The nation's food security could be at risk in a warming climate, say a group of climate scientists and other experts representing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Iowa State University, the US Climate Change Science Program (US CCSP), and the Great Plains Institute, in a new report called the Corn and Climate Report.

"High temperatures can lead to crop failure," said Professor Eugene Takle of Iowa State University. "There are likely to be other pressures as well, from unpredictable rainfall and snow cover to northward migration of diseases, all of which threaten the Midwest's ability to produce corn and other agricultural commodities." Read More | Related: A Brief History of Ashland, Oregon’s Green Welcome and Sustainability Center

The Elk River Municipal Utility is considering buying into the Big Stone II coal-fired power plant proposed to be built near Milbank, South Dakota. While other utilities and other states across the Midwest and the nation are abandoning plans for building new coal plants, the Big Stone II proposers continue down this path, which critics call "uneconomic and environmentally irresponsible."

On May 21st, thousands of people gathered on the Seattle waterfront to rally for Climate, Green Jobs and Healthy Communities. The rally was held nearby the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) public hearing on the EPA's recent proposed finding that global warming pollution is a threat to public health and welfare. Busloads of school children came from Oregon and throughout the Puget Sound region.

Rep. Boucher's Handouts to Coal Lobby Hurt Working Families

WASHINGTON, May 21, 2009-Fifteen concerned citizens were arrested today for peacefully blocking the entrance to Virginia Congressman Rick Boucher's office protesting his efforts to gut strong climate legislation at the expense of American families. Congressman Boucher has driven efforts in Congress to give away billions of dollars worth of free permits directly to coal, oil and other dirty fossil fuel companies under a cap and trade bill.

"The problem is Rick Boucher, the victims are American families, and the solution, as proposed by President Obama during his campaign, is a simple and fair polluter-pays cap that solves the climate crisis while rebating consumers," said Mike Tidwell, Executive Director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, who was among those arrested today.

COAL RIVER VALLEY, W.Va. — Activists are engaged in two separate civil disobedience actions this morning as part of the continuing campaign to end mountaintop removal.

UPDATE: Police Arrest 11 at Coal River Valley Site; More Protesters Expected to Converge

We are inviting activists of all shades to our Action Camp May 23-25. This will be our kick-off event for Cascadia Summer, a season of action in defense of native forests left standing on Oregon's public lands.

At the camp we will be hosting trainings in a range of subjects such as tree climbing and rigging, anti-oppression, non-violent direct action, jail support and much more. We are facing thousands of acres of native forest clearcuts in Oregon this summer and training is the first step toward action. While the Green Scare has targeted our communities, we must make it clear that this culture will live on and even thrive regardless of state repression. We cordially invite you to help create and share the joyful, colorful, resistance culture that we hold so dear. It is our solemn obligation to keep the flame alive in dark times; so come to learn and stay to fight. This summer we will be dispatching a diversity of tactics from direct action to community education. We will have a camp in the forest and friendly houses in the city and we're inviting comrades young and less young, experienced and less experienced to join us for a summer, a month or just a few days. As long as the forests are threatened and we are able, every summer will be Cascadia Summer.

The action camp will be hosted 45 minutes outside of our campaign base of Eugene in the forests of Oregon. Visit www.forestdefensenow.org for more information or email forestdefensenow@gmail to arrange accommodations/rideshares ready for you when you arrive for the festivities.

 http://www.ForestDefenseNow.org

…electing Barack Obama as President isn’t enough. Especially when his political party and too many of its Congressional members get sizeable amounts of campaign contributions from Big Oil and Dirty Coal. It’s virtually impossible to be a self-respecting climate activist and support the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, a corporate-polluter-influenced document. According to an initial analysis by the 1Sky campaign, 58% of the proceeds from the potential sale of permits to emit greenhouse gasses would be “polluter giveaways and fossil fuel industry handouts.” A Dow Jones Newswire story on May 15th stated that “the proposed legislation would give away up to 85% of the carbon allowances to industry and states, leaving only 15% to be auctioned off and for the government to decide what to do with the proceeds.”

On Saturday, May 2nd, Crafts Not Carbon gathered at Embarcadero Center to provide a safe space that fosters creativity and realistic conversation about climate politics. The event was held at 2:00PM, near the farmer's market and lasted till 5:30PM. While the group met in San Francisco for this event, it's future intentions is to reach all regions of the bay area, as well as use their forum for strategic occupation.

In journalism, sometimes the story comes to you, envelopes you, and you become part of the story, and you really don't have a choice in the matter. Objectivity is impossible and yet the truth comes out. This is one such story...

Sunday March 22nd was puntcuated by a large strom front moving through the Grand Vally which brought with it heavy winds with gusts above 60 miles per hour. My first indication that something was wrong was when around 7pm I heard a hurried knock on the door... read more

On Tuesday, activists from a group named "Mannequins for Climate Justice" shut down Kenmore Square in Boston by placing a dummy with the message "The Real Dummies Evict People & Fund Climate Chaos" in front of the Bank of America there. "Mannequins for Climate Justice" has the same agenda as Rising Tide Boston and the Worcester Anti-Foreclosure Team. Both of which receive a lot of coverage on this site.

Read more at the Globe

Personally, I think this stunt really hurt your cause. I wasn't able to find evidence of the Bank of America Climate Change connection, so I'm certain the average person won't make the connection. Instead, they'll just be upset that these people shut down traffic and wasted lots of taxpayer money. Maybe it's a good time to issue a press release condemning the act.

Cascadia Rising Tide (CRT) has been busy recently getting ready for the Spring and Summer "festivities" and decided to kick off the season down in Eugene at the annual Public Interest Environmental Law Conference (PIELC aka ELAW).

ELAW is a conference, held at the University of Oregon every year around the beginning of March, that is packed full of workshops ranging from Direct Action101 to the ins and outs of suing the government on anything environmental. ELAW is the largest environmental law conference in the country, is totally free and tends to signify the beginning of the summer environmental activist season here in Cascadia. Due to these factors CRT decided to come out and spread the word about Climate Justice perspectives and make the event a little more fun and action oriented. risingtidenorthamerica.org

On March 2, a large coalition protested the use of coal at the Capitol Power Plant(AKA Capitol Steam Plant). It looked like at least 1,000 people in all-with Native Americans and those harmed by mountaintop removal mining in the forefront. [Read More | WSQT Broadcast Audio featuring Native and other impacted communities]

Cops Refuse to Arrest After Protesters Blockade Coal Power Plant: At the coal burning Capitol Hill power plant, in a "waiting game" with police, over who could stand still longer in freezing weather, snow, and slush, a couple thousand anti-coal activists marched or locked arms for a blockade at the plant gates. The warmly dressed hundreds of police doing shifts guarding the tracks and plant, refused to arrest anybody, maybe on orders... [Read More]

Capitol Climate Action "astroturfers" abandon activists at Capitol Power Plant blockade: Hear Capitol Climate Action organizer claim they never really intended to shut down the plant... [Read More | Watch mpeg4 video clip here]

More Coverage: From the Indypendent | From American News Project | From Democracy Now: Feb26 | Mar2 | | | Participating Groups: capitolclimateaction.com | powershift09.org | energyactioncoalition.org

The December ice storm that took out power for millions of people across New England and Upstate New York was the worst ice storm to hit our region in a decade. The aftermath, however, was worse than anything we had to deal with following the last big ice storm back in 1998. Hundreds of thousands of people were without power days after the storm, and thousands of people went over a week without power.The absolute bungling of the response by Unitil management has prompted several towns throughout New England to consider getting rid of Unitil all together and forming their own municipal electric utilities.

Several coastal locations in Oregon are proposed sites for highly explosive liquified natural gas (LNG) terminals, to be brought in to port via large tankers from overseas locations. In addition to legitimate concerns about dredging being destructive to the riparian estuary ecosystems, the highly explosive properties of supercooled natural gas present risks in known seismic areas of the Cascadian subduction zone. Read More | Related: Start a new year for Climate ACTION with Rising Tide