Metro Boston Climate Defense launched at Copley Square press conference; new initiative educates Hub commuters on dramatic impact of climate change on transit, local economy

BOSTON, MA – Officials with the newly-formed Metro Boston Climate Defense (MBCD) initiative launched a rush-hour education drive on climate change today, distributing thousands of “Change in Service” MBTA maps to morning commuters. At T stations throughout the Boston area, MBCD representatives delivered scores of map packets, each detailing the disastrous impact of rising sea levels on our local economy and transit systems – as well as the politicians and institutions that serve as roadblocks to progress on disaster prevention measures.

A joint effort of 350.org and the MassUniting coalition, Metro Boston Climate Defense was formed in response to alarming warnings found in the Climate Impacts on Metro Boston report. Read More | VIDEO

North Minneapolis and parts of nearby suburbs were hit by tornado damage on Sunday, leaving at least one man dead and many wounded. The tornado was part of a huge weather system that also killed many people in Joplin, Missouri. The city is enforcing a curfew into Monday morning, for possibly as long as three days. The Red Cross of MN has opened the NE Armory as an emergency shelter at 1025 Broadway St NE near Central & Broadway. (see @redcrosstc). Families can also get help at Henry High, North High and Folwell, and several schools will be closed tomorrow. [School press release]  read more

PEPCO got a "Flash Mob" protest against their continuing use of mountaintop removal coal and refusal to address climate change of September 24. Activists from Rising Tide DC and Appalachia Rising collaborated on this action. Read More | Video

All through the month of August, Pakistan’s River Indus experienced heavy flooding causing more than 1,500 deaths and the displacement of nearly 20 million people along the 800 mile-long riverbank. Even once the water recedes, people in Pakistan will continue to struggle to deal with the heavy loss of lives, agriculture, infrastructure, and growing illnesses. To provide some relief to the community, VBB is collaborating with organizations around Houston to raise funds towards flood relief efforts in Pakistan. The fundraiser evening, aimed at raising awareness about the situation in Pakistan, features musical and informative videos directly from Pakistan, including video recordings by LAAL, a Pakistani band who just released a new song in honor of those affected by the floods, and audio recordings by Pakistani novelists Mohammed Hanif and Sorayya Khan. Journalists and artists from India, including Satyen K. Bordoloi and Sandeep Patey, will be sending footage. DJ A/V will spin the discs and videos, and the Pakistani Consul General will be available to answer questions.

Demonstrations against Proposition 23, an oil company sponsored initiative that would delay implementation of California's global warming law, began in earnest this month. Protesters carrying signs reading "Stop Texas Oil--Hell No on 23" have demonstrated in San Rafael, Mountain View, and Palo Alto. Organizers say this is just the start of a campaign that will include hundreds of such actions statewide before November's election.

On Wednesday, May 12th, Seize BP held a protest in front of the BP offices on New Montgomery Street in San Francisco, to demand that the U.S. government seize BP and all of its assets. BP is involved in a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that is still leaking 5 to 25 thousand barrels of oil daily into surrounding waters. Other corporations involved include Transocean and Halliburton. On Friday, May 14th, Act Against Oil will demonstrate in Berkeley at the site of a new BP building under construction next to the UCB campus. Read More | Related: Protesters march on White House against offshore oil drilling | Latest updates on BP oil blow-out

On the 11th of May, protesters outraged by BP’s massive oil spill in the Gulf marched on the White House. As Reverend Yearwood (from Louisiana) pointed out at the protest, five years ago, the Gulf Coast was devastated by Hurricane Katrina,and now BP’s unnatural disaster is compounding the damage. Already tarballs from the spill are washing up on shore. Meanwhile, fish are considered too dangerous to eat and fishing jobs are sinking as fast as BP’s blown-up oil rig. Expansion of Offshore Oil Drilling is Dead

The Cajun "paradise" lost in southern Louisiana: The entire Gulf Coast wetlands ecosystem is a delicate and profound balance of tides, winds, and ocean temperatures. It's almost cosmic. Tides push and pull vast and deep columns of water through narrow passes into lakes and bays and back out to the open ocean. This is a marine cardiovascular system on a continental scale, one supporting waters that roil with life. Winds move shallow layers of salt water toward the shore and push back with undercurrents of brackish and freshwater from lakes like Pontchartrain, Borgne, and Salvador. The coastal prairies and cypress swamps breath. Water temperatures and salt concentrations from the edge of the continental shelf and as close as the shallows of Chandeleur Sound and Barataria Bay trigger complex movements of sea life, telling them when to spawn and where to feed. Larger seasonal shifts provide signals to migratory birds, ushering them to land upon horizon-to-horizon beds of grass where they feed from the bounty all around... Read More

RELATED - Volunteering report (May 1st): I think we are all biting at the bit trying to figure out a way to help, and one of the sad truths for our wetlands is they aren't like a beach were you can run out and try and help. Protecting the wetlands takes time, planning, dedication, and legislation... The organizations in Alabama and Mississippi seem to be doing the best work so far. They are cleaning beaches, blocking inflow points for critical areas, they seem to be providing outlets for volunteers readily. For Louisiana wetlands I expect volunteer opportunities to open up in the next couple days as the horror unfolds... Read More

Yesterday and again today (Thursday) here in Philadelphia we are waking up to a city that is (by virtue of a snowstorm) making an extraordinarily unusual citywide Shabbat.

Only a blizzard brings Shabbat to an American city. But that is a reminder of how profound is the need for "Free Time for a Free People. " Overwork and its misshapen twin, disemployment, are both the symptoms and the causes of an unfree society. It is no accident that in our story of Liberation from Mitzrayyim, the Tight and Narrow Place, the first change in the life of the Israelites -- even before Sinai - is the practice and celebration of Shabbat.

What follows is part of a statement on "Free Time for a Free People" that in 2001 The Shalom Center initiated and won broad support for. You can read the full statement here, with sections on the biblical origins of Free Time, its spiritual and economic aspects, and the path toward organizing support for social change toward "free time." For an entire section of articles on this question, click here.

January 28, 2010 Severe Ice Storms and Freezing Temperatures Have Knocked Down 3,000 Utility Poles – Tribal Residents Have Been Without Electricity, Heat and Running Water for Six Days.

EAGLE BUTTE, S.D. – The Chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe has declared a State of Emergency in central South Dakota, an Indian reservation approximately the size of Connecticut with nearly 15,000 Tribal members. The Tribe is still awaiting Presidential disaster declaration.

Days of ice storms and strong winds have downed over 3,000 utility poles across the reservation. Thousands of already impoverished tribal residents have been without electricity or heat for five days, with wind chill factors well below zero. Experts estimate it may be as long as a month before all areas have electricity restored.

“Making matters worse,” said Tribal Chairman Joe Brings Plenty, “the loss of electricity has also knocked out the Reservation s aging water system. We have no running water on the entire Reservation, it is also affecting of Reservation communities such as Faith, whose water is supplied from pipes running through the Reservation.”

Help needed.

More information: DISASTER DECLARED ON THE CHEYENNE RIVER SIOUX INDIAN RESERVATION IN SOUTH DAKOTA by Larry Smith | | More on American Indian Airwaves (February 1, 2010, 8pm). Go to KPFK Audio Archive and find the show by title and date.

It has been a devastating winter for weather-related disasters. While there has been a lot of information about (and vital response to) the situation in Haiti, there's another emergency closer to home, one which calls for solidarity with the indigenous people of South Dakota and surrounding areas.

The past weekend's ice storms brought down 2,000 to 3,000 utility poles on the Cheyenne River Sioux Indian Reservation in South Dakota, knocking out an already shaky resource infrastructure.  Crews are working feverishly, but electricity may be out for up to 30 days in some areas. With no electricity, no heat, no running water, and a wind chill below zero the situation is growing more difficult. The bulk of those most affected by the storm are located on reservations in Pine Ridge, Standing Rock, Eagle Butte and others. This is an urgent state of emergency. Read more & donation information

The 29th monthly newsletter of the Boston Anti-Authoritarian Movement is out! Available here as always for free as a PDF and in plain text. Also, look for free hard copies in all the usual places. In this issue: Angelica workers win strike By Jake Carman Iran: Stand Up! Fight Back! By Joseph Caye Capitalists, Global Warming, and the Climate Justice Movement: Reflections on COP15 By James Herod Anarchists and Workers Put Greek Government in Tight Spot By Sublett December 6th: Boston Stands with Greece By Jeff Reinhardt The 9th NEAN Assembly: A Report By Dykonoclast Harvard Workers Confront Racism By Geoff Carens, Union Rep. HUCTW/AFSCME Local 3650 Sabaté: A Short Memorial of a Man for whom Defeat Meant Nothing By Jake Carman

In the wake of the failure of the governments of the world to come any substantial consensus on what to do about climate change, and in view of their failure to even discuss real solutions to climate change, members of Eugene's Black Tea Society staged a solidarity action in the form of a banner drop. The COP15 talks only served to reaffirm what many of us in the climate justice movement already knew: that the so-called "leaders" of the world have no intention of rising above petty national bickering to solve the most urgent crisis of our time. In the face of government collaboration and inaction it is the responsibility of every human to rise to the defence of mother earth. We are but the crest of a rising tide of popular discontent which will sweep away the old order, replacing it with one based in mutual aid, sustainable living, and cooperative economics. Our survival depends on it.

Civil society, NGOs, island nations and nations from the Global South all demanded a "FAB" - fair, ambitious and binding - deal from this month's COP15 climate summit in Copenhagen. But as the summit concluded Friday, the only proposals on the table were none of the above. Some world leaders remained at the summit well past midnight, hashing out a document many are calling a "COPout." Others, such as President Obama, scurried to the airport to escape the climate crime scene that is Copenhagen's Bella Centre. At 2am inside the Centre, dozens of people chanting "Climate Justice Now!" held pictures of Obama with "Climate Shame" printed across his forehead.

The mass movement for climate justice on the streets of Copenhagen was, predictably, met with brutal force by the Danish Politi. Even accredited delegates were savagely beaten back with batons while attempting to walk out of the Bella Centre. In response, a call for solidarity actions prompted demonstrations worldwide. In Minneapolis (photos), a small group marched for climate justice on Nicollet Mall Friday night, just before the start of the city's popular "Holidazzle" parade.

Solidarity Reports from other US IMCs: Houston | Bay Area | Washington, DC ( 1, 2) ||| Full reports from COP15: IMC Denmark | Climate IMC | icop15.org aggregator | PDF of Copenhagen Accord - "recognized" by UN, to be adopted by national parliaments

With activists in Copenhagen dealing with a week of police brutality and mass arrests, DC activists finally put points on the board on Thursday, Dec 17. Greenpeace surrounded the US Chamber of Commerce with mock police vehicles and crime tape, while young climate activists occupied the US State Dept demanding action on global warming…