote by the membership of the tea party. Shouldn't the people who attend these rallies have some say in how their names are being used?

Anyway, it's truly sad to see tea party leaders take such a despicable stand in favor of profits over puppies. Hopefully, they lose big and some of their followers start to realize that the St. Louis tea party leadership is not really looking out for the interests of anyone except themselves.

Update, in response to a comment: Someone in the comments suggested that I was unfairly characterizing the views of the St. Louis tea party based on the ravings of one person. I certainly don't think that everyone in the tea party agrees with this nonsense, which is why I have repeatedly emphasized that this issue should not be an issue the tea party leadership should get involved in. However, it's false to claim that the St. Louis tea party leadership doesn't endorse these extreme views. Bill Hennessy, the leader of the St. Louis tea party, specifically endorsed the conspiracy posts from Durbin: